EXPERT PERSPECTIVE

Bland Competition

Karl McKeever discusses why it increasingly feels like there are smaller and smaller degrees of separation between so-called competitors – everyone being little more than a version (and often an imitation) of one another.

By Karl McKeever
Posted 25.03.2022

When does competition become boring, predictable, and unimaginative? For many years, there has been healthy competition in every sector. From retail and hospitality to leisure and travel. But there increasingly feels like there are smaller and smaller degrees of separation between so-called competitors – everyone being little more than a version (and often an imitation) of one another.

In my thirty-plus years in retail, I often became frustrated (and bored) of seeing the same old, same old. Up and down the high street, retailers are all jostling for your hard-earned cash. But many are just repeating each other and themselves – copycats with little to no identity of their own, or true innovation. Same campaigns year after year. Same sales periods year after year. Much for good reason. But amongst this there could be change. There could be difference. There could be new. Imagine how exciting that would be?

In the travel sector, the new calendar year begins with the predictable and countless ads for early-bird summer holiday deals, encouraging us to get away to somewhere sunny. Kids go free. Free upgrades. It’s a tried (or should that be tired) and tested formula.

Marketing agencies spend millions of company pounds coming up with ‘new’ ideas, but few deliver anything like genuine newness. This year, however, one brand did truly do something different, and stood out from the rest as a result. The On the Beach TV campaign saw holiday makers enjoying the great getaway accompanied by Andy Williams ‘Most Wonderful Time of the Year’ Christmas Anthem. Confusing? Initially. Brave? Most definitely. As well as creating a point of difference amongst competitor brands, it cleverly bridged the gap as customer attention turned from the festive frenzy to thoughts of summer escape. It also provided a great talking point to raise recall and brand awareness. Original thinking right there!

Everywhere we look; competition is present. There is a constant desire for the different, the innovative, and the fresh idea. Yet examples are few and far between, with a distinct lack of originality. I wonder if in the world of copycat competition, many have lost the ability to be the ‘first’, which has led to more and more brands appearing stale. The briefings conversations going something like this: “if Jet2 do it, so will we”, “if Apple do it, so we will”, “if Tesco do it, so will we”, and so on.  

Outside of summer travel, the automotive industry is another example. Car design should be one of the ultimate outward aesthetic expressions of individuality for brands in the sector. But as mass production methods and a push for cost efficiencies have led to shared platforms and tooling constraints, ‘individuality’ between manufacturers has become increasingly limited.

As a result, the vehicles on our roads (and the brand names behind them) have become homogenous as we edge ever closer toward a consolidation of design, with identical body, door shapes and interiors between different models (even between different makers). Shared parts, shared premises and ultimately shared corporate ownership which sits back and the enjoys the benefits such business models.

Eventually, there will no longer be Italian flair or American muscle, instead just a multitude of similar customisable trim and extra comfort options (dressed up like real choice), much like ‘the thrill’ of selecting a faster processor speed or extra memory into the ubiquitous looking laptops and mobile phones we now have today.

If car design were to get glamorous, it would take a shift in consumer demand back to the old days of car manufacturing, where everyone was building them by hand as a signature art piece. In reality, at least for mass market brands, those days have been consigned to history. That said, as a customer, you don’t buy just the product – you buy the brand and what it stands for. So, what are brands to do?

There are brands out there though that DO it differently. Dacia is one of the cheapest vehicle brands in the European market. Elsewhere India’s Tata Motors innovates with an ultra-low cost sensibility. Polestar, the exciting, new e-vehicle brand is cutting a stylish name for itself and safely away from the 1970’s design aesthetic of other vehicles coming from its parent company Volvo Motor’s.

Each of these marques bearing testament to what makes them unique, a leader NOT a follower. I remember the success of the first generation Renault Twingo. How was something so quirky so successful? The car scored badly with 90 per cent of people in focus clinics, but the remaining 10 per cent were so passionate about the product that Renault saw that they just had to build it. And the subsequent sales success of the first-generation model spoke volumes. Eventually, the ethos of this once uniquely different mode of travel was lost to redesigns that turned it into nothing more than just another conventional, anonymous city car.

What does this mean? There is a definite need for more bravery in business. For true leaders. The visionaries. The pioneers. The firsts. For more brands to have the self-confidence to both say, and to be, strong enough to stand tall in their decisions, and to cut out a place of their own, be that in how they engage consumers in brand design, marketing, and experience.

To all the followers out there I say this… identifying your USP and owning it – pin your colours to the mast, or drive-train, and own it with a clear sense of purpose and execution. And be prepared to reinvent again, when others seek to copy your success. So, to get your brand to travelling in 2022 you’d better be thinking not just about where to go, but where others don’t dare to tread, or where others are too close for you to remain comfortable.

Now is the time to leap.