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by Andrew Lam-Po-Tang
Competition has the effect of turning the extraordinary into the ordinary, and then into the assumed.
Extraordinary
All companies attempt to create a 'differentiating factor' that will distinguish them from their competitors, and that will act as strong attractors for their target markets. At the point when the company unveils its differentiating factor, it is new, novel and exciting. The key factor doesn't need to be a product or service feature, it can something as simple and compelling as a much lower price.
Ordinary
If the differentiating factor is a success (ie. sales or profitability improves), the competitors begin the inexorable process of catching up with the leader, usually by matching the factor. How long it takes to catch up depends on the type of factor. If it is 'low cost', then it can take a while if the leader has managed to do it by reengineering their entire global supply chain and manufacturing process. If it is a patented innovation, then the competitors have to work out how to replicate the functionality without breaching the patent protection. If it is a re-skin, such as a new service brochure and visual identity, then it can take as little as a few months.
Assumed
Eventually, most of the competitors catch up, by which time the market (ie. you, me and all the others out there) has adjusted its expectations so that it now takes that factor for granted. For example, does anybody care or remember who was the first manufacturer to make a digital camera for less than $1000?
And so the grind of competition begins again...
The great thing about this competitive dynamic is that it constantly creates new opportunities for designers. When the client has something 'extraordinary', they want to promote the hell out of it and make sure that the critical differences are well articulated and communicated. When it is 'ordinary', they want to remind their customers that they were the original, the first and by implication, still the best. And when it becomes 'assumed', they will need to update their communication so that it is reduced to just another checkmark on the feature list - and at that point they will mostly thinking about the next 'extraordinary' thing.
So where are your clients' products and services in the competitive cycle?
Return to Observations
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The views expressed this article are not necessarily those of AGDA. Please note that the information in this article is the opinion of the author only. I can therefore accept no responsibility for actions taken on the basis of this information. Copyright Andrew Lam-Po-Tang (andrew@lam-po-tang com), 1998-2008. Permission is granted to freely copy this document in electronic form, or to print, for personal use. Reprinting for non-personal use will require the express permission of the author (which I will generally be very happy to give).
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