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Different: Escaping the Competitive Herd
What if working like crazy to beat the competition did exactly the opposite, making you mediocre and more like the competition?
In today’s world of overabundant consumer choices and superfluous apps, upgrades, add-ons, and features, brands have become nearly identical, as their efforts to outdo one another have pushed them into a dizzying herd of indistinct options.
Youngme Moon identifies the outliers, the mavericks, the iconoclasts—the players who have thoughtfully rejected orthodoxy in favor of an approach that is more adventurous. Some are even “hostile,” almost daring you to buy what they are selling.
Using her original research on companies such as IKEA and Google, Moon will inspire you to be counterintuitive and meaningfully different—to rethink your business strategy, to stop conforming and start deviating, to stop emulating and start innovating. Because to stand out you must become the exception, not the rule.
In today’s world of overabundant consumer choices and superfluous apps, upgrades, add-ons, and features, brands have become nearly identical, as their efforts to outdo one another have pushed them into a dizzying herd of indistinct options.
Youngme Moon identifies the outliers, the mavericks, the iconoclasts—the players who have thoughtfully rejected orthodoxy in favor of an approach that is more adventurous. Some are even “hostile,” almost daring you to buy what they are selling.
Using her original research on companies such as IKEA and Google, Moon will inspire you to be counterintuitive and meaningfully different—to rethink your business strategy, to stop conforming and start deviating, to stop emulating and start innovating. Because to stand out you must become the exception, not the rule.
288 pages, Paperback
First published April 6, 2010
315 people are currently reading
3882 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 183 reviews
March 28, 2012
Thought provoking book. At first, I was frustrated because the author explains upfront that this won't be like other business books. No tidy takeaways and key action points. You have to slow down and let her walk you through her thinking. She's so eloquent, though, that once you do this, she does a brilliant job of coming at key points from surprising directions.
The sign of a good book is one that stays with you and/or one you want to discuss with others and Different scored on both fronts. I ended up reading segments from this to my husband on a drive back from a weekend away and we both enjoyed her analysis of how some household brands had successfully - and surprisingly - achieved the status of Different.
In a world where so many brands end up offering the same thing, Youngme Moon managed to be enlightening, entertaining and different in her own right.
The sign of a good book is one that stays with you and/or one you want to discuss with others and Different scored on both fronts. I ended up reading segments from this to my husband on a drive back from a weekend away and we both enjoyed her analysis of how some household brands had successfully - and surprisingly - achieved the status of Different.
In a world where so many brands end up offering the same thing, Youngme Moon managed to be enlightening, entertaining and different in her own right.
April 25, 2020
I'm not a big fan of business books. However, I had been listening to Youngme Moon on HBS's After Hours podcast for a few months and enjoyed her take on matters. When wandering around my office one day, I found her book discarded on a counter in one of the side kitchens. Recognizing the name, I picked it up and resolved to read it.
Here's what I learned: Youngme Moon is a professor of marketing at Harvard Business School, she has written a lot of case studies as a professor, and despite her elevated position within the world of marketing she remains very humble even when it comes to her primary subject matter.
In fact, her humbleness was one of the reasons I enjoyed the book so much. I find that with many business books, the authors come off as pompous. They want to shove their point as far down your throat as possible and make sure that it sticks.
(Digression: I think the greatest offender of this is Nassim Taleb. I tried reading his book Antifragile having heard a lot of positive reviews for his other book, The Black Swan. There is no discussion in that book: it's the world as Taleb sees it. And, unfortunately, a lot of what Taleb sees is how much smarter he is than everyone else, how much more accomplished he is than everyone else, how he can taste wine better than other people and lift more weights. Blah!)
Moon's approach, though, is based in discussion, dissection, and communication. I think her skill as an educator really comes through in the book. She is not attempting to define the great marketing thesis of the 21st century; she's simply trying to give people both in marketing and outside of it the vocabulary for discussing brands and their impact.
In her prologue, Moon states that her goal for the book is to educate in a style similar to Richard Feynman in Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! While I've never read that book, she describes it as a series of seemingly unrelated anecdotes that eventually come together to provide a larger lesson. While I'm not sure she nailed it, I think she did pretty well. Her writing is solid, her story development around the different brands is entertaining, and by the end you definitely learn a thing or two.
Here's what I learned: Youngme Moon is a professor of marketing at Harvard Business School, she has written a lot of case studies as a professor, and despite her elevated position within the world of marketing she remains very humble even when it comes to her primary subject matter.
In fact, her humbleness was one of the reasons I enjoyed the book so much. I find that with many business books, the authors come off as pompous. They want to shove their point as far down your throat as possible and make sure that it sticks.
(Digression: I think the greatest offender of this is Nassim Taleb. I tried reading his book Antifragile having heard a lot of positive reviews for his other book, The Black Swan. There is no discussion in that book: it's the world as Taleb sees it. And, unfortunately, a lot of what Taleb sees is how much smarter he is than everyone else, how much more accomplished he is than everyone else, how he can taste wine better than other people and lift more weights. Blah!)
Moon's approach, though, is based in discussion, dissection, and communication. I think her skill as an educator really comes through in the book. She is not attempting to define the great marketing thesis of the 21st century; she's simply trying to give people both in marketing and outside of it the vocabulary for discussing brands and their impact.
In her prologue, Moon states that her goal for the book is to educate in a style similar to Richard Feynman in Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! While I've never read that book, she describes it as a series of seemingly unrelated anecdotes that eventually come together to provide a larger lesson. While I'm not sure she nailed it, I think she did pretty well. Her writing is solid, her story development around the different brands is entertaining, and by the end you definitely learn a thing or two.
September 28, 2010
An insightful, nuanced, atypical "business" book. Usually business books are popular in their target audience because they offer actionable golden bullets: "do these 1, 2, 3 steps and you can succeed." This book intentionally eschews that route. It is not about "how" a business becomes "different," but rather, simply about describing cases of businesses that have really stood out for being different in one way or another. There are cases on Google, Ikea, Apple, Harley Davidson, etc. These companies bite off more than they can chew and have become icons. The question is how they got there but the answer in each case is, unsurprisingly, different.
Google gave us a more streamlined search when the industry trend was moving towards all-in-one portals.
Ikea gave us an antithetical (build it all yourself furniture that doesn't last that long) value proposition for furniture stores.
Moon is a great writer and a sensitive thinker about people. Her writing is simple and exudes more than just business wisdom. A very quick and rewarding read.
Google gave us a more streamlined search when the industry trend was moving towards all-in-one portals.
Ikea gave us an antithetical (build it all yourself furniture that doesn't last that long) value proposition for furniture stores.
Moon is a great writer and a sensitive thinker about people. Her writing is simple and exudes more than just business wisdom. A very quick and rewarding read.
September 7, 2010
Interesting. Informative. Well written. Two of my favorite brands are profiled in the book: Ikea and In-N-Out Burger. While the author is addressing larger businesses and their product marketing efforts, I chose to read this to see how some of the concepts could be applied to indie art/craft businesses (which, in recent years, seem to be adopting the same marketing strategies as regular "brands" ... to their detriment, IMHO).
Nice to see big brands that do it their own way and find success!
Nice to see big brands that do it their own way and find success!
August 29, 2018
Liked it. A somewhat philosophical take on what it means to be different. I believe the author was a business professor so the context of the book was in the business world (e.g. why/how Ikea or a couple of other brands are considered differnet). Easy business read.
October 15, 2011
I enjoyed the ideas and the way she writes but classic example of a book that was probably a magazine article or bschool case study that someone stretched to sell as a book.
March 31, 2024
(The English review is placed beneath the Russian one)
Несмотря на то, что автор выделяет аж три категории брендов, которые отличаются непохожестью и которые благодаря этому коммерчески успешны, я не увидел особой разницы между этими тремя типами брендов. С моей точки зрения, автор переиначивает классическую идею Траута и Райса, которая в дальнейшем была обновлена и дополнена авторами книги «Стратегия голубого океана». Более того, автор даже приводит в пример Cirque du Soleil, который мне особенно запомнился в книге «Стратегия голубого океана».
