This is one of those things I hadn’t considered until recently. See, I’ve heard a couple different people recently mention companies and how they’re cannibalizing their own products.
For example…
- Apple releases iPhones that hold songs. So now why buy an iPod, right?
- Old Spice tells commercial viewers to buy their product directly from such and such a website for a discount. So now why would Walgreens want to carry Old Spice, right?
The idea is that a company releases a product that will compete against one of its own, already established products.
It’s a tough call. Sometimes companies have to create the product that will dominate every other product on the market, including their own. Because otherwise someone else will. Other times, creating that product just splits the decision and weakens both products.
It’s a tough call, but that’s the reason for proper branding and – as Simon Sinek says – for starting with why.
