Brand Relevance: Making Competitors Irrelevant - always yours

UNDERSTANDING BRAND RELEVANCE 49
characteristics. If any were missing, the new offering would not
be perceived to be in the SUV subcategory.
Instead of being “ in or out, ” alternately, the offering might
be judged as to how close it is to the category (employing the
concept of fuzzy sets). The result is a “ goodness of fi t ” judgment.
Distance from the category might be based on the number
and identity of characteristics for which a match is missing.
Or it might be based on how far the offering is from the ideal
on dimensions for which the match is less than perfect. The gas
mileage may be lower than would be desired, for example, but
not so low as to exclude the offering from the category.
In contrast, the “ exemplar ” approach is based on the premise
that the category or subcategory can be represented by one
or more “ good examples, ” or exemplars. So for compact hybrids,
the Prius may be the exemplar in that it basically defi nes the
category. Similarly, iPod and TiVo defi ne their own categories,
as do Jell - O, Gortex, Google, and others. New offerings are then
evaluated as to how similar they are to the exemplar. Again,
instead of being in or out of the category, a brand could be measured
according to a “ closeness ” scale.
Which approach will be used when? One factor is whether
an accepted and visible exemplar exists. If so, the exemplar
approach is most likely to be used. However, if the identity
of one or more exemplars is unclear or not well known, then
the customer will be less likely to use the exemplar approach.
If a category, such as low - fat food, evolves based on consumer
trends, and no exemplar has played a defi ning role, then the
customer is likely to employ the attribute - matching approach.
Research also suggests that the attribute - matching process
is more likely to be used when the context is simple, whereas
the exemplar approach will be more likely if the context is more
complex in terms of the number of alternatives, the number of
defi ning dimensions, and the diffi culty of evaluating options
with respect to the dimensions. So if a four - wheel - drive sedan
defi nes a category, a car will be determined to be in or not in