Как правильно заметили многие англоязычные читатели, эту книгу стоило было бы сократить до 100 страниц или даже ограничится статьёй в профильном журнале типа HBR. Поэтому главных проблем в этой книге две - огромное количество несвязанного с главной темой текста и отсутствие чего-то нового в пересказе старой темы о дифференцировании.
Формально, автор предлагает три типа дифференцированных брендов – концептуальные, реверсивные и колючие бренды. Однако лично я не увидел особой разницы в этих трёх типах брендов. Всё чем они отличаются – непохожесть от других. В качестве примера автор приводит Apple, Cirque du Soleil, IKEA, бренд автомобиля MINI Cooper, Google, JetBlue, In-N-Out Burger и несколько других. Все эти бренды известны большинству жителей западного мира, а также большая часть из них прибыльна. Поэтому получается, что автор просто взяла популярные (известные) бренды, которые действительно не похожи на своих конкурентов, как например поисковая страничка Google и применила (подставила) к своей теории, т.е. к своей типологии дифференцированных брендов. Я ни в коем случаи не спорю о важности быть непохожим, просто на эту тему написано уже три книги: «Дифференцируйся или умирай», «Стратегия голубого океана» и «Фиолетовая корова». Теперь у нас получается четыре книги на тему важности быть непохожим, важности дифференцирования брендов.
Однако главным недостатком книги является всё же не пересказ этой известной истины, а излишне огромное количество текста малосвязанного с обсуждаемой темой. К самой теме важности радикального отличия от конкурентов мы придём только после того как прочитаем четверть всей книги. Да и в целом, чувствуется, что автор силилась наполнить книгу хоть чем-то, а не только одними многочисленными примерами. Да и примеры, как я показал выше, не очень-то и новые, и в основном это известные компании и их бренды. Когда ты являешься компанией Google или Apple с большим бюджетом, тебе намного проще создавать радикально отличающийся бренд. Хотя, разумеется, это не главный фактор, ибо в бизнесе существуют и небольшие компании, которые предложили сильно дифференцированные бренды. Поэтому главным недостатком для меня стало именно присутствие несвязанного с главной темой текста.
Последнее что хотел отметить, так это спорное утверждение о бренде одежды для подростков Hollister. Автор пишет, что бренд задуман так чтобы демонстрировать что «В Hollister на самом деле не хотят видеть родителей, и, если вам за двадцать, вы скорее почувствуете, что магазин спроектирован так, чтобы для вас он был чужим». Это абсолютно не так. Когда я был в этом магазине, мне очень понравилась атмосфера (хотя мне далеко за 30), да и взрослых людей там было много (хотя, разумеется, подростков намного больше). Я хочу сказать, что я вовсе не увидел в этом бренде то, что приписывает ему автор. Hollister ориентирован на подростков, но это вовсе не значит, что взрослые люди не могут увлекаться таким брендом и тем образом жизни который предлагает (обещает) бренд Hollister. Поэтому концепция колючего бренда, для меня является очень сомнительной. Люди любят непохожие товары и бренды, вот они и становятся лояльными покупателями таких вот «колючих» брендов, так как на самом деле они их такими не считают, т.е. они не воспринимают «колючки» в качестве «колючек». И тут с автором я определённо не согласен. Ибо в целом, это обычная стратегия дифференцирования своего товара/бренда от конкурентов. Не всегда она приносит успех, но это шанс на успех.
Стоит ли читать книгу? С моей точки зрения, достаточно книг «Дифференцируйся или умирай» и «Стратегия голубого океана», чтобы понять и запомнить всю суть подобной стратегии. Да и если бы автор ограничилась 100 страницами, тогда ещё можно было бы порекомендовать её книгу, а так, не стоит.
Even though the author identifies three categories of brands that are different and commercially successful, I did not see much difference between these three types of brands. From my point of view, the author reinterprets the classic idea of Jack Trout and Al Ries, which was further updated and supplemented by the authors of the book "Blue Ocean Strategy." Moreover, the author even gives Cirque du Soleil as an example, which I particularly remembered in the book "Blue Ocean Strategy."
As many English-speaking readers have correctly pointed out, this book should have been reduced to 100 pages or even limited to an article in a specialized magazine like HBR. Therefore, there are two main problems in this book - the huge amount of unrelated text and the lack of something new in the retelling of the old topic of differentiation.
Technically, the author suggests three types of differentiated brands - conceptual, reversible, and prickly. However, I did not see much difference in these three types of brands. All they are different is dissimilarity from others. The author cites Apple, Cirque du Soleil, IKEA, the MINI Cooper car brand, Google, JetBlue, In-N-Out Burger, and a few others as examples. All of these brands are known to most people in the Western world, and also, most of them are profitable. So it turns out that the author simply took popular (well-known) brands that are really different from their competitors, such as the Google search page, and applied (substituted) it to her theory, i.e., to her typology of differentiated brands. I am by no means arguing about the importance of being different; it's just that three books have already been written on this topic: "Differentiate or Die," "Blue Ocean Strategy," and "Purple Cow." Now, we have four books on the importance of being different (the importance of brand differentiation).
However, the main drawback of the book is not the retelling of this well-known truth but the excessively large amount of text with little connection to the topic under discussion. We will come to the very topic of the importance of radical differences from competitors only after reading a quarter of the book. And in general, it feels that the author tried to fill the book with something, not just numerous examples. And the examples, as I showed above, are not very new - they are well-known companies and their brands. When you're Google or Apple with a big budget, it's much easier to create a radically different brand. Although, of course, this is not the main factor because there are also small companies in business that have proposed highly differentiated brands. Therefore, the main drawback for me was the presence of unrelated text to the main topic.
The last thing I wanted to point out was a controversial statement about the teen clothing brand Hollister. The author writes that the brand is designed to demonstrate that "Hollister doesn't really want parents, and if you're in your twenties, you're more likely to feel that the store is designed to be alien to you." This is not the case. When I was in this store, I really liked the atmosphere (even though I'm well into my 30s), and there were plenty of adults there (though, of course, there are many more teenagers). My point is that I didn't see this brand as what the author attributes to it at all. Hollister is aimed at teenagers, but that doesn't mean that adults can't be attracted to this brand and the lifestyle that Hollister offers (promises). Therefore, the concept of a prickly brand, for me, is very questionable. People like different products and brands, so they become loyal customers of such "prickly" brands because they do not consider them as such, i.e., they do not perceive "prickles" as "prickles." And this is where I disagree with the author. In general, it is a common strategy to differentiate one's product/brand from competitors. It doesn't always bring success, but it is a chance for success.
Is it worth reading the book? From my point of view, the books "Differentiate or Die" and "Blue Ocean Strategy" are enough to understand and memorize the essence of such a strategy. If the author had limited herself to 100 pages, then I could recommend her book.
Несмотря на то, что автор выделяет аж три категории брендов, которые отличаются непохожестью и которые благодаря этому коммерчески успешны, я не увидел особой разницы между этими тремя типами брендов. С моей точки зрения, автор переиначивает классическую идею Траута и Райса, которая в дальнейшем была обновлена и дополнена авторами книги «Стратегия голубого океана». Более того, автор даже приводит в пример Cirque du Soleil, который мне особенно запомнился в книге «Стратегия голубого океана».
Как правильно заметили многие англоязычные читатели, эту книгу стоило было бы сократить до 100 страниц или даже ограничится статьёй в профильном журнале типа HBR. Поэтому главных проблем в этой книге две - огромное количество несвязанного с главной темой текста и отсутствие чего-то нового в пересказе старой темы о дифференцировании.
Формально, автор предлагает три типа дифференцированных брендов – концептуальные, реверсивные и колючие бренды. Однако лично я не увидел особой разницы в этих трёх типах брендов. Всё чем они отличаются – непохожесть от других. В качестве примера автор приводит Apple, Cirque du Soleil, IKEA, бренд автомобиля MINI Cooper, Google, JetBlue, In-N-Out Burger и несколько других. Все эти бренды известны большинству жителей западного мира, а также большая часть из них прибыльна. Поэтому получается, что автор просто взяла популярные (известные) бренды, которые действительно не похожи на своих конкурентов, как например поисковая страничка Google и применила (подставила) к своей теории, т.е. к своей типологии дифференцированных брендов. Я ни в коем случаи не спорю о важности быть непохожим, просто на эту тему написано уже три книги: «Дифференцируйся или умирай», «Стратегия голубого океана» и «Фиолетовая корова». Теперь у нас получается четыре книги на тему важности быть непохожим, важности дифференцирования брендов.
