Chart your own course: Why Following the Leader Will Never Get You Ahead

 Years ago, way before I was in advertising, or even out of school, a Xerox commercial got my attention. While I was not in the market for a copier, I was struck by the simple sentiment of the ad--that the best selling point that any Xerox competitors could come up with was that theirs was 'Just as good as a Xerox'. Naturally, Xerox won.

Many years later, in many categories, all measurement and consequent strategies and ads encourage brands to still follow the leader. Why? Because more often than not, success is benchmarked to the brands' specific category--be it tracking studies, share of voice computations, copy test norms or even third party sources like Consumer Reports . As such, every brand is chasing the same metric, and thus, by definition, following the leader.

One need only to look at the luxury automotive category for a great example of how this benchmarking manifests itself in marketing. For years, the category has benchmarked itself on style, performance, technology and prestige. In order to demonstrate this, just about every luxury brand's ads look the same. Shots of cars driving swiftly down windy roads near beautiful scenery, with quick cuts to a luxurious and tech laden interior, a quick look at a smiling driver, followed by the car filmed in mood lighting to give it an aura of prestige per the video below.

The result? Brands spend millions of dollars to chase each other on the same playing field, and no one really stands apart from the herd.

So what can brands do to avoid this?

Stop benchmarking to your competitors and start looking for out of category benchmarks that will allow you to deposition your competition and create irrational love for your brand.

Sticking with the luxury car category, let's take the top volume brands in the US--Mercedes, BMW, Lexus, Audi, and the latest 'disruptor' Tesla.

Source: BERA

As indicated by the chart, The category has a pretty consistent shape, with very little differentiation across brands. All brands seems to deliver on Functional and Emotional drivers. Tesla seems to lead on Purpose. There is more dispersion in Experiential, but no one excels.

But what happens if you start to compare with some out of category brands. And since the automotive business is moving functionally closer and closer to the technology category everyday, what if we added a couple of tech brands like Amazon and Apple?

Source: BERA

Suddenly, the entire category looks weak on Experiential and Purpose, and could use some strengthening in Functional drivers that no one would have seen if they stuck to category benchmarks. But looking outside, it's clear that there is white space for a brand to deposition the leaders.

Looking further in depth at factors that ladder up to experiential, that white space revolves around care, consistency, and convenience. It opens the door for innovative brand behaviors  that will set a luxury brand challenger apart from the rest. Imagine the ads that could come from these behaviors? They are not likely to involve curvy roads and big screens. 

Source: BERA

But they are likely to get a viewers attention with something completely different and missing from the category. Something like this, that highlights intense care and brand consistency.

And that's how brands win. 

So the next time you are looking at a brand tracking study and you're pleased with your progress, ask yourself - 'Am I really doing well, or am I just the biggest Chihuahua?'

[Full disclaimer: My agency, Innocean made the Genesis ad.]