PRODUCT & BRAND MANAGEMENT INTERNAL PROJECT REPORT
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Introduction

In today's proliferation of products, what sets a product or idea apart is its distinctness or uniqueness. In a global marketplace which is changing at its lightning-fast rate of change, there's no point in inventing and presenting a product only to sit back and hope that consumers everywhere will discover its greatness. It's not simply about what you or your product can do; it's about what you do differently from everyone else. Coauthors Trout and Steve Rivkin say it all in their book title, Differentiate or Die.

Jack Trout and Steve Rivkin focus on the idea that unless companies strive to make their product or concept interestingly different and evolve a unique identity, their business is bound to bite the dust. Today markets are driven by customer choice, and there are more possible product choices than ever before for the customer. Companies that fail to address the whims of the marketplace will not survive. It is more important than ever before to differentiate your product from its competition.

According to the authors, companies must address differentiation in three ways:
If you ignore your uniqueness and try to be everything to everybody, you will undermine what differentiates you from the competition.
If you ignore changes in the market, your differentiation can become less important.
If you stay in the shadow of your competitors, without establishing your "uniqueness" you will always be weak.

The authors then outline four steps to successfully differentiate yourself from competitors:

Step 1: Make sense in context - Your message must make sense within the context of your market category. Start first with a "snapshot" of customer perceptions about yourself and your competitors.
Step 2: Find the differentiating idea - There are many ways to set your company apart from the competition. However you differentiate yourself set the difference up as a benefit to the customer.

Step 3: Have credentials - Your claims to the customer must be real and believable. You should be able to demonstrate the difference to the customer. That demonstration becomes your credentials.
Step 4: Communicate your difference - You need to build a strong perception of your product in the market. Every aspect of your public communication should emphasize your difference.

The book reiterates the need for companies to promote the `Unique Selling Proposition' or the USP in their product in order to stand out. Indeed Jack Trout, who had pioneered the concept of `positioning' which has become the fad word in the ad world today, makes blunt assertions on the common practices adopted by most companies to gain that competitive edge over others. He dismisses the well-entrenched marketing ploys such as stress on product quality, use of creative advertising, competitive pricing, and unveiling range of product line as futile exercises that could prove unsuccessful in the long term. To him, being a pioneer, having a distinct attribute and peerless heritage, cultivating particular consumer group or being the first or new arrival are the features that single out a product from the cluttering crowd. The author provides success stories alongside some others that failed. It seems rather too simplistic to build the entire logic of success on a single attribute of uniqueness or distinctness.

Book Review / Literature review

A disciple of the marketing guru Rosser Reeves, who introduced the concept of the "unique selling proposition," Trout relays his vision of what can help you differentiate in blunt, tell-it-like-it-is prose. First he breaks the bad news that product quality, advertising creativity, price advantage, and breadth of product line are rarely successful ways to differentiate your business. Consumers expect the best quality, he says; they don't think it's a bonus. In the same vein, your competitor can slash prices just as quickly as you. After dismissing these common marketing techniques as futile, Trout concentrates on which differentiating ideas will set you apart from the pack: Being first (and staying there), owning a discernible attribute, having a heritage, becoming the preference of a particular consumer group, or even being the most recent arrival in a product arena are just some of these useful differentiates.

What is differentiation is NOT?
There are many ways to differentiate products; many of them have been proven successful if executed properly. There are, conversely, several “yellow flags” to avoid — ideas that look appealing, but will rarely differentiate you.
Quality and Customer Orientation
The 1990s witnessed a war on quality. You couldn’t walk into the business section of your local bookstore without seeing dozens of books on quality with acronym-strewn titles (TQM, SPC, QFD, CQL, etc.). While companies focused on quality improvement programs to meet the demands of their customers, customers simply got more demanding and not necessarily any more loyal to quality-centric organizations. A Gallup survey done for the American Society for Quality Control found that only 28 percent of executives had achieved significant results in profitability or market share from their quality initiatives. That doesn’t mean companies should (or can) abandon their quality improvement efforts. Customer expectations aren’t going away, regardless of how much it costs companies to keep pace.
Indeed, “Do whatever it takes to satisfy customers” became every company’s mantra in the 1980s and 1990s. Every complaint was a gift, a clue you needed in order to keep your customers “for life.” Frequent buyer programs popped up, first in the airline industry (with American Airlines’ A Advantage program in 1983, then at nearly every airline). What airlines failed to do was to differentiate themselves for frequent travelers to the degree that justified the costs and drawbacks of the program; such programs were, and are, too easily imitated.
What airlines and indeed, many industries in the “Quality Decade” should have done was draw the line between operational effectiveness and strategic positioning. Operational effectiveness means performing better the same activities your competitors perform — a common short-term strategy. Positioning, however, dictates that you find unique and meaningful points of differentiation, and use them to competitive advantage.
Creativity
Rosser Reeves railed against “puffery” and ineffectual advertising — “the best taste ever,” “incredibly smooth,” etc. While such bits of fluff were not up to Reeves’ standards, at least they made the attempt to sell. Puffery has, today, been replaced with vagueness — “Start something,” “People drive us,” “Expanding possibilities.” These “slogans” are creative, even entertaining, but it’s sometimes hard to tell what companies are advertising. One argument for such ads is the belief that advertising has lost its effectiveness in an age of over-communication and cynicism. Ads that are emotional or bonding or “cool” connect with consumers, forming a bond with them. The more unconventional your ads, the more success
you’ll have at differentiating yourself from your competition. Yet, one factor remains true: If people think you have an important message to convey, they will generally open their eyes and ears long enough to absorb what you have to say. The trick is not to bury that information in what some call “creativity.”

