The Origin of Brand redefines the philosophy and methods of brand and brand creation, making the process of brand creation a part of science and commerce, rather than an inspired art or an illusory brand religion. Mr. AL Ries and Ms. Laura Rees pointed out that the driving force of business development is differentiation; Differentiation gives birth to new categories; The real brand is the representative of a certain category; Consumers think by category and express by brand; Once the category disappears, the brand will disappear. The correct way for enterprises to create brands is to grasp the trend of differentiation, innovate categories, create new brands, develop categories, expand brands, control multiple categories with multiple brands, and finally form a brand tree. In a sense, The Origin of Brand declares the end of brand creation theory with the philosophy of marketing Darwinism, which makes people feel that brand creation is suddenly enlightened. Any strong brand must be the representative of a certain category in the eyes of ordinary consumers, and this category must be a very strong category. For example, Coca-Cola is the representative of this category, and Coca-Cola is a very strong category. For example, Wang Laoji is the representative of herbal tea, which is a strong category, so Wang Laoji is a strong brand.

Overview of brand origin

Point 1. Product categories have been constantly differentiated and enriched in human history, similar to Darwin's theory of evolution.

The second point. The best way to create a brand is not to replace the existing leaders in the existing category, but to create a new category that can enter first and conquer your target consumers.

The third point. Evolution is the process of catching up with the industry leader, but few people can become the first brand through evolution.

The fourth point. If you can't create a category, it's ok to establish an enemy among the known categories and become a second brand.

Two factors that determine brand competitiveness.

The competitiveness of the category itself is that people consume this category; Whether a brand is the first or second category, the ladder of human mind determines its strength.

Wang Laoji's brand strategy is very clear. First, persuade people to drink more herbal tea and less coke. Drink our herbal tea if you want it. This is its strategic direction.

There are two kinds of competition: category competition and brand competition.

On the law of category: consumers usually think by category and express by brand.

Take herbal tea as an example. When you go to a restaurant, the waiter asks you: What would you like to drink? Customers will make a choice in their hearts. Should I drink herbal tea or coke? I hesitated for a moment. I think coke, a carbonated drink, is not good for my health, so I will still drink herbal tea. But he will not verbally express that I want to drink herbal tea, but will say, please give me a cup of Wang Laoji, so that the waiter will serve Wang Laoji instead of Jiaduobao. Even if I give it to Jiaduobao, I will accept it, because it is all herbal tea.

For example, what we want to search for is often not that I want to search, but that I want Baidu. Baidu is the brand of Sousu, so people use brands instead of categories.

The strategic direction of many enterprises is to make their own brands substitute categories, so they are very powerful brands.

Differentiation? VS？ develop

Differentiation? Categories will be more and more differentiated, which will often bring an opportunity to enterprises.

Taking computers as an example, the first computer hard disk software produced by IBM, all the things in the chip, the category of computers, was later divided into: Apple brand separated from personal computers; Direct selling separates the Dell brand; The operating system divided Microsoft; Chips make Intel unique.

Take the car as an example. The cars mass-produced on the early assembly line: Ford Model T, all have four wheels. But now, they are divided into many small categories, such as cars, sports cars, RVs, trucks and SUVs. Each subcategory has produced a different leading brand.

If you look around hotels, restaurants, furniture and home appliances, it can bring opportunities to enterprises, subdivide a category in an existing category and become the first, and business will be easy to succeed.

Evolution? The products represented by brands are more and more evolved, helping an enterprise to maintain its market competitiveness.

For example, Apple's series of products, with overlapping functions and differentiated performance, are all smart phones no matter how they evolve.

Separation VS conquest

The difference between market and mind is the key factor of brand decision. The Millennium herbal tea war is actually a dispute between Jiaduobao's market share and Wang Laoji's spiritual share. In the long run, spiritual share will inevitably occupy market share, so Wang Laoji won this tough battle.

The book tells a misunderstanding of people's marketing: taking Marlboro as an example, there is a concept that the target market of Marlboro brand is the whole cigarette category, and cowboys are only a wise move to attract this market. This view has greatly promoted the advertising industry, so many people follow suit, because they think that the cowboy image brings good luck to Marlboro, so many corresponding brands try their best to find other visual elements: what animals, swimming pools, racing drivers, and also want to bring better sales. But all these methods failed. Why is Marlboro, represented by the cowboy image, successful, while others can't?

The mind is actually thinking about categories. This example is actually the category of cigarettes that have formed a man's thinking in his mind, which has produced huge sales. And those cigarette brands that flaunt the image of animal pool racers have failed because they have not formed corresponding categories.

First survival

Brand: Creating a new category and establishing your brand in this category is the key to success. Before the emergence of new categories, the first brand wagging its tail will certainly capture the hearts of potential customers, which is the so-called customer-reflecting effect, which is urgently mentioned in brand positioning.

It is also mentioned in the book that we need to name any brand or category, which is actually a very important strategic issue, especially in the mental age.

Category naming generally requires easy to understand and not too fancy, otherwise people will not accept it, such as emotional drinks, which people simply don't understand, so the brand represented by emotional drinks can't be made.

It is very important to name a brand as unique, concise, fluent and creative.

For example, if a car is named snail, it may run fast, but will consumers think it runs fast? Here is a topic: fact is not equal to cognition.

Category name is a common word, including all brands of this category. Brand name is a proper word that highlights your personal brand.

Define a new category

The definition of the new category is very tangled. Many new categories are differentiated from the original categories, just like smart phones in mobile phones, electric cars and cars. This is the same as biological species differentiation. How different is a new species?

The logic of biology is very primitive. A species is a group of individuals who can mate and reproduce, but can't mate with other creatures, can't have sex or the hybrids produced after mating can't reproduce.

According to this definition, a category can be defined as: a category is a group of products that can be substituted for each other, but no other products can accomplish the same task, or even if they are used in similar ways, they cannot achieve the same effect.