Traditional definitions and branding affirmed two paradigms for successful brands:
- Extreme amount of focus
- Developing differentiation which is strong vis a vis competition
Some aspects of these paradigms are still valid today. There is no doubt that brands have to play to their strengths by focus and also find the aspects that makes them stand apart thereby providing a good reason for them to be embraced by customers However, clearly there are new ingredients in the secret sauce of success of brands. These brands are what I call Open BrandsĀ. These brands are characterized by the following features:
- Pioneers in bringing the best to their customers
Open Brands have this constant urge to bring the best to their customers trying to meet their stated and sometimes unstated needs and wants. They research their customers deeply and try and pick up every single trend and evolution in what they want. They have an amazing ability to connect seemingly unrelated information and evolve products and services which their customers need today and tomorrow.
- Pioneers in tapping into new opportunities
With constant reading into their customers minds, open brands are lead to new markets, segments and geographies. They are the first ones to invest in new areas and consolidate their positions before new entrants can come in. They are also able to charge a premium for catering to the unserved markets.
- Open to learning from the environment at an incredible speed
Open brands have the remarkable to learn from the environment and being able to execute with super accuracy and speed on that learning. An interesting illustration is how Steve Jobs learnt about Customer experience from Hotel Ritz Carlton and carry through some of these learnings while building the Appstore.
- Incredible ability to build partnerships
In the current environment where speed and perfection (seemingly impossible to achieve together) are must-haves for success, trying to achieve everything on the basis of just one own strengths is a recipe for failure. It slows the pace dramatically and in the end delivers a sub optimal product. By being open what they guarantee their customers is the best of what the product ecosystem (and not just product) Striking partnerships with organizations which have the best to offer and who think strategically like the Open Brands are indeed an asset in the journey of building partnerships.