Однако главным недостатком книги является всё же не пересказ этой известной истины, а излишне огромное количество текста малосвязанного с обсуждаемой темой. К самой теме важности радикального отличия от конкурентов мы придём только после того как прочитаем четверть всей книги. Да и в целом, чувствуется, что автор силилась наполнить книгу хоть чем-то, а не только одними многочисленными примерами. Да и примеры, как я показал выше, не очень-то и новые, и в основном это известные компании и их бренды. Когда ты являешься компанией Google или Apple с большим бюджетом, тебе намного проще создавать радикально отличающийся бренд. Хотя, разумеется, это не главный фактор, ибо в бизнесе существуют и небольшие компании, которые предложили сильно дифференцированные бренды. Поэтому главным недостатком для меня стало именно присутствие несвязанного с главной темой текста.
Последнее что хотел отметить, так это спорное утверждение о бренде одежды для подростков Hollister. Автор пишет, что бренд задуман так чтобы демонстрировать что «В Hollister на самом деле не хотят видеть родителей, и, если вам за двадцать, вы скорее почувствуете, что магазин спроектирован так, чтобы для вас он был чужим». Это абсолютно не так. Когда я был в этом магазине, мне очень понравилась атмосфера (хотя мне далеко за 30), да и взрослых людей там было много (хотя, разумеется, подростков намного больше). Я хочу сказать, что я вовсе не увидел в этом бренде то, что приписывает ему автор. Hollister ориентирован на подростков, но это вовсе не значит, что взрослые люди не могут увлекаться таким брендом и тем образом жизни который предлагает (обещает) бренд Hollister. Поэтому концепция колючего бренда, для меня является очень сомнительной. Люди любят непохожие товары и бренды, вот они и становятся лояльными покупателями таких вот «колючих» брендов, так как на самом деле они их такими не считают, т.е. они не воспринимают «колючки» в качестве «колючек». И тут с автором я определённо не согласен. Ибо в целом, это обычная стратегия дифференцирования своего товара/бренда от конкурентов. Не всегда она приносит успех, но это шанс на успех.
Стоит ли читать книгу? С моей точки зрения, достаточно книг «Дифференцируйся или умирай» и «Стратегия голубого океана», чтобы понять и запомнить всю суть подобной стратегии. Да и если бы автор ограничилась 100 страницами, тогда ещё можно было бы порекомендовать её книгу, а так, не стоит.
Even though the author identifies three categories of brands that are different and commercially successful, I did not see much difference between these three types of brands. From my point of view, the author reinterprets the classic idea of Jack Trout and Al Ries, which was further updated and supplemented by the authors of the book "Blue Ocean Strategy." Moreover, the author even gives Cirque du Soleil as an example, which I particularly remembered in the book "Blue Ocean Strategy."
As many English-speaking readers have correctly pointed out, this book should have been reduced to 100 pages or even limited to an article in a specialized magazine like HBR. Therefore, there are two main problems in this book - the huge amount of unrelated text and the lack of something new in the retelling of the old topic of differentiation.
Technically, the author suggests three types of differentiated brands - conceptual, reversible, and prickly. However, I did not see much difference in these three types of brands. All they are different is dissimilarity from others. The author cites Apple, Cirque du Soleil, IKEA, the MINI Cooper car brand, Google, JetBlue, In-N-Out Burger, and a few others as examples. All of these brands are known to most people in the Western world, and also, most of them are profitable. So it turns out that the author simply took popular (well-known) brands that are really different from their competitors, such as the Google search page, and applied (substituted) it to her theory, i.e., to her typology of differentiated brands. I am by no means arguing about the importance of being different; it's just that three books have already been written on this topic: "Differentiate or Die," "Blue Ocean Strategy," and "Purple Cow." Now, we have four books on the importance of being different (the importance of brand differentiation).
However, the main drawback of the book is not the retelling of this well-known truth but the excessively large amount of text with little connection to the topic under discussion. We will come to the very topic of the importance of radical differences from competitors only after reading a quarter of the book. And in general, it feels that the author tried to fill the book with something, not just numerous examples. And the examples, as I showed above, are not very new - they are well-known companies and their brands. When you're Google or Apple with a big budget, it's much easier to create a radically different brand. Although, of course, this is not the main factor because there are also small companies in business that have proposed highly differentiated brands. Therefore, the main drawback for me was the presence of unrelated text to the main topic.
The last thing I wanted to point out was a controversial statement about the teen clothing brand Hollister. The author writes that the brand is designed to demonstrate that "Hollister doesn't really want parents, and if you're in your twenties, you're more likely to feel that the store is designed to be alien to you." This is not the case. When I was in this store, I really liked the atmosphere (even though I'm well into my 30s), and there were plenty of adults there (though, of course, there are many more teenagers). My point is that I didn't see this brand as what the author attributes to it at all. Hollister is aimed at teenagers, but that doesn't mean that adults can't be attracted to this brand and the lifestyle that Hollister offers (promises). Therefore, the concept of a prickly brand, for me, is very questionable. People like different products and brands, so they become loyal customers of such "prickly" brands because they do not consider them as such, i.e., they do not perceive "prickles" as "prickles." And this is where I disagree with the author. In general, it is a common strategy to differentiate one's product/brand from competitors. It doesn't always bring success, but it is a chance for success.
Is it worth reading the book? From my point of view, the books "Differentiate or Die" and "Blue Ocean Strategy" are enough to understand and memorize the essence of such a strategy. If the author had limited herself to 100 pages, then I could recommend her book.
February 9, 2011
This book had some interesting points, but it felt like the author had a need to fill space and added a lot of unnecessary rambling. She is unapologetic for her style in the intro, which is kind of a mishmash of thoughts. I could deal with that, but the book probably could have been about 100 pages instead of 200+.
May 19, 2018
Decent read for those digging into positioning and differentiation. I'd put this at 3.5 stars. There are some good examples throughout. During the first read, it didn't come across as heavily research-backed, but rather as the perspective of a qualified educator. Whether that's good or bad or neutral depends on what you're looking for.
May 18, 2012
I liked the general manifesto, but the book didn't really have enough depth. I didn't finish reading it feeling armed with great case studies or facts. I also found the references to the author's own family / children / students a bit off putting.
June 10, 2016
A true must read for everyone involved with marketing.
April 27, 2020
What if working like crazy to beat the competition did exactly the opposite, making you mediocre and more like the competition?
Summary of the book:
The message of this book is HUGE!
Do NOT try to make sure your weaknesses are up to par as everyone else, love your weaknesses and accentuate your strengths. Be DIFFERENT! Porsche does not make cheap cars. Robert Greene does not write easy books. Nassim Taleb is not polite. Be Different (and better) to stand out and succeed.
Detailed Review:
I don’t how this book landed in my hand, I was listing down some of the books to read this year, when this book name popped in few of the books to read list and I thought to give it a try. It kept lying on my bookshelf for a long time before I picked it and got completely immersed in the message and the way it’s delivered.
Youngme Moon, who chairs the MBA program at Harvard Business School, writes that marketing experts “have gotten stuck in a self-defeating cycle of competition. Or, to put it more forcefully, our competitive competence is killing us.” She decries this “competitive herding,” in which companies rigorously and slavishly analyze their competitors to determine their next product improvements, while losing focus on the unique strengths their products bring to a category.
Moon argues that this competitive herding leads to two types of evolution within product categories. The first, augmentation-by-addition, is what happens when one-litre bottles become two-litre bottles, or more pertinently, when Apple adds a Touch ID sensor to its iPhones, or Samsung adds an NFC chip to its Galaxy smartphones. Every generation has to get smaller, slimmer, sleeker, lighter, and brighter as well as offer us more features than ever before.
The other story is augmentation-by-multiplication. Rather than producing one well-designed product for a market, companies try to compete by building dozens of products to target every small niche in the category as possible. Think about gaming apps like Angry Birds (there are 12 of them right now in the Apple App Store if you include free versions), or Samsung’s entire phone, phablet, and tablet line (Samsung lists 32 Android devices on their homepage). While this multiplication tends to be beneficial to a point, as a product category becomes mature, the number of products start to become a bit ridiculous.
