Product Behavior

I had an interesting discussion with a friend about the Genius model of a product. The Genius, you’ll recall, is a product that thinks about a problem in a new way. The Swiffer, the iPod, Trader Joe’s - all Geniuses. They’re different, a little idiosyncratic, and a consumer must get used to the way they do things - but once the initial barriers are passed, and the consumer sees the light, the Genius product seems like the only way to solve the problem. Everything else is old fashioned and bogged down.

Many of my clients have too narrow a view of the competition. They tend to only view products that sell on the same shelf, in the same store, as their own as competitors.
A few years ago I did some work for a power-tool manufacturer trying to revamp a product line. The devices sell in places [...]