By Robert Wheatley

The only path to growth in a commoditized world

Tuesday night Barack Obama demonstrated one of the most powerful principles of branding in the new age of saturation: be different. His campaign focus was appropriately simple, defining and memorable - Change We Need. The relevance of it was persuasive not because of its logic and argument but because of its superb reflection of a basic truth. The electorate already believed change is vital and necessary. Obama owns change as a position. Its relevance worked to help marginalize John McCain, who had trouble defining his candidacy beyond his obvious experience and track record.

The fundamental driver of business success today…

We live in an age where technical prowess is fleeting. Where specsmanship has limited currency due to technology’s ability to closely match the formulas and features of one product vs. the other. Excellence is table stakes. So is extraordinary service. Value is important now more than ever but alone it is also a commodity.

Physical distinctions between brands get thin. Therefore habit increasingly plays a role in year-on-year business performance because consumers show a remarkable resistance to apply any brain time to re-think purchase direction if a product fulfills its primary mission. From brand to brand, category-to-category we can dissect products and businesses to reveal a remarkable level of sameness. One airline to another. One pasta sauce to another. One detergent to another. And so on.

Trailblazing is more than a metaphor…

We build Trailblazer brands. That is our business mission. It’s what we do. The idea of Trailblazing isn’t so much about disrupting category behaviors and conventions, although it is fundamental to successful brand behavior. Trailblazing is a process aimed at understanding how to achieve radical differentiation. Al Ries, in his recent article in Ad Age about the Obama campaign had this to say: “Better never works in marketing. The only thing that works in marketing is different. When you’re different, you can pre-empt the concept in consumers’ minds so your competitors can never take it away from you. Look at what “Ultimate Driving Machine” has done for BMW. Are there vehicles that are more fun to drive than BMWs? Probably, but it doesn’t matter. BMW has pre-empted the ‘driving’ position in the mind.”

Trailblazer brands devote themselves to being relentless category creators. This is a process of dialing difference sufficiently to the right or left that a new category emerges that a brand can own. This isn’t an exercise in semantics but a genuine study designed to help brands elevate themselves and identify a trajectory that consumers will understand, resonate to and see as unique. Wii is not another gaming console, it ushered in a new, exciting category in electronic gaming.

Why this matters…

The opposite of Trailblazing is treading water. Or sinking. Commoditization forces exist in varying degrees in virtually every consumer category. The prescription for brand success and health is building an extraordinary value proposition that integrates functional, financial, intangible and emotional drivers that surface from devotion to mining consumer insights. The deductive part of this process involves identifying where the sweet spot of “different” can create sufficient sustainable leverage.

We then translate that platform into consumer and trade facing PR and social media strategies to bring it all to life in compelling fashion. In the absence of this process however, business continues down a precarious path where growth momentum isn’t really secured and outside forces often play too much of a role in manipulating brand destiny.

John McCain was forced to react to Barack Obama. The President-elect’s Change mantra set the agenda and defined the moment. His candidacy was different and unwavering. The message clarity helped direct resources, messaging, outreach strategies - all the solid behaviors of a brand on the move to capture momentum. And on top of all this was the emotion he rendered in heaping bucket full’s of inspiring oratory that moved people in the heart as well as the mind. We buy based on feeling and gut more than rational study of analytical information. Barack Obama is a Trailblazer in more ways than one. Is your brand a Trailblazer? If so, how?