While “Different” focuses on massive consumer brands like IKEA, mini cooper etc, yet, its first message can still be applied to fledgling companies: startups too often define themselves by comparison, hoping to find a small niche against an incumbent rather than to alter the underlying dynamics.
Unlike so many critical analyses though, Moon provides avenues to pursue to avoid the competitive herd. She bundles three types of brand strategies that she believes provide alternative ways to change the brand conversation.
Take “reversal brands” like IKEA and JetBlue, which build loyalty with customers by taking options and features away from us. It sounds almost repulsive to believe that consumers could love a company that removes choices, but that is precisely what these companies do. I was reading in an article that customer values a product more if he has been personally involved in the same i.e. Buying the kit from IKEA and then building on it’s own.
In the start-up world, a great example of a reversal brand would be Snapchat.
For years, social networks have tried to amass large stores of data on us, allowing us to publish and discover relevant content. Then along comes an app that completely throws away that entire approach, and tells the customer that their data will be quickly deleted. It sounded ridiculous for months after its launch, but somehow Snapchat clicked with the users.
The second type of company Moon analyzes is what she terms “breakaway brands,” which are products that are defined using vocabulary from a different product space than we expect.
Take a company like Nest, which was acquired by Google for $3 billion. Thermostats have been in existence for decades, and yet their features have barely changed. Then all of a sudden, Tony Fadell and his team redefine the thermostat (and also the smoke detector) as a learning computer at the center of the home. Suddenly, the way we think about that device on the wall is not just as a useless box to adjust once after moving in, but potentially the way we command our whole house.
Hostile brands, Moon’s third and final category, are the most tricky marketing category. These brands actively polarize people into two groups, and they actively try to create a love-or-hate relationship with the company. The goal is not to be agreeable, and not to bother trying to make everyone your friend. It’s not just about gaining customers, but actively excluding customers who aren’t worth your time.
Among prominent startups today, Uber is a decent example of this strategy. With issues like surge pricing repeatedly flaring up, the company could change its stance on supply economics to satiate complaining customers. Instead, it tries to please those who agree with its strategies, and those customers extend a deep loyalty to the business.
To her credit, Moon doesn’t argue for a formulaic approach to marketing. Building great startups begins with defining difference with the companies already in a marketplace, but starting out different is not enough. Instead, the brands that break out are those that can maintain their products’ differences even under the most relentless criticism. The whole world wants you to become homogenous, and only an incredibly focused and formidable founder is going to be able to rebuff and harness that criticism while building something different – and fundamentally interesting.
If Moon leaves us with any message, it is that “we are forgetting to be different.” The best part of this book is that it's not written like a study material, however, more like a conversation where youngMe is trying to explore these brands with us.
Summary of the book:
The message of this book is HUGE!
Do NOT try to make sure your weaknesses are up to par as everyone else, love your weaknesses and accentuate your strengths. Be DIFFERENT! Porsche does not make cheap cars. Robert Greene does not write easy books. Nassim Taleb is not polite. Be Different (and better) to stand out and succeed.
Detailed Review:
I don’t how this book landed in my hand, I was listing down some of the books to read this year, when this book name popped in few of the books to read list and I thought to give it a try. It kept lying on my bookshelf for a long time before I picked it and got completely immersed in the message and the way it’s delivered.
Youngme Moon, who chairs the MBA program at Harvard Business School, writes that marketing experts “have gotten stuck in a self-defeating cycle of competition. Or, to put it more forcefully, our competitive competence is killing us.” She decries this “competitive herding,” in which companies rigorously and slavishly analyze their competitors to determine their next product improvements, while losing focus on the unique strengths their products bring to a category.
Moon argues that this competitive herding leads to two types of evolution within product categories. The first, augmentation-by-addition, is what happens when one-litre bottles become two-litre bottles, or more pertinently, when Apple adds a Touch ID sensor to its iPhones, or Samsung adds an NFC chip to its Galaxy smartphones. Every generation has to get smaller, slimmer, sleeker, lighter, and brighter as well as offer us more features than ever before.
The other story is augmentation-by-multiplication. Rather than producing one well-designed product for a market, companies try to compete by building dozens of products to target every small niche in the category as possible. Think about gaming apps like Angry Birds (there are 12 of them right now in the Apple App Store if you include free versions), or Samsung’s entire phone, phablet, and tablet line (Samsung lists 32 Android devices on their homepage). While this multiplication tends to be beneficial to a point, as a product category becomes mature, the number of products start to become a bit ridiculous.
While “Different” focuses on massive consumer brands like IKEA, mini cooper etc, yet, its first message can still be applied to fledgling companies: startups too often define themselves by comparison, hoping to find a small niche against an incumbent rather than to alter the underlying dynamics.
Unlike so many critical analyses though, Moon provides avenues to pursue to avoid the competitive herd. She bundles three types of brand strategies that she believes provide alternative ways to change the brand conversation.
Take “reversal brands” like IKEA and JetBlue, which build loyalty with customers by taking options and features away from us. It sounds almost repulsive to believe that consumers could love a company that removes choices, but that is precisely what these companies do. I was reading in an article that customer values a product more if he has been personally involved in the same i.e. Buying the kit from IKEA and then building on it’s own.
In the start-up world, a great example of a reversal brand would be Snapchat.
For years, social networks have tried to amass large stores of data on us, allowing us to publish and discover relevant content. Then along comes an app that completely throws away that entire approach, and tells the customer that their data will be quickly deleted. It sounded ridiculous for months after its launch, but somehow Snapchat clicked with the users.
The second type of company Moon analyzes is what she terms “breakaway brands,” which are products that are defined using vocabulary from a different product space than we expect.
Take a company like Nest, which was acquired by Google for $3 billion. Thermostats have been in existence for decades, and yet their features have barely changed. Then all of a sudden, Tony Fadell and his team redefine the thermostat (and also the smoke detector) as a learning computer at the center of the home. Suddenly, the way we think about that device on the wall is not just as a useless box to adjust once after moving in, but potentially the way we command our whole house.
Hostile brands, Moon’s third and final category, are the most tricky marketing category. These brands actively polarize people into two groups, and they actively try to create a love-or-hate relationship with the company. The goal is not to be agreeable, and not to bother trying to make everyone your friend. It’s not just about gaining customers, but actively excluding customers who aren’t worth your time.
Among prominent startups today, Uber is a decent example of this strategy. With issues like surge pricing repeatedly flaring up, the company could change its stance on supply economics to satiate complaining customers. Instead, it tries to please those who agree with its strategies, and those customers extend a deep loyalty to the business.
To her credit, Moon doesn’t argue for a formulaic approach to marketing. Building great startups begins with defining difference with the companies already in a marketplace, but starting out different is not enough. Instead, the brands that break out are those that can maintain their products’ differences even under the most relentless criticism. The whole world wants you to become homogenous, and only an incredibly focused and formidable founder is going to be able to rebuff and harness that criticism while building something different – and fundamentally interesting.
If Moon leaves us with any message, it is that “we are forgetting to be different.” The best part of this book is that it's not written like a study material, however, more like a conversation where youngMe is trying to explore these brands with us.
April 11, 2021
Really cool insights about how competition in crowded categories has actually led to a blob of similar brands that can hardly be distinguished by the consumer. Sook offers three examples of how to break the mold.
Reverse brands - Google, Jet Blue, IKEA. Simplifying and offering distinct perks.
Breakaway brands - Kimberly Clark pull-ups, Cirque de Soleil, Swatch. Changing people’s minds about the product category.
Hostile brands - Mini Cooper, Red Bull, Birkenstock. Goes against the mainstream and creates loyal followers.
Reverse brands - Google, Jet Blue, IKEA. Simplifying and offering distinct perks.
Breakaway brands - Kimberly Clark pull-ups, Cirque de Soleil, Swatch. Changing people’s minds about the product category.
Hostile brands - Mini Cooper, Red Bull, Birkenstock. Goes against the mainstream and creates loyal followers.
