Brands

When you consider the market forces that drive most economic activity, it can be difficult to define consumer trends. Having a good product or the best product isn’t necessarily the way to be successful. Something about your product has to appeal to enough of the public to make you successful.
Of course ideally you have the “hot” product that is going to be hard to keep in stock because it is so popular. Sometimes you can be a “hot” company and everything you produce is popular. For example, Apple, that not all that long ago was considered an also ran company after initially being a “hot” company, returned to being hot with first the I-Pod, then the I-Phone and maybe the I-Pad. It helped that even when they were out of favor they maintained a corps of supporters. This base provided the ability for them to return to “hotness”.
Going in and out of favor can be tricky. If you consider companies that have had great surges in popularity, a lot of times it revolves around a particularly memorable ad campaign. If you are old enough, it’s hard not to remember the Wendy’s “Where’s the beef?” commercials. Sometimes a name can give you an advantage, Yahoo and Google have had their moments. Word of mouth, can be critical, if someone you trust tells you a product is good or vice versa, it probably will have a strong influence on you. That is why celebrity endorsements are so prevalent, because so many of us trust these people that most likely are complete strangers to us.
In the entertainment arena, there is a saying that all publicity is good publicity. It is sometimes more important to be known than it is to be admired. Now, when it comes to selling product, you have to be careful. Certainly, for a company just starting out, getting to be a household name can be important, however, not is you are known as a clunker. However, you may be able to gain market share even if your publicity comes across negatively, if it isn’t too bad.
It will be interesting to see how Toyota and Tiger Woods fare. These were two brands that were well regarded until they both disclosed serious flaws.