Fads segmenting the fadbuyer market

Marketers occasionally seek shortterm opportunities through marketing fads. The literature offers little guidance to these marketers and is even discouraging by noting that fads do not satisfy strong consumer needs. Our research examines the fad construct. We offer a revised conceptualization of fads and examine the importance of fads in consumption. Interviews and surveys are used to develop and validate a segmentation typology. We find eight motivationbased segments that differ in ways that suggest how marketers might target buyers in these segments. In contrast to prior views, an encouraging finding for marketing is that we find that fad purchases often do satisfy strong consumption needs.