Brand Relevance: Making Competitors Irrelevant

Chapter 10. GAINING AND MAINTAINING RELEVANCE IN THE FACE OF MARKET DYNAMICS

If you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.

—Will Rodgers

There is nothing more exhilarating than to be shot at without result.

—Winston Churchill

In the face of market dynamics, firms run the risk of losing relevance as the category or subcategory or which they are focused fades or gets redefined and, as a result, the firms' brand becomes relevant to a shrinking number of customers. There are many forces that drive this threat as this chapter will describe, but one is a growing reluctance to buy from a firm that is considered unacceptable in terms of its values or the way it uses its market power. Changing such a reputation is difficult for ...