Al Ries and Jack Trout’s seminal book “The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing” is a great and very readable book – for marketers and non-marketers alike. It’s short and doesn’t fall too deeply into the “Who Moved my Cheese” trap of over-simplification.
Their first immutable law is best demonstrated by the question; Who was the first person to fly the Atlantic, solo?
Most of you probably know it was Lindbergh.
So, who was the second? A chap called Bert Hinkler….. apparently. Indeed, even detailed biographies of the man fail to recall this feat, focusing on his achievement of the first solo flight from Australia to Britain.
So their law is: The Law of Leadership “It’s better to be first than it is to be better”.
I was reminded of this with today’s announcement of O2′s 3G plans in the UK. Silicon.com reports
Dave McGlade, O2 UK CEO, said in a statement: “O2 understands that in mobile it’s not about being first to market but delivering on customer service promises… As an industry we have a track record of hyping technology before it is ready. Instead we should be launching it only when it has the right customer experience. At O2 we are committed to breaking this cycle.”
It seems that O2′s plans for now are restricted to a combined wireless offering called O2 Connection Manager. It brings together GPRS (sometimes called 2.5G), 3G and wireless LAN connectivity, through deals with The Cloud and BT Openzone.
No plans it seems to rival Vodafone’s 10 handset mega-launch in November.
Actually, this announcement smacks far more of face-saving post-rationalisation for being beaten off the blocks by the rampant Vodafone – again. I think they just haven’t got a product ready to launch.
Anyway, back to the guru’s: “in spite of the evident superiority of the Lindbergh approach, most companies go the Hinkler route. They wait until the market develops. Then they jump in with a better product…”
There are examples galore, from the world of technology and non-technology alike. The classic one is obviously Coke, who was first to launch and still brand leader, despite Pepsi being “better” (in taste tests anyway).
In fact, think any category and you’ll usually find this applies. Have a guess at the first college to be founded in America. The leading one – Harvard. The second? The College of William and Mary, an excellent institution, I’m sure, but not especially famous nor could it be described as “leading”.
Think Roger Bannister and the 4 minute mile – who was the second person to run it?
Of course, there are other laws and I’m sure there are exceptions to the rule. But generally, you should rush your product to market, because being second or third is invariably the wrong approach. When it comes to launches, 80% of the way there is good enough. Hell, if it works for Microsoft…..:-)
In fact, there’s a much better example closer to home to illustrate this whole point. Guess who the leading brand in mobile is in the UK? It’s Vodafone, in case you don’t have the figures handy.
Guess who was first to launch a network in 1984? Yup – Vodafone again.
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