Guarantees aren't as prevalent as they once were. A lifelong career with the same organization is extremely rare, let alone committing a lifetime to a particular industry. Without guarantees, loyalty diminishes.
Economic drought is one contributing factor. Nest-eggs have depleted and starting-over is a reality for many. The lack of any guarantee has now given way to a growing desire to discover alternatives. I am not suggesting that consumers are now willing to lower their expectations. However, they are willing to seek viable alternatives; new ways for accomplishing that which is familiar.
I love Kia's new hamster commercial suggesting "you can get with this or you can get with that". While promoting the new
Kia Soul as the must-have car for the in-crowd, the reality remains that Kia is but a lower cost alternative to many other well established brands, also favored by the same crowd. It's brilliant blatant marketing of the obvious. Kia is an alternative worthy of consideration. The brilliance is in turning-the-tables to suggest that considering anything else but Kia would be less than an adequate alternative.
As consumers what's most important is our vision for the future. How we go about securing a better tomorrow is up for reconsideration. No more assumptions; every alternative will be questioned and considered.
Consider these alternatives for the most familiar status quo…
| Telephones |
→ |
Mobile Devices |
| Newspapers |
→ |
eNews |
| Television |
→ |
Netflix |
| Theater |
→ |
Fork & Screen |
| Laptops |
→ |
iPad |
| Magazines |
→ |
Mobile Apps |
| MySpace |
→ |
Facebook |
| College Campus |
→ |
Online Classes |
| Books |
→ |
Kindle & iBooks |
| Gasoline |
→ |
Electric |
Sure, there will always be early adopters and late adopters. However, gone are the days when the familiar would be dead & buried before any alternative could be considered. Warm & fuzzy feelings for those things familiar is easily denied when viable alternatives promise to produce similar or even better results for less cost, less effort, less attention, less commitment, less distraction, and so forth. For example, it is of no value to debate print versus digital, when eBooks are cheaper and more convenient. As an alternative, they have already succeeded at peeling off a large segment of consumers who are more than willing to consider the alternative (e.g. eBooks now outsell hardbacks).
For almost two decades, destroying an industry was in-vogue (i.e.
iTunes,
Amazon, etc.). Status quo had to be upended before securing dominance (e.g. Napster, AOL, etc.). Going forward, brands can position themselves as reasonable alternatives and shake the foundations of status quo.
Is your brand status quo? What would it take to be considered the alternative?