What creates brand mythology? That special indefinable element. What ensures ‘me too’ brands never make a dent in the original? Often it is a wildcard ingredient. It’s the thing that makes us ‘the original’.
Does your start up have a wildcard ingredient? Something you can own in the mind? It doesn’t have to be an actual ingredient (food / beverage) It can be some form of technology or anything. It’s an input you can talk about.
Many great brands have a wildcard in their positioning:
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Red Bull |
Taurine |
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Toyota Prius |
Hybrid |
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ipod |
itunes |
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Yakult |
Casei shirota strain |
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Ebay & Youtube |
User generated content (UGC) |
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Amazon |
Unlimited range (long tail economics) |
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Subway |
Healthy fast food |
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Bugaboo prams |
Most expensive |
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KFC |
11 secret herbs & spices |
Wildcards build mythology and cachet. They give us a reason to believe. Build one into your start up.
I was trying to think: are there any brands that don’t adequately make use of their “wildcard ingredient”?
majic,
An example of an ‘unused wildcard’ could be public transport and global warming. They haven’t leveraged this at all. There is general awareness that mass transit is a big part of the solution, but train and bus companies continue to compete on comfort, price and parking.
Stephen
I know it’s not a “product” per se, but actually walking places instead of driving has a similar “unspoken wildcard”, in fact two, environmental kindness AND physical fitness…