Brand Relevance: Making Competitors Irrelevant - always yours

182 BRAND RELEVANCE
that decision, Thomson was thriving nine years later, whereas
other newspaper - based fi rms were struggling. The decision was
based on projecting existing environmental trends and acting
on them.
A customer trend can be a driver of a category or subcategory.
The expression “ Find a parade and get in front of it ” has
some applicability here. That was part of the strategy of Whole
Foods Market with organic products: it was able to capitalize on
the surge of interest in organics. What market forces will infl u-
ence the winning value propositions and choice of target markets?
What trends will create new unmet needs or make the
existing ones more visible? What is the white space around
the trend, unexplored markets? There was a trend toward less
fat consumption but no fi rm had found a way to deliver creamy
taste in the ice cream arena until Dreyer ’ s unveiled its Slow
Churned ice cream.
It is even better if an offering can access multiple trends,
because this will create higher barriers to competitors. Annie
Chun capitalized on four trends with a line of packaged Asian
food that delivered Asian fl avors, healthy eating, natural ingredients,
and the convenience of at - home meals. In a crowded
marketplace, this combination coupled with interesting menus
provide a unique subcategory.
Firms have a strong tendency to fail to understand important
trends or predict future events. One reason is that executives
are focused on execution and have little attention span left
for “ might be. ” Another is that there is a natural perceptual bias
toward ignoring or distorting information that confl icts with the
strategic model of the day. Still another is the support of “ groupthink
” within the organization — it is awkward to point out that
basic assumptions may be wrong. Finally, it is just diffi cult.
How can a fi rm do better at detecting and leveraging trends?
A few guidelines.
First, have organizational tentacles stretched throughout the
relevant environment looking for weak as well as strong signals.