Differentiation Archive

An associate, Rhonda McHardy sent us this new ad campaign for Air New Zealand.
Is it clever, or is it brilliant?   What do you think?

I guess when we are looking at ways to create compelling differentiation, we have to include in our mental check lists, “upside down.”
I am of course speaking of Topsy Turvy, the new tomato plant that grows upside down out of the bottom of a hanging basket.  Everything about this product fits the principles of Killer [...]

Animal crackers with which we are all familiar were not a brand.  Animal crackers are a commodity with many different manufacturers over the years, even a few now, but the niche category has been all but owned since 1902 by Nabisco with its Barnum Animal crackers.  WHY??
In 1902, Nabisco created a special package of Barnum’s [...]

Why not?
Can you differentiate a drinking glass in a compelling and ownable way, and become famous for it?
Well, the Tervis Tumbler™ is just that.  Except they are not a Killer Brand, because as successful as they are, very few people know about them by name, even when they are drinking from one.  Are you familiar [...]

The American Dream may be born in the fact that to create a Killer Brand here does not require the resources of a giant, just the talent of a giant.
Consider.  Delta with giant resources starts a new airline named Song.  Millions later Song is gone.
While during the same years, in the very toughest economic times, [...]

Here is a new and very definite KILLER BRAND that I recently discovered.  How can one company own a 62% share of a highly fragmented category?
Meet Vic Firth.  Every heard of him or his company?  If you play the drums you probably have. Vic Firth drumsticks are the undisputed Killer Brand in the drumstick category.
Vic [...]

As we watch the demise of the newspaper in America amid the rise of blogs, it should be noted that the first newspaper published in America, “Publick Occurrences” in the year 1690, WAS BOTH A NEWSPAPER AND A BLOG.
Publick Occurrences consisted of 3 pages of print articles with a blank back page for readers to [...]

This is a day late but the Macintosh computer was born yesterday, 25 years ago with <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch">the famous "George Orwell, 1984" TV advertising</a>.
I was thinking that we ran Bullfrog on an Apple II, and we ran my first consulting company on an Apple III, both of which preceeded the Macintosh.  Seems like just yesterday.  [...]

Drinkability

The new Bud Light campaign using the non-consumer term, “drinkability” is very interesting for several reasons.
First, drinkability is a term used internally maybe by all beer companies (I have worked with Coors and Miller and it was used both places).  But everyone knows it is not a consumer word.  No consumer ever says, “This beer [...]

You can brand anything.  Over 50 years ago, the Butterball turkey was introduced, and for 40 of those years once it achieved broad geographical distribution, it has been the number one brand of turkey, even though it has been owned by different companies.
Number one for 40 years.  No Thanksgiving should ever pass without brand-interested parties [...]