The Product Life Cycle PLC describes the life path of a product. All products go through four stages, namely the Introduction, Growth, Maturity & Decline stage. Every product has a life, some of which has potential for product life cycle rejuvenation.
For multiple products, you task as a marketer is more complex as you will need to map the various life stages of each of the products to stagger and phase them across the product universe in order that each product life cycle is fully optimize for cash generation across the business horizon.
The PLC analysis is a fluid document which needs to be revisited annually for planning purpose. Most PLCs do not follow a straight path, and various business and political factors could cause less certainty of the product living through its life stages as planned.
As a prudent marketer, you should pro-actively look to rejuvenating the life cycles of Cash Cow products, in the BCG matrix, at their matured and declining stages.
Product rejuvenation Ideas could be generated from the perspective of enhancing or changing the product features, adding new usages for the product, enhancing the product manufacturing process, product packaging technological innovation, creative and unique channel delivery process etc.
Baking soda, a product traditionally used for baking cakes and facing decline stage in the PLC has taken an innovative twist of fate for the good. Product development and marketing departments worked together to discover a creative and very practical new usage of utilizing baking soda as an odor-removing agent. The rest is marketing history and sales have rejuvenated leap and bounds since.
As a smart marketer, you must carefully weigh the pros and cons of product rejuvenation. The ultimate decisions whether to rejuvenate a product and extend its product life cycle depend largely on costs associated with the process as well as the ability of your company to successfully re-position the rejuvenated product and convince potential customers of their extended usages and value add.