The noise and the drift

Every week there is something new to talk about on Egyptian shelves. A crisp flavour that sold out in a day. A pack design everyone photographed. A price fight between two brands that lasted until Thursday. It is loud, it is fun, and it fills every conversation about what people are buying.

It is also light. Most of it is forgotten by the following month.

Underneath, there is a slower movement that rarely makes anyone's conversation. Families in Sohag buying smaller packs more often, because the month has to stretch further. Young people in Cairo choosing what their friends choose over what their parents chose. Shoppers trusting the shop they know more than any advertisement. None of this trends. It takes years. And it carries more weight than all the weekly excitement put together.

A brand can be nudged a little by the noise. It is carried, mostly, by the drift. The small seller who reads every week's chatter perfectly and misses the slow change will be busy, admired, and steadily moving somewhere he did not choose.

The drift is not destiny. It can be resisted, and now and then redirected, but only by someone who has first noticed it and then puts in patient, deliberate effort for a long time. It does not respond to a clever week.

So the first job is to see it. Ask what has been true for five years and is still becoming more true. Then, as far as possible, let the noise pass. There will be more of it next week.

The drift will still be there.