Marketing "Crossovers"


These marketing “crossovers” often signify important trends – in the cats/dogs case, that more households were becoming apartment-dwellers, with all that means for appliance sales and so on.

Here is a haphazard collection of crossovers.  Peruse them.  Imagine – and, if you will, exploit – the trends they imply.

In 1984, for the 1st time,
MRCA Information Service's consumer purchase tracking service first published the fact that, for the first time, more U.S. households owned cats than dogs.  This was a sign of greater urbanism and trends toward apartment and condominium living.  It was a sign to marketers that the future lay more in miniature and under-the-cabinet kitchen appliances, and less in tractor mowers.
In 1991,
for the 1st time, U.S. investment in the tools of the information trade - computers and communications gear - outpaced capital spending in the industrial sector. By 1992, only one year after the two trend lines had crossed for the first time, capital investment in information technology was nearly $25 billion higher than traditional industrial capital investment, and pulling ahead quickly.  (David Kline, ”Market Forces”  HotWired 12/11/95, http://vip.hotwired.com/market/)
In 1990,
for the 1st time, Americans first made more visits to “alternative health providers” than to conventional M.D.s.  The next half-decade saw explosive growth in herbs, vitamins, and natural food stores.
In 1995,
for the 1st time, more PCs were sold than television sets.  This implied at the time that the “set-top box” for home delivery of interactive multimedia would be a dead-end technology.  However, the post-2004 growth of HDTV sets may uncross this crossover.
Around 2000,
for the 1st time, more salsa was sold in the U.S. than ketchup.
In 2004,
for the 1st time, the number of U.S. households with broadband access equals those using dialup Internet access.
In 2004,
for the 1st time, the opening weekend gross of a new video game exceeded the expected opening weekend gross of a new major movie.
In 2004,
for the 1st time, Amazon.com’s home electronic sales volume exceeded its book sales (December).
In 2004,
for the 1st time, sales of servers based on Intel and AMD chips exceeded sales of UNIX servers (Business Week, 2/14/05, p.81).
In 2006,
for the 1st time, video game sales will exceed music sales (PricewaterhouseCoopers prediction).
In 2006, for the 1st time, Exports of Japanese pop culture items - video games, comic books, etc. - exceeded Japanese automobile exports, according to National Public Radio.  So much for American dominance of worldwide pop culture.  Watch out Hollywood!
In 2007, for the 1st time, Chat, discussion, and social networking web sites enjoyed more hits than pornography sites, according to The Economist.
In 2007, for the 1st time, Toyota sold more cars than General Motors.  This makes Toyota the world's top auto maker by unit sales, a spot GM had held since 1931.
In 2007,
for the 1st time, According to Bill Gates, speaking at COMDEX, "Young people" are spending more hours in front of their PCs than in front of their television sets.
In 2007, for the 1st time, According to Wired, the majority of human beings live in cities.
In 2008, for the 1st time, the U.S. will overtake France as the world's leading wine-drinking nation.  Growth in U.S. consumption will be driven by Australian wines.  (Business Week prediction, Feb. 28, 2005, p.14)

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