August 18, 2024
nothing against this book but nonfiction makes me want to take a long walk off a short dock
August 18, 2019
Different: Escaping the competitive world by Youngme Moon is a book about the outliers, the anomalies, the iconoclasts, the players who have rejected well-rehearsed routines in favor of more adventurous approach. These players with a feel for improvisation, for experimentation have somehow managed to build brands and create products that strike genuine chord with people.
The book gives a new way of thinking about competition generally, and competitive differentiation.
Youngme Moon through stories of companies that have created value differentiating itself from the competitors in their respective category-creating genuine emotional resonance with customers.
The heart of business success is the ability to compete, the ability to compete depends on the ability to differentiate from competitors. At times, the value lies in digressing from the best practices, the well-established processes and systems. The traditional approach of survey, market research may not be valuable if a company is looking for a unique solution.
The true differentiation, sustainable differentiation is rarely a function of well-roundness, it is a function of lopsidedness. Excellence on any extreme almost always involves a tradeoff.
“Differentiation is not a tactic. It is not a flashy advertising campaign; it is not a sparkling new feature set. It is not a laminated frequent buyer card or a money back guarantee. Differentiation is a way of thinking. It’s a mindset. It’s a commitment. A commitment to engage with people, not in a manner to which they are merely unaccustomed, but in a manner that they will value, respect, and yes, perhaps even celebrate.”
For a business, the impulse to move to a more well-rounded output can be hard to resist. The cumulative effect of this is a herdlike regression towards the mean. Starbucks experimenting with offering breakfast value meals in its coffee shops while McDonald’s is experimenting with putting coffee bars in its fast-food outlets.
Different: Escaping the competitive world by Youngme Moon is an insightful book regarding competitive differentiation in a time in which brand loyalty is becoming harder to come by.
The book gives a new way of thinking about competition generally, and competitive differentiation.
Youngme Moon through stories of companies that have created value differentiating itself from the competitors in their respective category-creating genuine emotional resonance with customers.
The heart of business success is the ability to compete, the ability to compete depends on the ability to differentiate from competitors. At times, the value lies in digressing from the best practices, the well-established processes and systems. The traditional approach of survey, market research may not be valuable if a company is looking for a unique solution.
The true differentiation, sustainable differentiation is rarely a function of well-roundness, it is a function of lopsidedness. Excellence on any extreme almost always involves a tradeoff.
“Differentiation is not a tactic. It is not a flashy advertising campaign; it is not a sparkling new feature set. It is not a laminated frequent buyer card or a money back guarantee. Differentiation is a way of thinking. It’s a mindset. It’s a commitment. A commitment to engage with people, not in a manner to which they are merely unaccustomed, but in a manner that they will value, respect, and yes, perhaps even celebrate.”
For a business, the impulse to move to a more well-rounded output can be hard to resist. The cumulative effect of this is a herdlike regression towards the mean. Starbucks experimenting with offering breakfast value meals in its coffee shops while McDonald’s is experimenting with putting coffee bars in its fast-food outlets.
Different: Escaping the competitive world by Youngme Moon is an insightful book regarding competitive differentiation in a time in which brand loyalty is becoming harder to come by.
February 24, 2019
Treads over some familiar trails blazed earlier by Blue Ocean Strategy and the Innovator's Dilemma, but overall decent. Moon identifies 3 ways types of brands that differentiate themselves:
1. Reverse brands, which go in the opposite directions of feature 'augmentation' trends in their category (e.g., how Google embraced a clean interface while all other search engines crammed more links into the homepage).
2. Breakaway brands, which reframe what it means to compete in a specific category (e.g., Sony's AIBO pet robot, which flipped its reliability issues into delightful expressions of individuality)
3. Hostile brands, which embrace the polarizing aspects of their products (e.g., how Red Bull rejoiced when some consumers said it tasted terrible, or, MINI which flaunted its diminutive size amid a trend towards SUVs)
Some brands, like Apple do a little bit of all 3.
Beyond that, I liked Moon's generalized consumer segmentation - basically that every category has five groups: connoisseurs, opportunists, pragmatics, reluctants, and brand loyalists. When I used to work for a company that did these sorts of segmentations, I sometimes wondered if our clients knew how similar the results and strategies that we recommended to them were to what we recommended to everyone else... so was interesting to read that most categories are actually pretty similar.
On the downside, there was hardly any numerical evidence to back up the observations Moon was making - no validation with consumers research, no breakdowns of market share and brand proliferation over time. There was an occasional "quote" of a social media post from a consumer somewhere, but the fact that it was not attributed and was not in screenshot form, made me wonder if Moon just made up the quotes to drive home her point.
You wouldn't be missing major insights by skipping this book, but it's a fast and easy read, and offers enough to think about to stick with it once you're in. Bonus points to Moon as well for strong prose.
1. Reverse brands, which go in the opposite directions of feature 'augmentation' trends in their category (e.g., how Google embraced a clean interface while all other search engines crammed more links into the homepage).
2. Breakaway brands, which reframe what it means to compete in a specific category (e.g., Sony's AIBO pet robot, which flipped its reliability issues into delightful expressions of individuality)
3. Hostile brands, which embrace the polarizing aspects of their products (e.g., how Red Bull rejoiced when some consumers said it tasted terrible, or, MINI which flaunted its diminutive size amid a trend towards SUVs)
Some brands, like Apple do a little bit of all 3.
Beyond that, I liked Moon's generalized consumer segmentation - basically that every category has five groups: connoisseurs, opportunists, pragmatics, reluctants, and brand loyalists. When I used to work for a company that did these sorts of segmentations, I sometimes wondered if our clients knew how similar the results and strategies that we recommended to them were to what we recommended to everyone else... so was interesting to read that most categories are actually pretty similar.
On the downside, there was hardly any numerical evidence to back up the observations Moon was making - no validation with consumers research, no breakdowns of market share and brand proliferation over time. There was an occasional "quote" of a social media post from a consumer somewhere, but the fact that it was not attributed and was not in screenshot form, made me wonder if Moon just made up the quotes to drive home her point.
You wouldn't be missing major insights by skipping this book, but it's a fast and easy read, and offers enough to think about to stick with it once you're in. Bonus points to Moon as well for strong prose.
May 21, 2018
This is not a bad book, but as another reviewer has pointed out it feels like an elongated magazine article. From an investing standpoint it also gives some neat examples of businesses that fall in the low return on incremental capital category, i.e. the more they try to compete, the less pricing power they seem to have. While the author gives some good examples of businesses that differentiated their offerings by counter-intuitive contrarianism (e.g. Google's simplified homepage, Birkenstocks' f-u- to aesthetic sensibilities), she seems to miss the point that these products also deliver hugely in some dimension (e.g. I don't think the primary reason people began switching to Google back in the day was because of its simple interface but because search results were far more relevant; many Birkenstocks buyers I know buy it for comfort/health-consciousness rather than to make a fashion statement about non-conformism). That being said, I'd agree that the nonconformism of these products helped to generate marketing buzz / controversy / polarization in the early stages and probably helped greatly with building market awareness. There were some good insights about how a product is "framed" can persuade consumers to cut it more slack during the difficult testing phase (Sony's AIBO as a pet instead of a utilitarian object, for example). The book is a very quick read (couple hours max).
January 20, 2019
Đây là cuốn dành cho client, ko phải dành cho agency vì nó nói về các chiến lược làm mới sản phẩm, không phải là làm mới quảng cáo.
Có 2 cách làm mới sản phẩm
+ Cách CỘNG: Iphone nghe nọi + nghe nhạc + lướt web + + + + + + => all in one
+ Cách NHÂN: Coca x Coca Zero x Coca light x Coca gừng x Coca cà phê => siêu phân mảnh
Có 4 cách để thoát khỏi bầy đàn
+ Nghịch đảo: IKEA ko giao hàng, ko lắp hàng giúp, ko chăm sóc khách hàng...khách hàng tự tới
=> nghịch đảo có nghĩa là có những lề lối nào trong ngành, mà mình "nghịch" lại được
+ Tách biệt: AIBO của Sony là robot thú cưng. Thay vì "chìm chung" trong đời đầu AI, tôi tách biệt với tên Robot
=> tách biệt có nghĩa là "nới rộng ranh giới" của ngành hàng, robot người ư, ko, robot thú cưng
+ Thù địch: mạnh dạn làm "địch" với khách hàng, với công ty khác. Burger King vs Mcdonal...
