d"Once the early adopters have brought the innovation ot the group and the rich high status people have proved it works, that's when you get the familiar hockey stick graph inflection point which also applies to epidemiology and other phenomena, as the middle and largest group adopts it. At that point the adoption (or epidemic) is very difficult to stop.
You can affect this process with external inputs, which is why almost all counties employ what are known as change agents -- workers whose job is to persuade farmers of the benefits of the innovation while offering measures to mitigate the risks."
and...
"It's a stretch to make the analogy, but I worked in the alcoholic beverage business for many years. The winemaker Robert Mondavi tells the story of trying to sell better wines in the US post WWII. During and after Prohibition, a full generation of consumers went uneducated about quality wine. Those that drank, drank what was available which was usually low quality and often mixed with something sweet. By the time Mondavi came into the business, the vast majority of Americans had no experience with decent quality wine. To make his winery (and the industry) viable, he spent a couple decades just educating people -- and he's heralded for undertaking what seemed, before the fact, a very daunting task. Starting a brand is one thing. Starting a new segment of an industry is entirely another. "
http://www.siliconinvestor.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=27939462
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In the business I mentioned, we spent a TON of money on 'influence agents'. In consumer goods, every company does -- from celebrities on down. The big brewery that produced all our products even had small networks of 'hip' young people in bigger, trend-setting cities that had a stipend just to drink their products. You could go to one of these young person's homes and their refrigerator would be full of Miller Brewing Company products all the time.
Given that fertilizer is a less glamorous good, I think product adoption would spread more effectively through demonstrated utility. That could happen in a few growing seasons.
Meanwhile, Verde produces what's known...and what's known to sell. The right call. |
