Brand Relevance: Making Competitors Irrelevant - always yours

220 BRAND RELEVANCE
to happen. The new category or subcategory needs to gain visibility
and be clearly defined, developed, and communicated. The
new offering brand needs to acquire credibility within the new
category or subcategory, an effective distribution channel, and a
loyal customer base. The firm needs a guiding plan with a business
vision for the offering, the brand, and the category and subcategory
complete with a go - to - market strategy. Not easy for sure.
Even if the fi rm accomplishes the brand - building tasks, the
market can be fi ckle. Segway with its transporter and P & G with
Olestra both did a lot of things right, but the market did not
accept either offering when the fi rms could not overcome product
limitations. Sony developed by some measure the best VCR
format VCR player, its beta technology, but failed to convince
the market, eventually losing to the VHS format. A fi rm needs
to factor the probability of a disappointing result into the decision
to support a concept.
Does the Offering Have Legs?
Perhaps the biggest risk for a new offering is the possibility that
competitors will enter with a comparable or even a superior offering.
There are several dimensions to the evaluation of the threat
of competitor entree, including the attraction of a growth context,
the internal strategies of competitor firms, and the barriers to entry.
Attraction of a Growth Context
There is a tendency for a fi rm to assume that competitors do not
see the same opportunity, in part because competitive strategic
intelligence is hard to come by and in part because a fi rm ’s
focus is internal not external. There are many tough issues and
uncertainties involving a new concept that suck up team energy.
However, if the target market looks like it will enjoy attractive
growth, there is a serious risk of too many competitors ’ being
attracted by the same analysis using the same inputs.