fast . Attempts to endear your brand to the haters and the neutrals should also be a continuous journey in the spirit of keeping your friends close and your enemies closer . Damascus experiences are reality in the market place , this is well captured by the popular Swahili religious song , Waliokudharau , siku Moja watakusalimia kwa heshima ( Those who despise you will one day salute you with respect ).
Product Lifecycle and The Simon Makonde Lifespan of a Mosquito
The product life cycle developed by the German Economist Theodore Levitt is that progression a product goes through in 5 stages ; development , introduction , growth , maturity and decline . This came to mind as the group discussed about the life expectancy of a mosquito . Popular opinion was that a mosquito lives for seven days . I objected to this on a point of order stating that there is no way a mosquito can be such a terrorist while living a life similar to that of the legendary Simon Makonde , who was born on Monday , named on Tuesday , married on Wednesday , fell sick on Thursday , treated on Friday , died on Saturday and was buried on Sunday . Further research indicated that a male mosquito actually lives for about seven days feeding on a plant-based diet and no blood meals , the female ones can live for five months or more with adequate supply of meals .
The lessons here are on feeding your products adequately according to their lifecycle stage , prolonging their growth almost indefinitely using Coca-Cola like growth extending marketing strategies and avoiding Simon Makonde-like quick progression to decline by avoiding mistakes such as failure to adapt to changing market or falling in love with the brand excessively leading to short sighted moves similar to those of the over-mating and vegetarian male mosquito .
The professor was quick to note that the Simon Makonde Story we were told in the early childhood learning teaches us the significant memory retention strategies of creating associations , the script was used to help us remember the days of the week with ease . Brands should endeavor to creates relevant associations that would help them retain top positions in the consumers memory repertoire which is one measure of a brands strength , continuous use indicator and life expectancy .
Evolving Mosquitoes Mirror Human Feeding Habits While Genetically Modified Males Were More Attractive to Females Compared To The Indigenous Ones
The extra ordinary big mosquitoes also triggered curiosity in the group . Someone mentioned that scientists at Egerton University had developed a mosquito variant that feeds on other mosquitoes . There was also talk of genetically modified male mosquitoes that were designed to mate with the disease causing indigenous one to reduce their population and eventually reduce their off springs of the disease carrying species to paper tigers that can ’ t spread the dangerous malaria . One of their outstanding features was that they were so ” hot ” that the female ones preferred to mate with them and ignore their indigenous counterparts .
A research has found that mosquitoes have evolved to tailor their feeding habits to those of the humans , feasting on you during meals indoors and outdoors and resting as you sleep . The lesson here being the importance of adapting , using science and evidence-based approaches to solve the problems facing our consumers and humanity at large . Research , Research , Research .
Does Size Matter ? It ’ s the Fight in The Dog and Not the Dog in The Fight
That Does
The killer female anopheles mosquito resilience settles a long-held debate about whether size really matters . This is especially so in the market place where David like brands have outsmarted Goliaths . Consumers , voters and people in general have a soft spot for underdogs . Biblically , after Pontius Pilate washed his hands in the legal battle of the State Vs Jesus with two co-accused thieves they opted for Jesus to be crucified and sympathized with the thieves .
In the market place , small brands easily win the trust of consumers when they go that extra mile to address their emerging needs in better ways than bigger and established brands . There has been a recent trend of lack of trust for big organizations and brands that has led to the fall of many large conglomerates and brands .
Still , even big brands have thrived by making the right moves in the market during critical moments that have created many success stories over the years . We can therefore conclude that when you have limited resources like many small brands do , you have to deploy more imagination than money or resources . On the issues of whether size matters the mosquito demonstrates that , the dog in the fight doesn ’ t matter , it is the fight in the dog that does .
Boniface Ngahu is a seasoned marketing research expert and runs the Talking Point column in Marketing Africa magazine . He is the Marketing Director of SBO Research . You can commune with him on this or related matters via email at : Boniface @ sboresearch . co . ke , or follow him on Twitter @ bngahu