The Commodity Conundrum

I was thinking today about how products have changed in my lifetime. When I was a kid, it seemed like every new technological innovation was a big effing deal. Our first microwave cost over a thousand 1980s bucks. I was obsessed with my innovative Speak and Spell 'til my dad brought home the dreamy Commodore 64. I would follow the instructions, write little programs, and watch my machine type responses to me. Thrilling!

Today, technology just doesn't really get to be new anymore. Companies frantically rush out press releases about 2MP camera phones so they hit the journalists' hot little hands right away. Miss a beat, and your top competitor has gotten their attention first.

There used to be a time when product differentiation allowed companies to strategically position themselves in the marketplace. But now I wonder: Is everything becoming a commodity?

A computer is a computer. An MP3 player is an MP3 player. A cell phone is a cell phone. Sure, they all have new, exciting features when you buy 'em, but increasing competition makes for an unbelievably quick market.

So what's left to give you the upper hand?

Your brand.

Obviously, this doesn't mean your logo or iconography or the stitching on the back of your 7s. It's your vitality, your integrity, your sense of humour -- your personality.

I recently learned about a company that is currently number one in market share in its field, but not so in brand awareness. While it's wonderful to move into that top position, how do you stay there?

In a world where it's ever-so-time-consuming to learn about all the features, specifications, and technical mumbo-jumbo related to a product, it's the company's job to provide you with the most possible information to help you make your decision. This is not to say that companies shouldn't constantly be striving to create the best, most innovative products -- certainly not! Without those, they'd might as well just take their (old-school) ball and go home, because nobody wants to play. But information tends to be asymmetrical, and the company has more of it. The more they can help you to hear, the more you'll understand the product category, and the easier these decisions become. But what if everything still sounds a bit... the same?

They need to make you understand their brand. They need to help you find some connection -- emotional and real -- to make you think of them first. There are about a gazillion ways to theoretically make this happen and none are easy to pull off well, but creating a brand that has a real feel for its target's functional and hedonic aspirations is a necessity.

The more everything starts to feel the same, the less easy it is to be different.

Obvious, yes. But the point of differentiation is discoverable and key. So you know what age group your target fits into? Great. Dig deeper. Understand where they want to go, who they're trying to impress, whether they're willing to admit it, how unique they perceive themselves to be.

Psychographic data is without any doubt completely key, but interaction will push you over the finish line.

Get in there. Don't ride on assumptions or long-held knowledge about whatever game you're targeting. I'm not talking about focus groups here, I'm talking about real interaction. The kind that forces you to look beyond yourself, what the data is saying, and what you "know" to be true. Get on the web, look around, see the language they use, really listen to what they're saying. Hang out where they hang out, watch them, see who their friends are. Understand what they think is funny, figure out their political leanings, get a handle on who they mock. Get a sense of what is ultimately important to them. Build your brand as one of them.

So nothing is really new anymore. Your products are starting to feel like commodities to the unwashed masses. Is it really so hard to differentiate? Sure. But it's not impossible. It just requires a serious commitment to getting the behaviour of your most beloved consumers. It requires you to live it.