Fad Products and Brands:How to Identify andMarket Them

Ron Newman #1792994December 14, 2005FIU - MMC 6635

Ron Newman #1792994IntroductionOn the opening of school in the Fall of 1986 many students wore the new clothes thattheir parents traditionally buy for the upcoming year. Almost universally, all of themiddle school boys were wearing a pair of “acid wash” denim jeans, myself included.But the appeal of acid wash jeans did not last past Spring break. Why did acid wash jeans fall out of favor so quickly? Did the acid wash technique make the jeans an inferior quality to standard denim? No, acid wash jeans were simply a fad product thatexperienced tremendous momentum and fell out of favor just as quickly. My research paper will discuss the mysteries behind fads, how to identify them, why consumers purchase fad products, and how to best market them.Why Understanding Fads is Important for Brand MarketingAs Don Schultz states in his book Brand Babble, “Brands, not fads create ongoingsuccess.” Brands survive because customers buy into them. Brand marketers mustexamine the underlying business model behind a company or product. If it is sound, branding is possible, if it is merely a short-term fad, all the money in the world won’t turnit into a lasting success. “One of the toughest jobs in branding is to know when a productor service deserves the time and effort needed to build a brand and when the concept ismerely a flash-in-the-pan” (Schultz p.31-35).2

Ron Newman #1792994An Overview of the LiteratureThe Definitions of a FadLets start with an overview of how the experts of marketing research define fads. Mostmarketing literature treats fads in low regard. The notion is that marketers should seek durable long-term opportunities and pursue more sustainable markets. Nevertheless,some of the most impressive marketing success stories involve fad developments (Lilly & Nelson).Kotler and Armstrong (1994) define fads as developments that enter quickly, are adoptedwith great zeal, peak early, and decline very fast. They last only a short time and tend toattract only a limited following. Fads often have a novel or quirky nature. Fads appeal to people who are looking for excitement, a way to set themselves apart, or something totalk about with others. Fads do not survive long because they normally do not satisfy astrong need in the market.Perreault and McCarthy (1999) define fads as an idea that is fashionable only to certaingroups who are enthusiastic about it. The short-term nature of fads is because consumerswho buy fads are fickle.Looking at fads from a completely different aspect, Lilly and Nelson (2003)conceptualize fads as a temporary state of unusually high sales, driven by consumer enthusiasm and a desire among consumers to purchase a product or brand largely because3