Handling category slowdowns

Category slowdowns for reasons other than recession enjoy much lower rates of return on capital employed (ROCE) than other categories; they also have 28% less share growth per point of SOV/SOM, and are 33% less likely to achieve very large business effects.

Handling category slowdowns

Peter Field

Category slowdowns happen for many reasons apart from economic recession – competition from new categories, changing consumer priorities and attitudes, and of course, in the words of Harold Macmillan, because of 'events, dear boy'. But how should marketers respond to non-recessionary slowdowns? The best response will depend on the underlying reason for the slowdown, but happily there are many helpful global case studies of brands that re-energised their categories and reaped extraordinary dividends. Moreover, many were not category leaders: all brands can profit from their thinking.

The essential problem facing marketers in category slowdowns was...

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