Brand Relevance: Making Competitors Irrelevant - always yours

38 BRAND RELEVANCE
A highly differentiated new product offering, which we
know from research is, on average, highly profi table, is likely to
create a new category or subcategory because differentiation is
often a key defi ner of a new category or subcategory. A failed
new product, in contrast, is very likely to be undifferentiated
and be part of the brand preference battlefi eld. A product failure
will not only have a direct, adverse effect on profi tability
because of the cost of developing and introducing the offering,
but also it will represent signifi cant opportunity cost. That
investment in people and resources could have gone elsewhere.
Perceived Innovativeness Data
Being a fi rst - mover and owning an emerging category or subcategory,
a brand is perceived to be associated with innovativeness.
Gaining perceptions of innovativeness is a priority for
nearly all businesses because it provides brand energy and credibility
for new products. But few brands break out and reach
that goal. Examine the top fi fteen brands on an innovativeness
scale, according to the 2007 Brand Asset Valuator (BAV)
from a Young & Rubicam (Y & R) database covering over threethousand
brands, which is shown in Figure 1.5 . 13 Nearly all
have created or owned a new submarket using transformational
innovation.
Figure 1.5 Perceived Innovativeness—2007
1. Bluetooth
2. Pixar
3. iPod
4. IMAX
5. Microsoft
6. DreamWorks
7. TiVo
8. iMac
9. Discovery Channel
10. BlackBerry
11. Disney
12. Google
13. Swiffer
14. Wikipedia
15. Dyson