The Evolution of Brands

Throughout history brands have been created through the divergence of an existing category. Television has diverged to form the analog and digital categories. Digital television has further diverged to form regular and high definition and so on. Despite this obvious natural force at work* many business leaders believe that convergence of products is the way of the future.

It is really the fault of the clock radio. Ever since this annoying product was introduced the idea of converging 2 or more existing technologies has grown stronger. The problem with this is that the resulting product is not better than the existing products and operates in a no mans land where it is unwanted. How many people do you know that can access the internet on their fridge? Why would you want to?!

Some products work through convenience. The sofa bed is neither a good bed nor a particularly comfortable sofa but when space or money is limited it’s a good compromise. Given the money and the space I would think that most people would go for the option of separate bed and sofa.

Why then do so many businesses spend so much time and effort trying to combine products instead of putting the resources into research and development for new items? Looking back at history only reinforces this approach. Flying car anyone? What about combining a boat and a car? The 1961 Amphicar was reported to “drive like a boat and float like a car.”

While companies like Nokia (N-gage phone and game console), Microsoft (Pen and computer in tablet form) and LG Electronics (Internet refrigerator) continue to spend vast sums on failed convergence ventures it provides opportunity for their competitors to get ahead.
Some products will evolve or combine to provide an exception to the rule such as the mobile phone with digital camera but again this is more of a convenience example. I’m certainly not going to replace my Nikon with a Nokia.

While these bad ideas capture the public’s imagination (I mean who wouldn’t want a flying car?) great (divergence) ideas lead to continuous improvement and evolution of products. If only they could develop simple to use clock radios for hotels that don’t wake you up at 4am because the last person had an early flight.

* It is a founding principle identified by Charles Darwin in his seminal work “The Origin of Species”
Reference: The Origin of Brands – Al & Laura Ries