Want to be different? Change your world, not your tactics.
As HBS professor Youngme Moon argues in Different: Escaping the Competitive Herd, competition too often breeds conformity. Yet there is plenty of space for adventurous companies keen to break free of the pack.
"In a nutshell, the book is an exploration of what it means for a business to be different, to be meaningfully different, to be different in a way that makes a difference to consumers," she says.
"Differentiation is a way of thinking."An authority on innovative consumer marketing strategies, Moon has published case studies on companies including Microsoft, Sony, and Intel, and consults with consumer marketing companies in the area of innovation. She also serves on the board of directors of Avid Technology and the board of governors of the American Red Cross.
We asked her how companies can be truly different.
Sarah Jane Gilbert: What led you to write Different?
Youngme Moon: I wrote this book because in business today there is a huge disconnect between the way we talk about the concept of differentiation and the way it actually plays out in the market.
What I mean by this is, in our business schools, we preach the importance of differentiation; in our executive suites, we build our strategies around the concepts of differentiation. But when most consumers leave their homes to purchase something as prosaic as a bottle of shampoo or a carton of juice or a pair of sneakers, they are confronted with a dizzying array of options to choose from, options that are notable, not for their difference, but for their apparent sameness.
And so there is a disconnect between the way companies talk about their products and brands, and the way consumers ultimately experience them.
Q: How does this "disconnect" between marketers and their customers occur?
A: In my research, what I learned was that despite the fact that most companies are deeply committed to the concept of differentiation, at any given moment they are also intensely aware of what their competitors are doing, and it is this competitive vigilance that ultimately pushes them down a path of conformity. They will notice, for example, that competitor A has decided to offer a couple of new features in this market, or that competitor B has raised its prices in that market. And it is these observations that make it very difficult for them to resist the urge to follow suit. Competitive pressure, I argue, breeds conformity.
Q: You discuss consumer devotion to a product or service in your chapter on "category blur." What do you see happening to brand loyalty?
A: There is no question in my mind that, when it comes to many consumer brands and services, overall brand loyalty is on the decline. In the book, I outline a number of reasons for this; one of them has to do with the proliferation of products and services available to us.
Many years ago, I had a boyfriend who considered himself a pretty classy fellow because he only ate Häagen-Dazs ice cream, but the fact of the matter is, it's easy to be a Häagen-Dazs loyalist when Häagen-Dazs is the only major player in the premium ice cream game. When the market is packed with premium clones, Häagen-Dazs loyalists are by definition going to be harder to find. My dad used to swear by Sony televisions; well, I went shopping for a big-screen television recently and I have to tell you, standing before that huge wall of big-screen TVs, it struck me how old-fashioned my dad's fidelity to a single brand would seem today.
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As HBS professor Youngme Moon argues in Different: Escaping the Competitive Herd, competition too often breeds conformity. Yet there is plenty of space for adventurous companies keen to break free of the pack.
"In a nutshell, the book is an exploration of what it means for a business to be different, to be meaningfully different, to be different in a way that makes a difference to consumers," she says.
"Differentiation is a way of thinking."An authority on innovative consumer marketing strategies, Moon has published case studies on companies including Microsoft, Sony, and Intel, and consults with consumer marketing companies in the area of innovation. She also serves on the board of directors of Avid Technology and the board of governors of the American Red Cross.
We asked her how companies can be truly different.
Sarah Jane Gilbert: What led you to write Different?
Youngme Moon: I wrote this book because in business today there is a huge disconnect between the way we talk about the concept of differentiation and the way it actually plays out in the market.
What I mean by this is, in our business schools, we preach the importance of differentiation; in our executive suites, we build our strategies around the concepts of differentiation. But when most consumers leave their homes to purchase something as prosaic as a bottle of shampoo or a carton of juice or a pair of sneakers, they are confronted with a dizzying array of options to choose from, options that are notable, not for their difference, but for their apparent sameness.
And so there is a disconnect between the way companies talk about their products and brands, and the way consumers ultimately experience them.
Q: How does this "disconnect" between marketers and their customers occur?
A: In my research, what I learned was that despite the fact that most companies are deeply committed to the concept of differentiation, at any given moment they are also intensely aware of what their competitors are doing, and it is this competitive vigilance that ultimately pushes them down a path of conformity. They will notice, for example, that competitor A has decided to offer a couple of new features in this market, or that competitor B has raised its prices in that market. And it is these observations that make it very difficult for them to resist the urge to follow suit. Competitive pressure, I argue, breeds conformity.
Q: You discuss consumer devotion to a product or service in your chapter on "category blur." What do you see happening to brand loyalty?
A: There is no question in my mind that, when it comes to many consumer brands and services, overall brand loyalty is on the decline. In the book, I outline a number of reasons for this; one of them has to do with the proliferation of products and services available to us.
Many years ago, I had a boyfriend who considered himself a pretty classy fellow because he only ate Häagen-Dazs ice cream, but the fact of the matter is, it's easy to be a Häagen-Dazs loyalist when Häagen-Dazs is the only major player in the premium ice cream game. When the market is packed with premium clones, Häagen-Dazs loyalists are by definition going to be harder to find. My dad used to swear by Sony televisions; well, I went shopping for a big-screen television recently and I have to tell you, standing before that huge wall of big-screen TVs, it struck me how old-fashioned my dad's fidelity to a single brand would seem today.
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