People look at me funny when I put those three together. A hip-hop collective, a shoe company, and a computer company. On paper they have nothing to do with each other. But it’s obvious to me. And maybe that’s part of my own brand of madness, that I see these things and wonder why nobody else does.
Try it yourself. When you say Wu-Tang, what pops into your head, and what do you feel? When you say Apple – think, see, feel. Nike, same deal. For better or worse, all three dominated a category. And every one of them built a brand that means something to people. Like them or not, the name makes you think, see something in your mind’s eye, and feel something. There’s nostalgia. There’s status. There’s reputation. There’s a lifestyle attached.
You wear a Wu-Tang shirt, you’re saying something. You crack open a MacBook Pro at a coffee shop, you’re making a statement. You’re rocking Nikes, you’re making a statement. These three completely different things all managed to build a lifestyle and a reputation around what they do in the market, and in people’s hearts, minds, and souls.
I grew up with this. Running track in black Chuck Taylor high tops in Philly, wanting Nikes so bad. A kid freshman year with the gold swoosh telling me my Asics were “alright” because Nike knew something about style. That’s vibe. Apple’s the same. The fanboy stuff, the phones, the laptops. It’s sexy, there’s a vibe, and that vibe is attractive. People want to be seen with it. They want to be known to be in that tribe.
Distinction, not differentiation
This is where I split with a lot of marketers. They love to ask, “What’s your differentiator?” I don’t have one. And I don’t want one. When you go chasing a differentiator, you’re actually creating risk. You’re reaching for something to prove you’re different, and it’s usually nonsense: our people, our process, our ingredients, gluten-free, whatever. Those aren’t differentiators. They’re conditions. Validators. If I’m buying food, of course I want it clean and organic with no chemicals, but that’s not why I pick the brand. Something about the brand spoke to me.
That’s distinction, not differentiation. What makes you distinct from all the other options? For Wu-Tang versus A Tribe Called Quest or the Beastie Boys, it’s the personality plus the intellectual property. And I don’t mean IP in the legal sense. I mean it as the value you provide to your customers. Wu-Tang’s IP plus their personality and vibe is what makes them them. Nike and Adidas sell the same shit; the difference is vibe. Apple’s IP plus its personality is what makes it distinct from any other box you could buy. That’s the secret almost nobody sees: what makes those brands similar is that they get this, and what makes it a struggle for everyone else is that they’re stuck asking “how do I sell more things?”
Selling more or less is just an indicator of the strength and magnetism of your brand. Is it attracting the right people? Is it distinct from the other options? Market share is a popularity contest. The more popular you are in the market, the more share you hold. So here’s what I’d have a CEO meditate on, hard: not “how can we sell more,” but how do we grow in our category? How do we dominate it? How do we build a category and then defend it?
It all comes back to a few simple, intrinsic and extrinsic questions. Who are we? What do we give a damn about? Who are we for? What do they give a damn about? Find the overlap, and you’ve found the opportunity to build a relationship. People ask me how you build a relationship with millions of customers. I just told you. You keep it real about what you care about, you align it with what they care about, you’re clear about the problems you solve and the value you bring. And, most importantly, you do it in your own personality and vibe.
That’s the differentiator. That’s distinction. And that’s not a project. That’s the business.
