The Origin of Brands
How Product Evolution Creates Endless Possibilities for New Brands
“One of most difficult things to understand is the dynamics of marketplace. Why some companies win and others lose. Why some consumers prefer one brand and other consumers prefer another brand. Why a brand that is hot today can get cold tomorrow. Charles Darwin provides the theoretical concepts to understand the dynamics of the marketplace. The laws of nature apply equally as well to brands and categories.”
The idea behind Al & Laura Ries’ “The origins of brands” is quite simple: take Darwin’s idea of evolution and apply it to the branding process. Captivating as it is as a purely intellectual pursuit, the analogy results in four basic rules to follow:
- Divide and conquer
Categories of products and services diverge. Think of computers: started with so called mainframe computers. Now desktop computer, home computer, laptop computer, PDA, wearable computer and so on are widely available. So instead of converging several features into one (f.e. camera with a mobile), the opportunity lies in divergence. Create a new category, be the first in it and move the minds. When you’re first in the marketplace, your brand is just another brand; when you’re product is the first recalled by consumers in a given category (energy drink — Red Bull), your brand creates a powerful emotional connection with consumers. - Exploit divergence
Nature favours extremes. When the category is dividing into two or more subcategories, don’t try to fit in between. For instance, a laptop computer might be a full featured, heavy machine or Apple’s Air. If you think of the customer as a single identity, the computer needs to be full-featured AND ultralight. Obviously, it’s hard to differentiate such product between two strong competitors, not to mention that it will be neither ultraportable nor powerful. - Survival of the secondest
If you’re not first, you can still become a strong No. 2 brand by being the opposite of the leader. Coca-Cola was consumed by older people, so Pepsi-Cola became a strong No. 2 brand by appealing to younger people (the Pepsi Generation). - The power of pruning
If a brand tries to cover every aspect of a diverging category, it’ll almost certainly forge to lose its dominant position. The brand should stand for a single idea in the consumer’s mind.
Emerging new brands might need the support of the core brand, but when the branch grows bigger and stronger, it separates itself from the core branch and then a line extension name becomes a severe disadvantage.
I’ve got to admit though, that the greatest part of the book is a fiery philippic against convergence, brought up as The Curse of the Clock Radio (a.k.a Swiss Army Knife Thinking — every macho male has one, but when was the last time you saw actually use the scissors on a Swiss Army knife to cut something?). However convincing it gets, personally I’d rather refrain from conceding, bearing in mind Google Mail/Cal/Reader as one of many counter-examples.
Evolution might be a useful analogy for branding, still the authors’ bias towards coherence leads to sticking the “brand label” to every success or failure just to support the idea, which might not necessarily be the case.
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