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cigarettes. The evidence shows lack of correlation between sales pattern of various filter cigarette brands and the product form and it does not provide any visibility into future sales ( Dhalla, Yuspeh S ,1976)

Exhibit 1 : Life cycle patterns of brands compared with product forms (Dhalla N , Yuspeh S , HBR ,1976)
There is a need to break out of the circle of product life and death syndrome which is unrelated to customer behavior but influences management into irrational decision making, like prematurely killing a valuable brand instead of looking for ways to resurrect it. While PLC lays emphasis on new product innovation, the current economic environment suggests a need to prolonging product life by retaining customers as against acquiring new customers. Marketers use tools like social networking and user groups to get insights into customer behavior and tastes. Apple, Chrysler and Starbucks offer marketing resources to customers, seeking their participation to stimulate market demand, reduce customer negligence towards marketing campaigns and drive them to making purchasing decisions (Agnihotri R , Hu Michael Y , 2009).

Use of marketing tools and smart advertising can alter the life cycle pattern. Dhalla and Yuspeh state that as long as a product satisfies the unmet needs of a large customer segment and is competitively priced, it will receive customer acceptance irrespective of how long it has been in existence (e.g.: cars , mouth washes).

Diffusion and Innovation Models : Linkages to Product Life Cycle
Diffusion of innovation is linked to the penetration of products. Traditionally, diffusion models have been based on the Bass model which considered consumer durables, and investigated the first-purchase growth in a single market (Agnihotri R , Hu Michael Y , 2009). It serves as a marketing framework for modeling the entire life-cycle of an innovation covering communications and consumer interactions. As shown in Exhibit 2, the social network is assumed to be fully connected and homogenous with two types of individuals who either adopt innovations due to external influences (i.e. advertising and other communications) or internal influences like word of mouth and interpersonal communications Measures of diffusion cover both the depth and breadth of innovation penetration (Chircu and Mahajan, 2009).

Exhibit 2 : Growth drivers for diffusion of an innovation
CRITICAL DRIVERS FOR DIFFUSION
CONSUMER HETEROGENEITY
CONSUMER INTERACTIONS
PRICE SENSITIVITY
NEEDS
INNOVATIVENESSS
EXTERNAL COMMUNICATION
ADVERTISING
MASS MEDIA
INTERNAL COMMUNICATION
WORD OF MOUTH
INTERPERSONAL
The gap between early adopters and the main market has increased due to sophistication and high-tech innovations. The role of adopters and influencers has increased, for example, penetration of internet and mobile phones in the 1990s was greatly influenced by the number of early adopters . Closely linked to this is the blurring of lines between products and services which has made customer choice processes more complex (for example should an iPhone be categorized as a mobile handset or a music player?). Globalization, increased competition, communication products and services has led diffusion to cover multiple markets (for example mobile phones were introduced across Scandinavia during one year) even going beyond