+ Khác biệt: tổng hòa của các cái trên như Apple....
Quote hay: Đo lương làm thay đổi hành vi của thứ bị đo lường. (bệnh thành tích là 1 ví dụ)
Có 2 cách làm mới sản phẩm
+ Cách CỘNG: Iphone nghe nọi + nghe nhạc + lướt web + + + + + + => all in one
+ Cách NHÂN: Coca x Coca Zero x Coca light x Coca gừng x Coca cà phê => siêu phân mảnh
Có 4 cách để thoát khỏi bầy đàn
+ Nghịch đảo: IKEA ko giao hàng, ko lắp hàng giúp, ko chăm sóc khách hàng...khách hàng tự tới
=> nghịch đảo có nghĩa là có những lề lối nào trong ngành, mà mình "nghịch" lại được
+ Tách biệt: AIBO của Sony là robot thú cưng. Thay vì "chìm chung" trong đời đầu AI, tôi tách biệt với tên Robot
=> tách biệt có nghĩa là "nới rộng ranh giới" của ngành hàng, robot người ư, ko, robot thú cưng
+ Thù địch: mạnh dạn làm "địch" với khách hàng, với công ty khác. Burger King vs Mcdonal...
+ Khác biệt: tổng hòa của các cái trên như Apple....
Quote hay: Đo lương làm thay đổi hành vi của thứ bị đo lường. (bệnh thành tích là 1 ví dụ)
November 6, 2017
2.5 stars.
I really wanted to like this book, and to some extent I did. But I also found it extremely frustrating. All to say, there are some real pros and cons to this book. It's really more of a beach read than academic.
Pros:
- It's interesting
- There is some good information to be learned about human behavior and information processing
- It's a very easy read
Cons:
- The examples are cherry picked and the analysis of their impact entirely post-hoc. It is far from scientific. There are no examples of companies that tried to be "different," but failed.
- It reads more like a book proposal than a stand alone book.
- There is a lot of unnecessary filler material. It seems someone worked really hard to get this to 268 pages.
I really wanted to like this book, and to some extent I did. But I also found it extremely frustrating. All to say, there are some real pros and cons to this book. It's really more of a beach read than academic.
Pros:
- It's interesting
- There is some good information to be learned about human behavior and information processing
- It's a very easy read
Cons:
- The examples are cherry picked and the analysis of their impact entirely post-hoc. It is far from scientific. There are no examples of companies that tried to be "different," but failed.
- It reads more like a book proposal than a stand alone book.
- There is a lot of unnecessary filler material. It seems someone worked really hard to get this to 268 pages.
June 8, 2018
This was very good. Lots of food for thought here.
I've had a long-running love-hate relationship with Sinek's Start With Why. It's not that I think he's wrong, I just feel that it's not complete. This book, in my opinion, does a better (broader and more thorough) job of describing what makes successful companies successful... and spoiler alert: it's not just an inspirational internal mission statement.
Not the best business book I've read and not the worst. I may or may not have read this before. It's been on my shelf for a while and there was an underline toward the back of it that looked like one of mine.
I've had a long-running love-hate relationship with Sinek's Start With Why. It's not that I think he's wrong, I just feel that it's not complete. This book, in my opinion, does a better (broader and more thorough) job of describing what makes successful companies successful... and spoiler alert: it's not just an inspirational internal mission statement.
Not the best business book I've read and not the worst. I may or may not have read this before. It's been on my shelf for a while and there was an underline toward the back of it that looked like one of mine.
March 30, 2018
I never thought I would enjoy reading a marketing book until I read this. It was quite boring at first, but when she started to mention case studies, it successfully sparked my interest. Through this book, I am now pretty much understand marketing techniques such as augmentation by addition, augmentation by multiplication, reversed positioning, and so forth. And I got to appreciate my Birkenstock sandals even more since it is one of the most badass or using the author's term, hostile brands.
"The trick is to always gravitate toward the cool stuff that no one else is paying attention to."
"The trick is to always gravitate toward the cool stuff that no one else is paying attention to."
October 27, 2016
This book was about business and I liked how it was unique because unlike other business books I gave up on in the first page this was more interesting. I liked how it gave lots of examples starting from Jet Blue to Harley-Davidson. It talked about the benefits of being different as a company. It said the three types of different businesses were hostile brands, reversed brands and breakaway brands.
January 26, 2011
Fantastic. Simply one of the best business books I've read in years.
August 6, 2017
- a proliferação de uma categoria de produtos( hipercompetitivas) começa a gerar cada vez menos diferenças entre os produtos/ marcas. Os diferenciais são imperceptíveis para o consumidor.
- conhecimento profundo anda lado a lado com a devoção, sentimos afinidade pela categoria de produtos, viramos aficcionados e ai pode haver um momento de maturação de uma categoria onde começamos a nos alienar pelas diferenças e a categoria entra em expiral.
- homogeneidade heterogênica - as diferenças existem mas são imperceptíveis.
- o ato de se medir alguma coisa ( atributos de produto) muda o comportamento da coisa que esta sendo medida. Tudo vai ficando igual pois as empresam tendem a buscar o gap na pesquisa e no final todas marcas oferecem o mesmo nível de atributos( homogeneização gradual da oferta) ex atributos carros audi x volvo.
- quando se compara 2 pessoas ou marcas tendemos a atenuar as diferenças ao inves de acentualas, o que cria a homogeneidade.
Tudo isto cria o efeito manada ou comportamento de rebanho ( ex melhores praticas do setor e etc)
- a area de produto tende a lançar novidades baseadas em 2 drivers: aperfeiçoamento por adição( incluir mais benefícios no mesmo produto( ex xampu e sabão em pó) ou aperfeiçoamento pela multiplicação( criar novas subcategorias) ( ex coca zero e ipod nano)
Este processo de aperfeiçoamento ( melhoria incremental) que dita a regra das empresas como proposta de valor é um caminho para a comoditização. Ao longo do tempo quanto mais generosa for a proposta de valor padrão ( ex carro com ar e airbag) dentro de uma categoria menos fiel o consumidor é a uma marca pois a categoria fica comoditizada.
- quando existe uma multiplicação de marcas competindo em múltiplos subsegmentos, essa supercompetição leva o consumidor a perder interesse na categoria pois tudo fica muito complexo e n estamos dispostos a investir tempo nisso ( ex modelos de calça jeans e processadores de computadores).
E como consequencia quando a categoria fica hipercompetitiva tendemos a começar a nos relacionar com a categoria e não com a marca.
Segmentos de uma categoria hipercompetitiva:
Conhecedores - lealdade a categoria e n a marca
Oportunistas espertos - especialistas na categoria e agnosticos em relação a marcas
Pragmáticos - ceticos em relação às diferenças das marcas
Relutantes - sao outsiders na categoria, detestam
Leais a marca - tem paixao inexplicada pela marca
Nem melhor nem pior e sim diferente, ser reconhecida por ser a marca das idéias e refazem totalmente a proposta de valor da categoria, um rebelde com causa.
A solução?
Marcas de posicionamento inverso, retiram elementos da proposta de valor para cristalizar o que é fundamental na categoria( ex jetblue ikea google)
Temos a tendência a achar que a história avança em uma serie da passos cumulativos, que progresso é sinônimo de andar para frente. Podemos avançar com subtrações na oferta . Menos é mais quando o mais virou comoditty.
Marcas de ruptura, reinventam o nosso olhar pra categoria, sai unicas e provocadoras. ( ex circo de soilet e simpsons)
Toda essa comoditização nos leva a uma apatia mental, nada nos faz sair do automático no consumo.
A mesmice no mundo dos negócios ocorre nao pq as empresas cooperam e sim pq elas competem sempre nas mesmas dimensões. Só existe corrida se todos forem para a mesmo lado.
Nao é necessário fazer mais e sim pensar mais no que fazer.
Marcas de idéia oferece excasses de um beneficio na abundância de mesmice.
A diferenciação é um compromisso com abandonar o comum.
- conhecimento profundo anda lado a lado com a devoção, sentimos afinidade pela categoria de produtos, viramos aficcionados e ai pode haver um momento de maturação de uma categoria onde começamos a nos alienar pelas diferenças e a categoria entra em expiral.
