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Brand Relevance: Making Competitors Irrelevant - always yours

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Epilogue<br />

THE YIN AND YANG OF THE<br />

RELEVANCE BATTLE<br />

It ain ’ t over till it ’ s over.<br />

—Yogi Berra<br />

The market dynamics and strategic options discussed in this<br />

book need to be placed in perspective. There is a yin and yang<br />

connected to the battle to create or maintain brand relevance<br />

and to make competitors irrelevant. The downside as well as the<br />

upside of a relevance driven strategy should be on the table.<br />

It is true that creating new categories and subcategories often<br />

involves a huge payoff. Competition without competitors or with<br />

reduced or weakened competitors is a lot more profi table than<br />

fi ghting a brand preference war and, in addition, is a lot more<br />

pleasant. Even if the period of enjoying a hospitable competitive<br />

arena is limited, it may still create a profi t fl ow, market momentum,<br />

and customer base that will pay off as the competitors<br />

become relevant.<br />

It is true that the incidence of fi rms succeeding in creating<br />

market spaces with little or no competition is high. There are<br />

dozens of such cases explored in this book, but these represent<br />

a small fraction of those that exist. A set of cases similar to the<br />

Chrysler minivan, Enterprise Rent - A - Car, Yoplait ’ s Go - Gurt,<br />

SoBe, Muji, Zara, the iPod, and Asahi Super Dry can be found<br />

in most industries. Further, the incidence of new categories and<br />

subcategories emerging is increasing as markets become more<br />

dynamic.<br />

355

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