Difference
Brands that appear to be different from others are more likely to stand out, drive sales, grow in value, and grow in market share.
"The top 1/3 ads for ‘make the brand seem really different’ in Kantar's Link Database achieve +90% vs the bottom 1/3 on Kantar’s measure of an ad’s likelihood to drive short-term sales." — The stupidity of sameness and the value of difference
"Over a three-year period from 2015-2017 brands that were perceived to be both highly disruptive and different increased in brand value by 28%, whereas brands that were perceived as both low in disruption and differentiation declined by -5%." — The stupidity of sameness and the value of difference
Studies have shown that "shoppers paid 22% more for brands they find different and meaningful vs those they didn’t, with difference alone accounting for 40% of this on average." — The stupidity of sameness and the value of difference
Earlier in a brand's life cycle, relative perceived "difference" is more important to growth than "meaningfulness" and "salience"—later in a brand's life cycle, salience and meaning start to matter more. — Mark Ritson on Marketing Council Standards Board's model
"Brands that grow penetration (after two years) start with a 7-point advantage in Difference relative to brands that lose penetration" — Blueprint for Brand Growth
"Difference scores were +14 points higher among Kantar BrandZ fastest rising brands", defined by "brand value growth" — Blueprint for Brand Growth
"Meaningful Difference – meeting emotional and functional needs and standing out from competitors – accounts for 94% of a brand’s Pricing Power... Actual Price Index and Salient metrics show no relationship." — Can marketers affect consumer sensitivity to price changes?
Byron Sharp and Jennifer Romaniuk demonstrated with a "services market" that individual categories can vary dramatically in the attributes they're most associated with as well as how well individual brands are associated with those attributes, adjusted for size of the brands. (Using Patterns in Image Data to Determine Brand Positioning)
"Taking an unconventional creative approach produces 40% longer viewing time on average for skippable ads" — Ipsos, How to stop wasting money on 'efficient' digital advertising
"Force people to analyze a new, provocative ad, and you'll see signs of 'alienation' in your research. People, by and large, don't like change. They prefer ads they're used to... Market research overestimates people's resistance to change and boldness, and underestimates 'herd effects'" — How Not to Plan
"People in qualitative research are generally pretty polite. They tend to default to the familiar. And they tend to look for similarity, not difference... When researching anything new, a polarized strong response is often a more reliable predictor of success than a uniformly mild liking" — How Not to Plan
"Standing out and being different is important for any brand. But don't confuse saying something different with saying something in a different way... A distinctive piece of communication on a category benefit will usually be more effective than a bland piece of communication on a differentiated positioning" — How Not to Plan