- homogeneidade heterogênica - as diferenças existem mas são imperceptíveis.
- o ato de se medir alguma coisa ( atributos de produto) muda o comportamento da coisa que esta sendo medida. Tudo vai ficando igual pois as empresam tendem a buscar o gap na pesquisa e no final todas marcas oferecem o mesmo nível de atributos( homogeneização gradual da oferta) ex atributos carros audi x volvo.
- quando se compara 2 pessoas ou marcas tendemos a atenuar as diferenças ao inves de acentualas, o que cria a homogeneidade.
Tudo isto cria o efeito manada ou comportamento de rebanho ( ex melhores praticas do setor e etc)
- a area de produto tende a lançar novidades baseadas em 2 drivers: aperfeiçoamento por adição( incluir mais benefícios no mesmo produto( ex xampu e sabão em pó) ou aperfeiçoamento pela multiplicação( criar novas subcategorias) ( ex coca zero e ipod nano)
Este processo de aperfeiçoamento ( melhoria incremental) que dita a regra das empresas como proposta de valor é um caminho para a comoditização. Ao longo do tempo quanto mais generosa for a proposta de valor padrão ( ex carro com ar e airbag) dentro de uma categoria menos fiel o consumidor é a uma marca pois a categoria fica comoditizada.
- quando existe uma multiplicação de marcas competindo em múltiplos subsegmentos, essa supercompetição leva o consumidor a perder interesse na categoria pois tudo fica muito complexo e n estamos dispostos a investir tempo nisso ( ex modelos de calça jeans e processadores de computadores).
E como consequencia quando a categoria fica hipercompetitiva tendemos a começar a nos relacionar com a categoria e não com a marca.
Segmentos de uma categoria hipercompetitiva:
Conhecedores - lealdade a categoria e n a marca
Oportunistas espertos - especialistas na categoria e agnosticos em relação a marcas
Pragmáticos - ceticos em relação às diferenças das marcas
Relutantes - sao outsiders na categoria, detestam
Leais a marca - tem paixao inexplicada pela marca
Nem melhor nem pior e sim diferente, ser reconhecida por ser a marca das idéias e refazem totalmente a proposta de valor da categoria, um rebelde com causa.
A solução?
Marcas de posicionamento inverso, retiram elementos da proposta de valor para cristalizar o que é fundamental na categoria( ex jetblue ikea google)
Temos a tendência a achar que a história avança em uma serie da passos cumulativos, que progresso é sinônimo de andar para frente. Podemos avançar com subtrações na oferta . Menos é mais quando o mais virou comoditty.
Marcas de ruptura, reinventam o nosso olhar pra categoria, sai unicas e provocadoras. ( ex circo de soilet e simpsons)
Toda essa comoditização nos leva a uma apatia mental, nada nos faz sair do automático no consumo.
A mesmice no mundo dos negócios ocorre nao pq as empresas cooperam e sim pq elas competem sempre nas mesmas dimensões. Só existe corrida se todos forem para a mesmo lado.
Nao é necessário fazer mais e sim pensar mais no que fazer.
Marcas de idéia oferece excasses de um beneficio na abundância de mesmice.
A diferenciação é um compromisso com abandonar o comum.
April 5, 2020
“Herding is confused as best practice wisdoms”
I have a love/hate relationship with business books. Generally, business books offer a lot and there is much that can be learned from them, the good ones anyway. They also are good at providing information in a succinct and dull way. They get to the point they are trying to make by treating every page like a negotiation that will be won with facts and figures. They are strategic in their application of story, fact, evidence, “see why I’m right?”, “you can sign on the bottom line”, conclusion type framework. Different is not that kind of business book.
“It matters less what you are looking at (what matters) is how committed you are to see”
Different is a business book about people. A marketing book about what makes us human. It is a book richer in thought than you might expect.
Youngme Moon’s idea here is not a new one but one that is often overlooked. In a world becoming more and more influenced by analytics and data, many businesses and their marketers have forgotten that what people want is a reason to care about their product. They want to feel a part of something special. They want to be moved god damn it! And what marketers need to learn is that there is not a spreadsheet out there that can do it.
“People, real people, view the world more organically. They are idiosyncratic. They are unpredictable. They are beautifully disorganized”
What is taught in any reasonable business school is that to have a successful business you need to differentiate yourself from the competition. Yet the ideas and evidence presented in Different suggest that the differentiation companies and corporations around the world seek, look a lot more like convergence than they should. That it is only the few daring and insightful companies that really move us, that aren’t afraid to take the road less traveled toward becoming more than the competition. Becoming something else entirely, something different.
I picked up a business book and learned about philosophy, human nature and discovered that exceptional thought and literary skill can make any subject thoroughly engaging. I was reminded that what made Elvis and the Ramones so special was that they were unlike anything I expected. It explained why I can’t turn away from the works of Picasso and Pollock. It explains why I have been daydreaming of a 1938 Harley Knucklehead since forever. It is because they are different.
Overall Score: 4.4 / 5.0
In a sentence: It is good to be different.
I have a love/hate relationship with business books. Generally, business books offer a lot and there is much that can be learned from them, the good ones anyway. They also are good at providing information in a succinct and dull way. They get to the point they are trying to make by treating every page like a negotiation that will be won with facts and figures. They are strategic in their application of story, fact, evidence, “see why I’m right?”, “you can sign on the bottom line”, conclusion type framework. Different is not that kind of business book.
“It matters less what you are looking at (what matters) is how committed you are to see”
Different is a business book about people. A marketing book about what makes us human. It is a book richer in thought than you might expect.
Youngme Moon’s idea here is not a new one but one that is often overlooked. In a world becoming more and more influenced by analytics and data, many businesses and their marketers have forgotten that what people want is a reason to care about their product. They want to feel a part of something special. They want to be moved god damn it! And what marketers need to learn is that there is not a spreadsheet out there that can do it.
“People, real people, view the world more organically. They are idiosyncratic. They are unpredictable. They are beautifully disorganized”
What is taught in any reasonable business school is that to have a successful business you need to differentiate yourself from the competition. Yet the ideas and evidence presented in Different suggest that the differentiation companies and corporations around the world seek, look a lot more like convergence than they should. That it is only the few daring and insightful companies that really move us, that aren’t afraid to take the road less traveled toward becoming more than the competition. Becoming something else entirely, something different.
I picked up a business book and learned about philosophy, human nature and discovered that exceptional thought and literary skill can make any subject thoroughly engaging. I was reminded that what made Elvis and the Ramones so special was that they were unlike anything I expected. It explained why I can’t turn away from the works of Picasso and Pollock. It explains why I have been daydreaming of a 1938 Harley Knucklehead since forever. It is because they are different.
Overall Score: 4.4 / 5.0
In a sentence: It is good to be different.
November 16, 2022
The book is a very easy read, it does not require the reader to be well-educated in marketing and business in general. However, the author goes too frequently in describing her stories and many anecdotes, which became distracting from the focus and gist of the book. The main idea of the book is very interesting, which was basically centering on how businesses tend to follow the “herd” and forget the concept of being different and unique. Being different from the herd from the authors perspective requires forgetting the existence and pressure of other brands and creating a new and bold move.
Unfortunately, I do not believe the book was able to conclude being different. There should have been a clearer path to reach an answer in the book, but Moon tried to show other concepts like how brands rebel against their competitors. For example, by using a hostile approach or ripping off all expectations. Yet, there were many great real-life examples of companies and their reaction to the market. For example, the Harley Davidson and Mini Cooper brands that used the hostile method in advertising for their machines gave a “different” feel compared to how other companies would approach. Others like Google, Ikea, Apple, In-N-Out Burger, AIBO pet, Nintendo Wii and much more were all great examples of standing out and being different from the expectations.
As a conclusion, what was described in this book seems like it requires huge risk and luck to be successfully “different.” There was no real solution to reaching the scale of these giant corporations. Additionally, I wished there was more structure to the book with better labeling of what the chapter would focus on, instead it seemed like you were reading a conversation with a professor. With an on-going trail of thoughts. All-in-all the book was a wonderful read, I learned greatly in such a short time and had the privilege to get a glimpse of her class in Harvard.
