It was back in 2003 and I was in tenth grade at Kafue Boys Secondary School, located about an hour away from my home in Lusaka, Zambia. For the last few weeks, I had watched my peers play Chess and never really understood what the game was all about. On this one particular morning, I was sitting in class and we were informed that the teacher would not be in that morning. It just so happened that one of my friends had brought a Chess board with him to class and I asked him to teach me how to play the game. By my senior year of high school, I had developed such a tremendous interest in the game and improved so much that I was selected to be on the school team. One of the biggest lessons I took away from playing the game is that you have to be able to think two-three moves ahead of your opponent--you have to anticipate your opponent's every possible move and have a counter move in return.
Fast forward seven years later, I'm in a classroom and we are discussing various products and how marketers have developed personalities for a lot of products out on the market today. What does this have to do with the game of Chess, you may be wondering? One thing that stuck out to me as we looked at different products and the different personalities that have been developed, was how marketers seem to be a step ahead of not only their competitors, but consumers as well. Through on-going research, marketers are continuously focussing on anticipating consumers needs-which are changing over time- and coming up with ways in which to best serve the consumers.
This for me, feels a lot like the game I have grown to love, the game where you learn to not only anticipate, but counter your opponent's move. Marketers, I believe, are able to thrive by their continued research into consumers' needs and anticipating ways to meet those needs.
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