Industry leaders don’t lead by following down the same path as others.
They lead by following a path their competitors aren’t.
To follow down the same path would simply lead them to play catch-up.
Marty Neumeier said it best in his book ZAG, “If you’re not zagging, you’re lagging.”
When it comes to branding, the same rules apply.
If you want to stand out, you can’t do it by blending in.
Of course, it feels more comfortable to follow the pack.
But if you want to stand out, you can’t do that by doing what everyone else has already done.
To be an anomaly, you have to act like one.
A brand doesn’t grow into a market leader by following the rules of the market leader.
It grows by finding the open spaces and zagging towards them.
To borrow another line from Marty “When focus is paired with differentiation, supported by a trend, and surrounded by compelling communications, you have the basic ingredients of a zag.”
To build a successful brand, you must zag.
