From time to time the marketing world is taken aback by huge, quick, unpredictable and seemingly inexplicable successes. These hits are products or services, entertainment locales or vacation spots, shopping malls or specialty stores that enjoy puzzling immediate popularity. There are incognitos that become hot celebrities, there are events, festivals or concerts that capture the masses, real estate development projects that evoke huge demand, or styles that become trendy. In nearly all cases, there are also new brands that are immediately adopted by the target population. For example, Harry Potter or The Da Vinci Code, Apple’s iPod and the Blogs, the Hamptons in Long Island New York, Toyota’s Scion brand, the Crest electric toothbrush and many more examples.
There are cases in which the reasons for a product’s success are obvious. The success of Viagra, a product that has solved a serious problem for millions of men worldwide – is hardly surprising. Even the success of vacation resorts in Turkey – that have made accessible once a luxurious vacation style to a new middle class segment, is not a mystery. In contrast, in other cases the...