LAS VEGAS—In her session yesterday at SupplySide West, “Trends & Fads: Their Impact on Your Development Approach,” Judy Lindsey, vice president and general manager, Product Dynamics (a division of RQA), sought to help the audience actively think more about their approach to product development. “My whole premise here today is to make you think,” she noted—and the context for that mental engagement was the subject of trends and fads.
Lindsey provided an overview of how to establish whether or not a particular concept falls into the trend or fad category. Doing so, she attests, should change the entire product development process from beginning to end.
For fads—which entail a practice or interest that’s followed by the public with “exaggerated zeal”—the key is to act quickly, using existing resources, and capitalize on the potential of fast, high profit. Lindsey emphasized that fads are not inherently bad—product developers simply need to realize that they’re working within the context of a fad in order to garner success. Creating a desktop model that analyzes costs, nutritional goals, ingredients and other factors is a key aspect of the process. The quality of a product that fits into the fad category can perhaps be lower, but must still meet consumers’ level of general acceptance. Speed to market is more important, as is a fully realized exit strategy.
In the realm of trends—ideas that tend toward a general direction over a longer period of time, evolving and growing along the way—a somewhat different set of rubrics guide development. A product aligned with a prevailing trend needs a sense of uniqueness, and should entail potential brand extensions, moving, for instance, from an initial product targeted toward children and possibly altering it to meet the specific needs of women or seniors in the future. Trendy products can be more complex and multidimensional than fads, but must be simplified for the consumer.
