Brand Relevance: Making Competitors Irrelevant - always yours

UNDERSTANDING BRAND RELEVANCE 51
exemplar more valued. Disneyland is the exemplar of theme
parks, and it is always innovating.
Finally, be the early market leader in terms of sales and market
share. It is hard to be an exemplar and to leverage that role
without market share leadership. Sometimes being fi rst into
the market gives an edge. However, there are other contexts
in which the pioneer brands set the stage by introducing the
area, and the timing is right for another fi rm with resources and
an improved offering to become the exemplar and be the early
market leaders.
How Categorization Affects Information
Processing and Attitudes
Categorization has a substantial impact on information processing
and attitudes. In some cases, individuals have been shown
to categorize an object on the basis of a few key dimensions
and then stop further information gathering and processing.
Assigning an object to a category may simply be based on a cue.
For example, a private - label grocery product with a package
similar to that of the category ’ s exemplar may be assumed to be
in the category without the customer ’ s analyzing more detailed
information. People often lack the motivation and sometimes
the ability to conduct a detailed analysis of an object ’ s suitability
to be classifi ed as a member of a category or subcategory.
The person makes the assumption that further research costs
time and money and will be unlikely to change his or her initial
judgments.
When an object is categorized, whatever the process, perceptions
of the category will infl uence if not dominate perceptions
of that object. It is the typical problem of stereotypes in all contexts,
whether it be women, ethnic minorities, retirees, hunters,
performance cars, department stores, or bakeries. In fact, consistency
theory from psychology posits that there is a cognitive