Brand Relevance

Substantial market trends and transformational innovations are creating markets and making others irrelevant. The result is a major threat for nearly every business and a significant opportunity for a few. This book will be the first marketing strategy book to develop and leverage the concept of brand relevance. To remain relevant, a firm can create a new category or subcategory— such as iPod, Cirque du Soleil, and eBay did— where competitors are eliminated. Or a firm can redefine an existing category or subcategory by creating or elevating an offering feature or characteristic—as Prius created a subcategory defined by gas mileage and technology, or Westin did with its Heavenly Bed. In either case, a firm can create or own a new business arena or submarket in which some or all competitors are not relevant. Instead of being the best, the goal is to be the onlymaking competitors irrelevant.