Brand Relevance: Making Competitors Irrelevant - always yours

CREATING BARRIERS 287
either copy it or fi nd a way to neutralize it with another innovation.
When the new offering and the category or subcategory
it represents are dynamic, the brand is a moving rather than a
stationary target. Gillette has been an innovation machine by
creating subcategories, and then improving or replacing them.
From The Trac II in 1971, the fi rst two - blade razor, the market
has seen Altra, Sensor, Mach3, Venus, and Fusion, plus a host of
innovations under subbrands such as Trac II Plus, Sensor Excel,
Mach3 Turbo, Venus Embrace, and Fusion ProGlide, with a
“ snow plow guard ” that prevents hydroplaning and a new ergonomic
grip. Gillette is the essence of a moving target.
Continuous innovation presents challenges to brands
attempting to gain relevance. There were a half-dozen variations
of the iPod including the nano, the shuffl e, and the touch
which made it hard for competitors to fi nd a point of vulnerability
based on a specialized application or segment. The Prius each
year has contained signifi cant advances that mean that competitors
working on cars even three or more years in the future will
still have the wind in their faces. P & G has made Tide detergent
and its feminine hygiene products a moving target with
an ongoing series of innovations all designed to address the key
consumer wants of comfort, protection, and femininity.
Finding a Branded Differentiator
The challenge is to own a benefi t as long as possible to avoid
having it drift into the noise surrounding the category or subcategory.
One answer is to brand it — to create a branded differentiator
— because a fi rm can own a brand. Other retailers can
duplicate or even improve on the Best Buy services, but they
will not have a Geek Squad or its personality and associations
because Best Buy owns that brand.
A branded differentiator , summarized in Figure 9.3 , is a feature,
ingredient or technology, service, or program that creates a
meaningful point of differentiation for a branded offering over
an extended time period that is branded and actively managed.