Brand Relevance: Making Competitors Irrelevant - always yours

342 BRAND RELEVANCE
Introducing the Offering into the Marketplace. The introduction
of a new offering is no longer about spending money
and turning the crank. The fragmented media, information
overload, the clutter, and the reality of social technology mean
that the introduction of even the most impressive and novel
offering needs to be in the hands of talented and creative professionals
who are willing to think outside the box and then
execute.
Managing by Customer - Driven Objectives and Metrics. The
culture and systems of the organization need to support a commitment
to deliver on the promise and, when possible, to provide
an offering that exceeds expectations. Toward that end a key element
is to determine what customer - driven metrics, including
visibility, understanding, and loyalty measures, are needed to
reflect the new category or subcategory.
Continuous Improvement
In addition to execution, a commitment strategy needs to be supported
by incremental innovation, continually improving (rather
than changing) the offering, reducing the cost, improving effi -
ciency, enhancing the value proposition, increasing customer
satisfaction, and strengthening the assets and competencies
that underlie the new offering. The offering and the category
and subcategory should be a moving target, evolving and
improving over time. Each year should see an enhancement of
the offering and its profi tability. Japanese fi rms such as Shiseido
or Canon call this continuous improvement kaizen and have
built successful companies around it.
Creating Substantial and Transformational
Innovation from the Core
Strategic commitment and opportunism can live together when
a core business in a decentralized fi rm actively looks to create