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

Zagging At the Speed of Change

I began this book by citing Moore’s Law, the 1965 prediction that computer speed would dramatically increase every year. I’d like to end it with “Warhol’s Law,” artist Andy Warhol’s 1968 prediction that everyone will be famous for 15 minutes. Warhol’s Law is based on the observation that mass media are becoming atomized, democratized, and personalized, not only allowing—but requiring—more people to feed the media machine. This phenomenon is inextricably linked with the big speedup, since constant change requires constant novelty. We’re moving into an era of perpetual innovation.

As choices in the marketplace proliferate, the lifetime of a brand will shrink. Disk-drive pioneer Al Shugart was only half-joking when ...