Brand Relevance: Making Competitors Irrelevant - always yours

DEFINING AND MANAGING THE CATEGORY OR SUBCATEGORY 247
or not served at all. This process represents a signifi cant opportunity
for the fi rm that can identify the unmet need, recognize
its potential, and determine that there is a way to create a compelling
offering.
The market for energy bars pioneered by PowerBar ultimately
fragmented into a variety of subcategories. Initially
positioned as energy sources for athletes engaged in demanding
activities like running marathons, these bars were focused
primarily on males, and the core product was large and sticky.
Women, especially those not engaged in demanding high -
performance sports, were not attracted to the product or the
positioning. As a result, a competitor to PowerBar, the fi rm
making the Cliff Bar, came out with a bar for women, the
Luna Bar, which had a taste, texture, and ingredients tailored
for women. Luna created a new subcategory. PowerBar after a
year of research responded by attempting to create a better
women ’ s energy bar. It was the Pria bar, which was smaller
and had fewer calories than the Luna Bar and thus was even
more attractive to women. Although Luna had the market to
themselves for over a year, the Pria bar succeeded in redefi n-
ing the subcategory for some.
The key to fi nding a niche is to avoid the trap of focusing
only on the heavy user, the large sweet spot in the market.
Look instead at underserved segments, those for which the current
offerings represent a compromise or that avoid the offering
altogether because it is defi cient or even repellent. That was the
key for Nintendo — it looked beyond the young, male, heavy -
user group.
A niche specialist strategy, in addition to capturing a market,
can lead to a strong brand and a well - defi ned category or
subcategory. A focused fi rm will have more credibility than a
fi rm that makes a wide array of products, as demonstrated by
Shouldice Hospital, whose doctors only perform hernia surgeries;
Williams - Sonoma in cooking; Raymond Corporation in
offering lift trucks; and the In - N - Out Burger chain in making
no - compromise hamburgers. If you are really interested in the