Users in Persistant Action: The Case of the 1,5 L "Urge" Beverage

This study adds to the concept of lead users by investigating the role users´ post launch. The case of the 1.5 litre Urge bottle in Norway shows that what constitutes a ‘lead’ becomes an effect of the product displaced in a hybrid collective in time and space. The hybrid collective is an assumption in which realities are constructed in contrast to the assumption of diffusion in society, where reality is given and determined. The theory lead users is closely related to the product life cycle in the diffusion perspective, as they both progress linearly. The 1.5 litres was removed from the market 8 years before a 15 years-old- boy wanted the 1.5 litres back to the market, even though Coca-Cola resisted, he managed by the hybrid collective to struggle with Coca-Cola and convince them to re-introduce the 1.5 litres volume by various interessment devices, including buy-cot to frame the power relation of the hybrid collective to include the press and distribution channels to want it back. All actors in collective actions can become lead users when supported by establishing alliances. This perspective is different from Von Hippel (1986) who is claiming that the trend needs to be defined before the lead users; in the hybrid collectives the trend and the lead users are co-constructed. At the same time, we introduce the notion of network- active paradigm by combining Von Hippel (1978) notion of manufacturer- active paradigm and customer- active paradigm.