ZAG: The Number-One Strategy of High-Performance Brands

Scissors, Paper, Rock

If you’re launching a new brand, as in the wine bar example, you can stop reading here—you have enough information to start the zag-design process. But if you’re repositioning a brand, or if you’re curious about where to take your brand after you launch it, this section of the book will help you understand how and when to renew your zag as it moves through the three stages of the “competition cycle.”

Whenever I give a workshop on brand positioning, I can count on getting this question: If focus is so important to success, how can so many unfocused companies grow so large? In other words, how can you explain the success of a company like General Electric, which markets everything from power plants to plastics, insurance to ...