Do consumers really make it so easy?

Are recirculation, repackaging, reversioning, recycling, and redeployment all that is needed to make a product popular? Eileen Meehan author of Star Trek, Synergy, and the Transindustrialization of Tribbles seems to think so. Meehan used Star Trek as her prime example to prove her points. When Star Trek first hit television it was a hit and eventually other stations picked it up and began rerunning episode in the hopes to attract more viewers. Needless to say it worked. As Star Trek’s popularity grew Paramount began to cash in by creating toys and other Star Trek paraphernalia. They eventually put episodes on VHS (and DVD much later) and when those sales slowed down they repackaged those VHS’s into box sets.

Later Paramount decided to change Star Trek. They made spinoffs called The Next Generation, Star Trek Enterprise, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and so on. Just as Star Trek was a spinoff of Wagon Train came the later in the Star Trek series. Star Trek’s devoted followers (known as Trekkers or Trekkies) are what made the spinoffs possible. Although none of the other series were as popular as Star Trek itself they each lasted for more than one season. And although each series had their own cast Meehan points out the similarities of each character to the original cast members of Star Trek. Each series is different but the same in certain ways. Later Star Trek box sets and DVDs were changed to include interviews with William Shatner known better as Captain Kirk and other original cast members. Some of the episodes even had host segments with different Star Trek crew members, like Captain Kirk, Dr McCoy, and Spock. Star Trek has been “recycled” a few times with little changes such as the interviews and host segments and yet Star Trek fans cannot help but by the box sets; even though the changes are minimal. Star Trek has become one of the most well known shows ever aired on television. And, if you think Star Trek is dead you are seriously mistaken.

Star Trek may not be as popular as it was in the past but you can still some of the series rerunning at odd hours of the night and on weekends. For example, this weekend I noticed an episode from The Next Generation playing on Spike TV at about one in the morning. Star has simply been moved to various time slots. It has yet to be taken off television.

However, Star Trek is not the only product that just needed a little revamping to make it popular. Take the iPod for example. With the iPod you have the iPod Mini, the iPod Nano, the iPod Shuffle, and the iPod Touch. The iPod has basically been recirculated in different forms, repackaged in different ways (each iPod has its own unique packaging). They have all been revised; they are the same but different. Other companies have tried to copy them (MP3 player) with little to no success. And, what is it about these little changes that make consumers want to trade in the iPod shuffle (in which the screen moves depending on if the iPod in vertical or horizontal) and buy the iPod touch.

As consumers do we really make it that easy for companies? Do we tell them that all they need to do is recirculate, repackage, revise, recycle, and redeploy their products and we will buy them? As consumers can you think of any other products that companies have made little changes to but are must buys in the eyes of consumers?

Ashley L