Consumers love the kiwi they love the strawberry

What similarities between "Public enemies", Michel Houellebecq and Bernard - Henri Lévy, the 20 hours of Laurence Ferrari, the scented Blak Coca to coffee, the feature of Antoine de Caunes, "Coluche." "The story of a guy", and, finally, Carla Bruni album, "as if nothing had" Nothing or almost. All five have mixed success, if not francs for some failures. All had been the subject of a hand sewn marketing strategy, matured for the most part since June, polished in mid-August, hatched, finally, with more or less happy, to the re-entry.

Product marketé

At any Lord, all honour, the Palm of the most masterful slap is undoubtedly the more unlikely four hands book of the year, "Public enemies" (Flammarion-Grasset), correspondence between two of the intellectuals the most hated France, Michel Houellebecq and Bernard - Henri Lévy... which led on 32.509 works passed ().

Yet, is remembered, re-read, it comes to writers, what their feverish media coverage would eventually be forgotten. "But even before to be on the shelves, the book appeared in the eyes of the public as a marketé product, said Stephane Rozes, Director General of the Institute of studies CSA." "Talked to something absolutely great that was going to happen, a way of"clash of the Titans".". So as to obscure the literary qualities of this correspondence. Georges Lewi, sociologist of brands, is even more fierce: "this is what I would call the"kiwi-Strawberry syndrome", loose.". Consumers love the kiwi, they love the strawberry... Then why not propose the kiwi and strawberry yogurt Except that is not by adding two success that it manufactures one third, even more important. Here, the phenomenon is the same: the addition of two notoriétés is not sufficient to make a bestseller!

Ditto for other "flop": Coca Blak (mixture of Coca-Cola and coffee, with 50 less sugar from a classic soda). Launched in 2006 with 0.4 of market share of the soft drinks, Coca Blak fell 0.1 in 2008. But, according to Georges Lewi, no wonder: his failure is the same-good idea, that the association Houellebecq-BHL: the famous "kiwi-Strawberry syndrome."

The "bags it" Shun

Poor reasoning, therefore, but also change in mentalities. "This walk today, analysis Vincent Grégoire, trend Nelli Rodi Office, these are precisely the things staggered, dissonant, alternatives..." The consumer becomes more critical, to inform, compares, wondered: "what do I really need this item" "Where, according to him, the less the"bags it"craze, these bags trend at a time T it was compelling to possess. Hence also the success, often unpredictable, "fresh, soft mode Windows, that tell a story poetic, unexpected...". . Is exactly the opposite products marketés to the millimetre closely, as appeared to be the other three flops of re-entry, "Coluche", Antoine de Caunes, and, to a lesser extent, the JT de Laurence Ferrari on TF1 and the album "as if nothing had", of Carla Bruni.

Fatally irreversible step

Watched impatiently, out on the screens on 15 October, "Coluche" has indeed disappeared at the end of three small weeks of box-office stronger twenty entries. According to Georges Lewi, "even if the three things seem to have nothing in common, hearing suffered by Laurence Ferrari failure and success mixed the album by Carla Bruni are closer to the flop of"Coluche".". In this period of uncertainty, people are looking for guides, a form of moral. This is not the arrival of Laurence Ferrari which has shocked but the conditions in which PPDA was rejected.

The shortness of the age of bling-bling, the announced death of too predictable marketing No doubt. But the "flops" have this property are not necessarily irreversible. Witness the rise and the current stabilization of Laurence Ferrari (read below). But also the emergence, or even the radical resurrection products a little too swiftly buried Smart, i-Phone, Coca-Cola zero... that a scrupulous analysis of the mistakes and a "smart" marketing rescued elephant cemetery.