Five years after launching Miller Lite, sales for Miller High Life had nearly tripled-but then sales steadily declined for the following 13 years, falling below where they’d been before launching the light beer. For example, Miller High Life had seen its sales grow significantly each year until it introduced Miller Lite. Smart marketers must resist being swayed by short-term benefits and diligently consider the long-term effects of their actions. Like many things in life, when it comes to marketing, the short-term effects of an action can be the opposite of the long-term effects. Customers have come to associate the existing brand name with a specific attribute (Law #5), so the company needs a different brand name to link to an appropriate word for the new category. If a market leader wants to enter one of these emerging categories, it needs a new brand name for that category. Over time, as the number of companies in a market shrinks, the category tends to divide into more specific categories-for example, what was once a single “computer” category eventually divided into mainframes, minicomputers, personal computers, laptops, and notebooks. Law #11: Use a Different Brand Name for Each Category Use the following laws to maintain your consistency. By contrast, if you change your offerings or your strategy, your customers won’t know what to expect-and they’ll turn to a more familiar alternative. If you concentrate your effort on positioning your product as the best (or one of the best) in its category and building a marketing campaign around that product, consumers will know what to expect from your brand. While focusing your message is important, so is focusing your product offerings. For example, while Coca-Cola had an unparalleled claim as the old, established cola option, Pepsi positioned itself to be the fresh alternative for the younger generation. Stake a claim on the market share that’s looking for something different by pointing out how your product is different and why that makes it better. Consumers naturally tend to either be attracted to the most popular brand or repelled by it. For example, you could be the affordable alternative to the luxury option. Don’t try to out-do your competitor at what it does best-instead, embody the opposite. To secure a second-place spot on your market ladder, turn the market leader’s strengths into weaknesses. Law #10: If You Can’t Be the Market Leader, Be the Opposite Depending on how quickly the market evolves, it may take years or decades to turn into a two-company race-and it’s critical to your business that you secure and maintain one of the top two spots in your market. But eventually, every market whittles down to just two top brands, while all their competitors fight for the crumbs. When a product category is new, the ladder may have many rungs as new companies join the fray and compete for customers. Law #9: Every Market Becomes a Two-Rung Ladder So why go with us? We try harder.” The company acknowledged its position and gave consumers a reason to choose it anyway. By contrast, the company went from losing money to making money when it changed its marketing campaign to say, “Avis is only No. When Avis first launched a campaign that called itself the “Finest in rent-a-cars,” it failed because the message didn’t resonate as true. Avis used this law effectively when it was trailing behind Hertz in the rental car market.
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