Archive for March, 2009

Cheers to Moa Beer

Tuesday, March 24th, 2009

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A great example of product differentiation

What do you do when you want to enter a highly competitive market place that’s dominated by two huge international giants and (almost) every conceivable niche has been exploited by boutique players?

The answer is that you do something very, very, different (strategy) which is what the Moa Brewing Company of Marlorough in New Zealand have done.

The Moa beer (”A very rare beer …”) looks different (taller bottle - green with bright red cap - beautifully packed in a recycled four-pack carton) comes in 4 different varieties and every single one tastes different to anything else on the market. Plus it has a cloudy appearance in the bottle where almost every other beer is striving to be clear.

And Moa Beer is around 30% more expensive than other premium brands. The person who served me when I handed over $20+ for my first four bottles of Moa Beer (my other favorite Stella Artois is $15 for a six pack!) told me that her clients who try a Moa curse her when they come back to buy more because even though it’s more expensive they just love it!

Moa have not just created product differentiation at every level, they have also differentiated through price and through the whole experience of drinking a unique tasting and uniquely branded beer. Can’t wait to share one (or two) with my son who is going to visit this evening.

If you feel that your product is like one of many, take a leaf from the hops of the good people at Moa Beer and think about differentiating through product and/or pricing and/or packing and/or promotion.

One gram of good strategy beats a ton of hard work.

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Tom Polands 8020 Blog: What to do when you can’t product differentiate

Monday, March 23rd, 2009

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What to do when you can’t differentiate product features

Strategy is based on doing something different and/or better than your competitors.

My advice is to firstly come up with some sort of difference in respect to your product’s features. Circle De Soleil did it, Apple do it and so does my favorite cafe that has stronger coffee and fresher muffins than the other 7 cafes in town.

But how can you differentiate your product in the eyes of your target market if they perceive (and their perception is their reality!) that your product features are essentially the same as your competitors?

The answer is that if you can’t significantly differentiate product features, you need differentiate your pricing or promotion or packaging - all all three.

My thanks to Tom Kessler from Switzerland who sent me this excellent example of promotional differentiation in one of the most competitive industries in the world - the European mobile phone market.

The advert: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ3d3KigPQM

How they did it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVFNM8f9WnI

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