I came across this segment from the Tom Hanks movie ‘Big’. Tom (playing the role of a child in an adults body) is in a new product demonstration for a toy company and highlights the fact that the toy that transforms from a building into a robot just isn’t fun. The presenter points to the company’s past success in the market therefore asserting that he knows what the market wants. The point is that he is way off the mark and they are guilty of not understanding there market.

I reckon that this must be pretty common and the scenrio highlights to me the why companies need to use market research to keep in touch with their customers. Past success may mean that you have done things right in the past but it does not guarantee that future decisions will be equally successfully (as much as we wish that this was true).

I also love how Elizabeth Perkins sits smoking throughout the whole meeting.