22 Unchange Laws of Marketing

Rule 2. The Law of Product Types

If you are not first in a category,

create a new product where you are first.

Who is the third person to fly solo across the Atlantic?

If you don’t know that Bert Hinkler was the second person

to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean,

of course you would hardly know the name of the third.

But you know,

it’s Amelia Earhart.

Is Amelia known today

as “the third person to fly solo across the Atlantic”

or “the first woman to fly across the Atlantic”?

After the success of Heineken beer,

people at Anheuser-Busch can say:

“we have to import a beer too!”.

But they didn’t.

Instead,

they say,

“if there is already a market for high priced imported beer,

there may also be a market for a high priced domestic beer.”

And they launched the production of Michelob beer,

the first high-priced domestic beer,

and today sells twice as much Heineken beer.

(In fact, Anheuser-Busch also imported a beer,

Carlsberg beer,

which was very popular in Europe,

but went nowhere in the US.)

Miller Lite was the first domestic light beer,

and it took five years for an importer to exclaim:

“if there is a market for domestic light beer,

there is also a market for imported light beer”.

As a result,

Amstel Light beer became the best-selling imported light beer.

If you can’t get your way into the future customer’s memory,

please don’t be disappointed,

look for a new product that puts you first.

It’s not as difficult as you think.

After IBM became a great success in the computer field,

all the people and their relatives rushed into this field.

Burroughs, Control Data,

General Electric,

Honeywell, NCR, RCA, Sperry.

They are called Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Is there any dwarf that has grown to become a global power

with 126,000 employees and $14 billion in revenue,

and is recognized

as the “second largest computer company in the world”?

Nobody.

The most successful computer company of the 70s and 80s

after IBM was Digital Equipment Corporation.

IBM was the first computer company,

DEC was the first minicomputers company.

Many other computer companies (and their owners) became rich

and famous by following a simple rule:

“if you’re not first in a field,

create a new one where you are first”.

Tandem is the company’s first fault-tolerant computers

and has reached $1.9 billion in sales.

Also,

Stratus was the first computer company to tolerate minor errors.

Today Stratus has sales of $500 million.

Are the marketing conditions difficult? Are not.

They are so simple.

However,

applying them in practice is another matter.

Cray Research (super computer).

Today, Cray is a company with $800 million in sales.

Also,

Convex introduced the mini super computer.

Currently,

Convex has sales of 200 million USD.

Sometimes you can change positions

to become a winner by inventing a new field.

Commodore was a manufacturer of personal computers

for the home that did not succeed,

until it created the “Amiga” – the first multi-media computer.

And the Commodore Amiga is a big hit

with annual sales of over $500 million.

There are many different ways to get to first place.

The Dell company broke into the personal computer business

by selling it over the phone.

Today,

Dell has sales of $900 million.

When you launch a new product the first question

to ask yourself is not

“how does the new product outperform the competition”

but “what industry first is this product?”.

Charles Schwab did not open a better brokerage office

but opened the first discount brokerage office.

Lear’s magazine wasn’t the first women’s magazine,

but it was the first for grown women

(not yesterday’s women’s magazine).

This is the opposite of the classic marketing thought:

how do people like their brand more?

Forget the label

think items rospective customers will be wary

when it comes to brands

because everyone brags about why theirs is better.

But customers are always open-minded

when it comes to products

because people are always interested in something new,

few people are interested in something better.

When you’re first in a field,

push it forward,

it’s crucial that you don’t have anyone to compete with.

DEC told customers why they had to buy a minicomputer,

but didn’t say they had to buy a DEC minicomputer.

Initially, the company Hertz introduced car rental service;

Coca-Cola sells soft drinks.

The marketing programs of both companies have been more effective since then.