Brand Relevance: Making Competitors Irrelevant - always yours

CREATING BARRIERS 291
If the brand can become an exemplar and surround itself and
its category or subcategory with a rich set of associations it will
be more difficult to match or surpass. With more associations to
match, it is harder for a competitor to gain credibility as a player
in the new category or subcategory. Competitors are more likely to
fi nd themselves with a defi ciency, which means they would fail
to be relevant. When the defi ciency is based not on functionality
but on some combination of common interests, personality,
passion for the category or subcategory, organizational attributes,
or corporate social programs, it becomes very frustrating for the
competitor. If you build a better mousetrap or one just as good at
a lower price, shouldn ’ t the customer buy? Not necessarily.
When the brand is capable of becoming an exemplar of the
category, competitors will have to match or surpass the total
brand and not just the functional dimension. Brand complexity
can then work to the advantage of the exemplar. Prius, iPod,
iPhone, Zara, Muji, Zappos, Subway, Whole Foods Market,
Zipcar, Wheaties Fuel, Healthy Choice, Southwestern Airlines,
and ESPN all defi ned a category or subcategory with the set
of associations developed for them as exemplar brands. Brand
richness and complexity make the exemplar status even more
powerful.
The ways that a brand and its category and subcategory
can be enriched beyond functional benefi ts that include shared
interests, brand personality, and organizational associations, all
of which were described in Chapter Eight . An authentic interest
shared by customers and the brand such as Pampers and baby
care, Hobart and food - service kitchen issues, and Kaiser and
healthy living provide a barrier to competitors. A brand and its
category or subcategory can be given a personality, such as
occurred with Asahi Dry Beer, Zara, Saturn, and Segway, which
can represent social and self - expressive benefi ts. Organizational
associations such as being global, innovative, quality driven, customer
driven, involved in social issues, or having green values
can be diffi cult to match.