I’m amazed at how many brands and agencies think their competitors are only the ones who operate within their category. I’m even more amazed that brands and agencies tend to focus on one competitor as the one to watch.
Toyota vs Honda.
American Airlines vs Delta.
Colgate vs Crest.
Clearly, brands love to create this one enemy that will focus energy of the team and makes it easier for the public to create a faux war of brands: (Who is better? Michael Jackson or Prince?) While I see the benefits, I tend to believe that it’s not good enough to know who you consider as a competitor. You need to understand who considers you as a competitor.
Barnes & Noble vs Borders
While both brands were engaged in an intense turf war, Amazon stole their lunch. Forcing one into bankruptcy and the other brand to wonder: How did that happen?
Toyota was regarding GM as their biggest competitor. Honda saw Toyota the same way. Who’s outselling Honda now? Hyundai.
All the big networks were engaging in a battle for viewers while cable networks started to develop their own drama shows. Oh, and this little company called Netflix changed the game even more dramatically.
Your competition is anything that causes your customers not to buy your product/service. It’s anything that erodes or explodes your competitive advantage. It may not even exist today, but it could mean you won’t exist tomorrow.
In the end, you need to focus on improving your product/service every day and ensure that your source of competitive advantage remains robust and relevant. If you focus on the ‘competition’, you may forget to focus on your customers, and it is they who ultimately manage your brand. Brands often make choices that are more influenced by what their competitors are doing rather than what their customers want. Too many people regard differentiation as being different from their competitors, but it’s not much use if in your quest to forge your own identity, you do things people don’t want, don’t desire, don’t buy.
uwehook 
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