Unfortunately, I do not believe the book was able to conclude being different. There should have been a clearer path to reach an answer in the book, but Moon tried to show other concepts like how brands rebel against their competitors. For example, by using a hostile approach or ripping off all expectations. Yet, there were many great real-life examples of companies and their reaction to the market. For example, the Harley Davidson and Mini Cooper brands that used the hostile method in advertising for their machines gave a “different” feel compared to how other companies would approach. Others like Google, Ikea, Apple, In-N-Out Burger, AIBO pet, Nintendo Wii and much more were all great examples of standing out and being different from the expectations.
As a conclusion, what was described in this book seems like it requires huge risk and luck to be successfully “different.” There was no real solution to reaching the scale of these giant corporations. Additionally, I wished there was more structure to the book with better labeling of what the chapter would focus on, instead it seemed like you were reading a conversation with a professor. With an on-going trail of thoughts. All-in-all the book was a wonderful read, I learned greatly in such a short time and had the privilege to get a glimpse of her class in Harvard.
December 27, 2023
The author, Youngme Moon, offers a useful and unique point of view on how brands face competition and how some can achieve true difference. With all of the transparency and clarity of features of consumer brands, electronics, and food items, brands naturally tend to form a competitive herd where the brands are almost indistinguishable from each other. The incremental matching of each feature of brands creates a blur in consumers' perspective and ultimately leads to less individual brand loyalty.
The author provides some examples of how brands can stop being so incremental in their approach and become idea brands. The idea brands are brands that take a different approach to competition. Reverse brands shed many of the common benefits expected by consumers and offer a more streamlined experience while providing something new and valuable. Hostile brands create friction in the purchase process and operate and market in a way that is counter to the established norms in the category. Lastly, breakaway brands directly intervene in the way that the consumer thinks about the category and perhaps straddle or combine two categories to create a new category that uniquely fits the essence of the brand.
If you are a marketer or interested in competition or branding, I would highly recommend it. This is one that I wished I read 10 years ago. The four stars provided are only because some of the stories and business context is dated, it likely would have been close to five stars at the date of publication.
The author provides some examples of how brands can stop being so incremental in their approach and become idea brands. The idea brands are brands that take a different approach to competition. Reverse brands shed many of the common benefits expected by consumers and offer a more streamlined experience while providing something new and valuable. Hostile brands create friction in the purchase process and operate and market in a way that is counter to the established norms in the category. Lastly, breakaway brands directly intervene in the way that the consumer thinks about the category and perhaps straddle or combine two categories to create a new category that uniquely fits the essence of the brand.
If you are a marketer or interested in competition or branding, I would highly recommend it. This is one that I wished I read 10 years ago. The four stars provided are only because some of the stories and business context is dated, it likely would have been close to five stars at the date of publication.
March 30, 2021
"Same-old", "Same Old".. this was the cry of boredom throughout my 1950s growing up experience. This read helps us look at "Difference" and "Different' as pathways to success in the current world of commerce, including mind-numbing product sameness.
From my point of view, I can say that the premise of "Difference" — both real and received—" is jointly a flawed and accurate concept. Product marketers love to tout "difference" as the Holy Grail of marketing success. But are they misleading themselves, and us, the market by trying to pass off cosmetic diference with real change.
Yes, a Pink Cadillac is "different" from a Tan Cadillac, but is the hue on the hood a measure of true product differentiation? Heck no!
I was beginging to learn about "difference" early one. Toward the middle of my high school career I had saved up enough cash from my after-school and summer jobs to afford my High School "dream car. In 1963 that car happened to be a 1964 Chevrolet Covair Monza Convertible. The Monza soft top won me over, and my hard work at after school and summer work, provided the funds needed for a showroom-new car in my driveway. However, there were other forces at work. It seems my parents had been following one of those forces, Ralph Nader, the 1960s consumer advocate and and author of "Unsafe at Any Speed," He hit on the safety shortcoming of the popular Corvair. Nader turned out to also be the single-handed destroyer of my boyhood dreams of Teen Age mobility. My parents put their foot down...hard. Luckily, I had an total Car Nut for an older brother, who steered the discussions away from the Corvair to the "new kidmon the block" The Volkswagen Beetle. My happy ending t0 this story is me starting my senior years with brand new wheels- a Jade Green 1963 Beetle... along with a visceral understanding of "difference" as a potential friend, rather than enemy.
My sob story is a bit more dramatic than what is portrayed in the book in question, but it does reinforce the premise of creating plausible and actual differentiations in many of our daily forays into the world of commerce.
From my point of view, I can say that the premise of "Difference" — both real and received—" is jointly a flawed and accurate concept. Product marketers love to tout "difference" as the Holy Grail of marketing success. But are they misleading themselves, and us, the market by trying to pass off cosmetic diference with real change.
Yes, a Pink Cadillac is "different" from a Tan Cadillac, but is the hue on the hood a measure of true product differentiation? Heck no!
I was beginging to learn about "difference" early one. Toward the middle of my high school career I had saved up enough cash from my after-school and summer jobs to afford my High School "dream car. In 1963 that car happened to be a 1964 Chevrolet Covair Monza Convertible. The Monza soft top won me over, and my hard work at after school and summer work, provided the funds needed for a showroom-new car in my driveway. However, there were other forces at work. It seems my parents had been following one of those forces, Ralph Nader, the 1960s consumer advocate and and author of "Unsafe at Any Speed," He hit on the safety shortcoming of the popular Corvair. Nader turned out to also be the single-handed destroyer of my boyhood dreams of Teen Age mobility. My parents put their foot down...hard. Luckily, I had an total Car Nut for an older brother, who steered the discussions away from the Corvair to the "new kidmon the block" The Volkswagen Beetle. My happy ending t0 this story is me starting my senior years with brand new wheels- a Jade Green 1963 Beetle... along with a visceral understanding of "difference" as a potential friend, rather than enemy.
My sob story is a bit more dramatic than what is portrayed in the book in question, but it does reinforce the premise of creating plausible and actual differentiations in many of our daily forays into the world of commerce.
November 3, 2019
Moon sets the stage for the dilemma facing a lot of extremely identical brands and business models and throws light on the futility of investments in subtle features for highly saturated markets.
While i agree with her observations in the fast moving consumer goods and selective consumer durables category, I think Moon misses the mark with business models in the B2B and B2B2C space. The unique thing about B2B branding and differentiation is that buyers and sellers tend to be specialised experts who notice differences in the smallest specification changes - thus enhancements and subtle differences go farther in this space. This is very apt in light of the cloud contract for the US military that was won by Microsoft after a gruel battle with 5 other big wigs.
Still, a good reminder that marketing dollars spent on pedantic differentiation might seem like a wall street obligation for leaders but barely make a dent in consumer minds. Some of Moon's examples in the book will vividly stick with me. Overall some sharp and well collated case studies - a must read for marketing geeks.
While i agree with her observations in the fast moving consumer goods and selective consumer durables category, I think Moon misses the mark with business models in the B2B and B2B2C space. The unique thing about B2B branding and differentiation is that buyers and sellers tend to be specialised experts who notice differences in the smallest specification changes - thus enhancements and subtle differences go farther in this space. This is very apt in light of the cloud contract for the US military that was won by Microsoft after a gruel battle with 5 other big wigs.
Still, a good reminder that marketing dollars spent on pedantic differentiation might seem like a wall street obligation for leaders but barely make a dent in consumer minds. Some of Moon's examples in the book will vividly stick with me. Overall some sharp and well collated case studies - a must read for marketing geeks.
November 30, 2018
From my analysis of the book, I would argue that Moon provides insight on the expectations for marketers in their bid to creating brands that would be considered as being successful. Moon's argument on a majority of the brands operating within heterogeneous homogeneity is accurate, as a significant number only seek to copy what their competitors are doing rather than having to come up with their avenues for performance. Additionally, I must also point out that Moon can highlight the importance of investing in a brand with the view that this would be of value in ensuring that indeed brands can achieve the expected levels of success. In other words, this means that brands are not defined solely by the advertisements or marketing approaches taken. Instead, they are defined by the investments made by the respective companies in creating prospective connections with consumers.
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