Brand Relevance: Making Competitors Irrelevant - always yours

12 BRAND RELEVANCE
There are a host of forceful trends that provide impetus for
new categories and subcategories. For a fl avor of the trends out
there, consider the following:
• The emergence of Web sites as knowledge centers has
allowed brands to become go - to authorities. Pampers, for
example, redefi ned its business from selling diapers
to providing innovation on baby care and a hub for social
interaction around babies.
• The green movement and sustainability objectives have
affected brand choice. Firms from autos to stores to packaged
goods, and on and on have adjusted their operations
and offerings to be responsive.
• The growing popularity of Asian cuisine has created subcategories
in restaurants and in packaged goods.
• The projected growth of the over - sixty - fi ve population from
just under forty million in 2010 to over seventy million in
2030 creates opportunities to develop subcategories from gift
stores to cruises to cars.
• People taking control of their personal health suggests
opportunities for a host of medical support categories to
emerge, ranging from weight control to physical therapy
to mental stimulation.
Change is in the air everywhere, and change affects what
people buy and what brands are relevant. Marketing strategies
need to keep up. A winning strategy today may not prevail
tomorrow. It might not even be relevant tomorrow. Success
becomes a moving target, and the same management styles
that worked in the past may be losing their ability to generate
ongoing wins. Blindly following a strategy that advocates a
fi rm to “ stick to your knitting, ” “ keep your focus, ” “ avoid diluting
your energies, ” and so on may still be optimal but is more
risky than ever.