Ellen DeGeneres the persona, has consistently grown as a product for the last 15 years. Not many people have risen in ranking over such a long time frame, as generally you start strong and finish weak. Ellen has done so by understanding the product cycle; Introduction, Growth, Maturity, Decline.

We were introduced to Ellen DeGeneres through her Tonight Show with Johnny Carson appearance. Ellen used this introduction to fame in order to grow into her own show, the Ellen sitcom which was a huge success and lasted 5 seasons. With Ellen’s continued success she eventually launched the ever popular Ellen Show, the daytime talk show.

Now that her brand has matured, she’s able to reinvent herself before the lifecycle decline. Like a good product manager, she knows to recognize the customer’s pain before it starts, and evolve according to customer needs and expectations, thus avoiding the brand’s deterioration. She does this by constantly launching new and interesting products through her Ellen brand. Everything from underwear to pool floaties in order to stay relevant.

We can all learn from Ellen how to stay relevant, fresh and grounded. Never allow yourself to be over-confident with your product. Stay hip, stay Ellen.