Creating A New Sub-Category

If a company can create a product or a service that has
features that are valuable and unique they have created
a new subcategory.

New industry sub-categories are based on existing industries but add a component to it that has a crucial impact on its usage? Best examples are Apple's invention of the Personal Computer, Henry Ford's production of better cars, and Lyft's filling a new niche in the rideshare industry.

The most successful brands have created a new category in their industry.

Once I heard the saying that nerds & hippies were typically the ones that create new categories because they tend to dislike mediocracy or status quo. They typically don't make decisions based on a set number of choices. They would decide for a solution outside of the norm. Steve Jobs also calls this phenomenon "jumping curves." What he means by that is that every product or any other development follows a life cycle that typically starts slow, accelerates and then falls off. His point is that, as a company, creating a new category means to jump on the next life cycle (curve) that is propelled by a product that is 10 times better (not twice as good) and that replaces the current product. Successful businesses do just that, being the first to jump onto the next curve.

Steve Jobs once said: "There were too many people at Apple and the Apple Ecosystem paying the game of 'for Apple to win Microsoft has to lose'. And it was clear that you didn't have to play that game. Apple did not need to beat Microsoft. Apple had to remember who Apple was." – Steve Jobs August 1997

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Jumping The Curve

On October 6, 2011, the day after Steve Jobs died, Guy Kawasaki gave a talk at the Silicon Valley Bank’s CEO Summit. He talked about lessons he learned from Steven. And one lesson he mentioned was "jump the curve". What Steve meant by that statement is not really a new concept but it makes clear what entrepreneurs really need to do if they want to become and stay relevant. You certainly have seen a typical product life cycle curve that every product runs through. The picture below illustrates this curve. What Steve is referring to is the fact that if companies, especially start-ups, want to avoid the harsh headwind from their competition, and if they like to grow their business, they need to be innovative and bring a new product onto the market, which is unique and valuable to the customers – they need to jump onto a new product lifecycle curve.

Branding vs. Brand

It is important to make a distinction between the term Brand and Branding. If we use the analogy of an iceberg, things underneath the waterline are represented by the term Brand. They are not immediately seen by the audience, like employees, suppliers, and even the company's products or services, customers and other partners represent the brand. In contrast, Branding is an activity that is visible and is considered the process of designing brand identity . Items that are the result of branding include all identifying artifacts like the logo, icons, avatars, taglines and the company name. The output of branding activities consists also of a style guide, employee guidelines, the vision and mission statement and a list of company core values. If we go one step further and create branded touchpoints like flyers, business cards, posters, etc., we consider this step Marketing. Marketing is illustrated as ships that come and go from the iceberg. Brand Builder Box™ considers the e

Unique and Valuable

Imagine a product that is very unique but does not have any value for anyone. You might agree that this product would not be worth much. Now, think of a product that is very valuable but not unique, then the product would not be worth much either because a lot of competitors produce the same product and there is an over-supply, which causes prices to plummet and margins for the producer become only sustainable for mass production. In other words, a company has the best selling proposition when its products are unique and valuable to the customers. The same is true for brands. A brand will need to be unique and valuable, so people feel drawn to the brand. It is remarkable that big brands have figured out their formula for brand success and are constantly developing their brand to stay relevant. So, it is no wonder that big brands become bigger over time. Brandz.com analyzes hundreds of brands and creates an annual report for each country and for the world. These reports show annua

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