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Forget Brand Preference – Win the Brand Relevance War

There are two ways to compete in existing markets – gaining brand preference and making competitors irrelevant.

Brand Relevance

The first and most commonly used route to winning customers and sales focuses on generating brand preference among the brand choices considered by customers, on beating the competition. Most marketing strategists perceive themselves to be engaged in a brand preference battle. A consumer decides to buy an established product category or subcategory, such as SUVs. Several brands have the visibility and credibility to be considered – perhaps Lexus, BMW, and Cadillac. A brand, perhaps Cadillac, is then selected. Winning involves making sure the customer prefers Cadillac to Lexus and BMW. This means that Cadillac has to be more visible, credible, and attractive in the SUV space than are Lexus and BMW.


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About the Author

David Aaker, author of Brand Relevance: Making Competitors Irrelevant, is Vice-Chairman of Prophet, a marketing consultancy that helps senior executives balance their organization’s short-term business needs against their long-term growth goals, and Professor Emeritus of Marketing Strategy at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. One of the world’s leading experts on branding and the winner of three awards for lifetime contributions to the science of marketing, David has published over 100 articles and fourteen books; including Strategic Market Management that has been translated into eighteen languages. To read David’s complete biography, click here.

Ideas Are the Easy Part

One of the best aspects of my role as Fahrenheit 212’s COO is that I’m the first person candidates meet when they’re interviewing for a job. No matter how many people I interview, I am constantly astounded by the ideas they bring to our conversations. Amazing, amazing ideas with clear market opportunities.

Drinks that prevent hangovers.

Athletic clothes that go beyond wicking and actually hydrate.

A service called Dial A Mom that would provide all the services you want when you’re sick –making doctor appointments, picking up your prescriptions, even sending chicken soup. And the best part is the business would be staffed by actual retired moms. They would get paid for doing what comes naturally and sick people would get what exactly what they want at exactly the right moment. Genius!

The point is, great ideas are everywhere. Online, off line, even in a line at Starbucks, today’s culture consists of people who are constantly dreaming up new things that should exist. And as a result, I think most readers would likely agree that the old adage is true: ideas can indeed come from anywhere.


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About the Author

Pete Maulik is Partner and Chief Operating Officer at innovation consultancy Fahrenheit 212. He is instrumental in the development, evolution and actualization of clients’ innovation efforts. His experience includes leading innovation projects in the alcohol, technology, FMCG, software, beauty, financial services and hospitality categories. Pete is responsible for unleashing the potential of the Fahrenheit 212 organization. This includes finding world-class people, giving them a structure in which they can perform at their peak and ensuring Fahrenheit 212 is delivering transformational innovations on every project.

Pete has spoken on the power of bringing creativity to business at Columbia Business School, Pace University, American Marketing Association’s Quarterly Meetings, The Art Director’s Club of New York, ESSEC and Fordham Business School.

He holds an undergraduate degree from Harvard and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Develop A Process For Continuing Business Model Innovation

In recent days, Apple announced that co-founder Steve Jobs would be leaving the company for a time to deal with some health issues. Investors and analysts closely eyed how the stock price responded.

In interview after interview, people wanted to know whether Apple could maintain its cutting edge innovative abilities while Jobs is out of the picture. Isn’t that interesting? Why wouldn’t Apple continue to innovate? Or will it?

Now, ask yourself how well your organization would do in making business model innovations if you weren’t available? Hopefully, it wouldn’t make any difference and your business model would be continually updated without you.

For most organizations, however, that’s not the case. The “solitary genius” toils seemingly alone (or at least doesn’t let anyone else make a decision) in many companies. When that person dies or retires, everyone knows that the glory days are over.

Whatever happened to Edwin Land’s Polaroid?

You get the idea.

Most organizations are led by mere mortals, and they look to create a systematic source of success. A few organizations are blessed with geniuses who can continue to find more successful business model innovations. That blessing, however, turns into a curse if the genius stops delivering or leaves.

While one person does all the thinking, others daydream about what they will do after work rather than coming up with their own business model innovations.

A better approach is to install a process that engages lots of people in proposing and testing potential business model innovations. Examples where continuing business model innovation had been made into day-to-day work are few and far between. Typically, however, when the leader left who had organized the innovation process, business model innovation for that organization ended.

During a time of economic crisis like 2009, most companies will stumble because they will keep doing what they’ve always done . . . even if that approach stops working. Boards of directors will be shouting for better cost controls, for stronger balance sheets, for more influential leaders. And those won’t help if the business model is broken.

Wake up! Smell the coffee.

If you don’t have a process to upgrade your business model by the end of 2009, you are in trouble.

Here are some things to keep in mind:

  1. Have lots of experiments going that don’t cost very much.
     
  2. Cut off experiments that don’t seem to be going where you want to go.
     
  3. Share insights into what kinds of improved business models might work.
     
  4. Watch progress on developing new business models very carefully.
     
  5. Invite stakeholders to participate.
     
  6. Consider running global contests to get lots of help from the world’s best thinkers.
     
  7. Let non-experts have a crack at making improvements, too.
     
  8. Focus on innovations that will expand the market by providing new reasons and opportunities to do business with you.

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About the Author

Donald Mitchell is an author of seven books including Adventures of an Optimist, The 2,000 Percent Squared Solution, The 2,000 Percent Solution, The 2,000 Percent Solution Workbook, The Irresistible Growth Enterprise, and The Ultimate Competitive Advantage. Read about creating breakthroughs through and receive tips by e-mail through registering for free at http://www.fastforward400.com.

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