Hi Michael,

I agree.... And if enough of the media reports on something being a "trend" it can even become a "self-fulfilling prophecy"....

That's because everyone wants to be hip, cool, and with it, so many will follow the reported trend (if they believe it's true) just be with the times!

I know that this is sometimes used as a marketing strategy.... Like those ads you see on TV, where they stop people in the street and ask them what brand of washing powder they use, and lo and behold, they all use the advertiser's brand! This kind of thing works on the "social proof" principle -- they want to give the impression that everyone is using their brand.

By having ads like this, if people think everyone else is using the brand, people think "well, I should try it too...."

Most people like to conform and don't like to stick out too much from the "norm"....

It's an interesting strategy, because if it works and it ends up that most people then *do* use your brand, then it tends to perpetuate itself!

This also could be why it is usually very hard to knock off the market leader in mature markets. It's probably partly why Coca-Cola has been the no. 1 cola drink now for perhaps almost 100 years, and why Pepsi eternally seems to come in at number 2.... And all the other competitors seem to have fallen off the radar screen....

Thanks Michael, great food for thought.... :)

Dien Rice