Price is rarely a differentiating idea:
Price is often the enemy of differentiation. Focusing more on the price as a marketing activity and/or to compete with competitors undermines a company’s chances to be perceived as being unique. It is not always a healthy way to go about differentiation. Because competitors can always attack the company by marking down their prices anytime they want to match the best price offered by the company. So, the company loses its uniqueness, if it had one. For example, direct factory outlets which offer discounts on top brands are at financial crisis.
There are several methods or ways to go around a price attack, you can-
Do something special: A leader can go to their biggest customer and do something different. From example, Nike offered an expensive $130 dollar shoe exclusively for shoe store chain Foot locker. Thus far, Foot Locker ordered millions of shoes and sold millions $ 200 million worth.
Cause some confusion: Create some confusion in the market so that the confusion benefits the company by confusing the competitors too. And at the mean time the company can reap the benefits provided by the company.
Differentiate with high prices: A high price of a product tells a consumer that the product is worth buying. High quality should be more expensive as it brings more prestige to the product.
Breath of line is a difficult way to differentiate:
By “breath of line” it means by the strategies usually followed by big retailers or “category killers” such as Wal-Mart or Big Bazar, which offer a wide range of products and brands for consumers with discounts. But this creates confusion in the minds of the consumers as they are already overwhelmed with so many choices. Also this strategy can be easily emulated by any competing company and what lefts behind for the companies is the price to differentiate on, which as discussed earlier is not a great way for differentiating. Example of some companies which are successful with this strategy in India is Future group’s Big Bazaar. But, than again its strategy has been emulated by many others such as food bazaar, Monday to Sunday, more and many others.
Four steps to differentiation
To differentiate everything has to be in logic. There are four steps to do it-
Step 1: Is to make sense of whatever you are doing. The message has to be in the context of what the market place has been perceiving and talking about the competitors. Pay attention to the market place to gauge if the timing is right for a differentiating idea.
Step 2: Is to find a differentiating idea and use it for the benefit of the customer.
Step3 : Is to have credentials to support the differentiating idea to make it real or to be believable. Claims without proof is just empty claims.
Step 4: Is to communicate the difference. Every aspect the communication should reflect the difference, be it the advertisement, brochures, websites, sales presentations etc. A real differentiating idea can be a motivational bonanza. For example, avis said, “ we are number two, we are trying harder” which made their employees motivated and proud to be underdogs.
An idea is not enough; you need to have resources to build in a strong communication program to broadcast your idea. For example, Steve jobs and Steve Woznik might have had a great idea but without Mike Markkula’s $ 91000 Apple inc would not have been on the map today. So, idea without money is worthless.

Successful differentiating strategies:
Be the first
Getting into the mind with a new idea, product or benefit is an enormous advantage. People tend to stick with what they’ve got. Also, any copycat measures by a competitor will just reinforce your idea. Being original, translates into more knowledge, more expertise. Studies show that, in most cases, being first to the market provides a significant and substantial market share advantage over later entrants. It also forces those later entrants to find their own distinctive positioning strategy. Being first is one thing; staying first is another. It takes hard work and enormous energy to stay on top with a new product or idea. Continued innovation is the key. For example, Gillette pioneered razor blades and remains the leader, thanks to their endless improvements in product and technology.
Maintain Attribute Ownership
An attribute is a characteristic, peculiarity or distinctive feature of a person or thing, both of which are a mixture of attributes. Each toothpaste, for example, is different from other toothpastes in terms of cavity prevention, plaque prevention, taste and other different attributes. What makes a person or product unique is being known for one of these attributes. In fact, attribute ownership is probably the Number One way to differentiate a product or service. But one should not own the same attribute or position that your competitor owns. Seek out another attribute. Many companies attempt to emulate a leader, when it is much better to find an opposite attribute that will allow you to play off against the leader. To be most effective, attributes should be simple and benefit-oriented.
Be a Leader
Leadership is the most powerful way to differentiate a brand, because it’s the most direct way to establish the credentials of a brand. Credentials are the collateral you put up to guarantee the performance of your brand. Powerful leaders can take ownership of the words that stand for their category. For example, when you think of computers or copiers, chances are you think of IBM or Xerox. A real leader will go one step further to solidify its position. Heinz, for example, owns the word ketchup, but it also owns the word that describes the ketchup’s most important attribute: slow. Owning that one word helps Heinz maintain a 50 percent market share.
Have a History
Heritage has the power to make your product stand out. It can be a commanding differentiating idea because there appears to be a natural psychological importance to having a long history, one that makes people secure in their choices. Heritage also gives people the impression that they are dealing with an industry leader; if not the biggest, they certainly are a leader in longevity. Tradition isn’t always enough, though. Companies must strike a balance in their marketing between consumer- comforting tradition and progressiveness that is crucial to continued success. A good example of this is Colgate-Palmolive (India) Ltd’s Colgate, which has both heritage and attributes such as for “strong teeth & cavity” with it. Colgate did not just stick to its original brand, but also moved on to bring in many other attributes to its brand and created a brand portfolio. Tata Group has a strong history over hundred years, with business spanning all aspects of our life. And it’s truly and strongly reflected in the values, integrity, products, and quality offered by the brand.