Rethinking The Product Life Cycle:
Brand and segment maturity for the next century

By Tom Barnes

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The product life cycle has been part of marketing strategy since the late 50's. All of us are either intuitively or intellectually aware of its five stages of introduction, growth, maturity, saturation and decline. Yet, this classic model now faces the same inevitability it predicted for brands and market segments. We all face a new reality wherein everyone knows the model, emulates it, then with alarming regularity...fails. Failure comes from the predictability of the strategies that we all believed were dictated by the model. Over the past five years we've seen mature core brands suffocate under their own weight like lost, beached whales on the shores of EDLP (every day low price) Beach.

Marketers like Proctor & Gamble and Phillip Morris find themselves in well-published price wars executed under the belief that mature products ultimately come under price point scrutiny. The success of private labels and EDLP policy at retail seem to hold this precept up. Therefore to maintain share of market, the strategy is to coupon, discount or die. That belief came from strategies implied by the product life cycle. That strategy says reap the rewards of your brand equity in the mature phase of your products life cycle. You've already invested in R&D, advertising and marketing, now cash in and hold share at all costs even if it means erosion of profits. Now, as market share for brands like Tide and Budwiser wither, we must question the validity of these standard strategies for mature products.

Ironically, the strategies implied by the early phases of the life cycle seem to still hold their validity. Introduction and growth phases are still driven by establishing needs and brand awareness. These early phases are also traditionally where most creativity and corporate resources are applied in the execution of the model's prescribed strategy. It is mature brands and segments that are troubled and seem to be incapable of finding creative executions of traditional strategies. "Me too" products, new sizes, more shelf space, and other non-benefits (new "improvements" that have no value to the end-user) as well as discounting and couponing, are failing miserably as tactics to revive saturated and declining brands, segments and categories. These classic tactics are doomed to failure, as evidenced by the onslaught and success of private labels and the erosion of market share of many "bulletproof" brands. This reality must force us to rethink maturity. Everyone seems to think Kelloggs is crazy to raise their prices. Flood conditions aside, if these price increases are turned back into marketing resources, Kelloggs could claim unforeseen new market share. They will do this by out marketing their competitors and building new equity into their precious brands rather than strip-mining what is left of their value.

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