Market Knowledge Always Wins the Day

iv id="body">package with the company designing, building, and
If you rate how good a company's marketing initiativespopulating the computer so that it would be very
are by the advertisements you see and theefficient. Microsoft, on the other hand, realized it could
impressions they make on individuals, you couldn't benever satisfy the market entirely and focused on
more wrong. The best marketers know their market -creating the operating system for IBM computers, a
they have in depth knowledge of who their customerslarge manufacturer who was already established in
are, what their customers' needs are, what companiesthe computer industry. While Microsoft and Apple
have done in the past, and in which direction theweren't doing the same thing, they were definitely in
market is headed. Sure, these guys can also generatethe same market in the early 80's. Apple, whose
catchy ads and funny slogans, but these things do notoperating system on its early models was only
make them great marketers.compatible with its Macintosh computers, lost the battle
The Best Battles of the Past Few Decades Nike vs.when they licensed some of their operating system
Adidas - The battle between Nike and Adidas thatideas to Microsoft. They turned around, created their
erupted in the late 70's and continued through the 80'sown Windows 1.0, and bundled the operating system
is one for the record books. In the mid-80's, Nike signedwith all the IBM computers.
basketball superstar Michael Jordan and quicklyApple was stuck marketing and selling their products
released the Air Jordan line. Adidas signed Run DMCwhich were not compatible with any other product out
banking on the explosion of Hip-Hop. Who won? Well,there. Microsoft took off immediately after they
they both sell sports shoes and Adidas signed arealized the best way to reach their market: a
musical group while Nike signed a sports star. Today,partnership with a well established computer
Nike is worth $15 billion and Adidas is worth $8 billion.manufacturer.
Nike dominates most sports while Adidas remainsHarley-Davidson vs. Honda - Harley-Davidson was the
strong only in soccer.world's leading motorcycle manufacturer until the
Why did this happen? There are a few reasons. Nike1970's when Japanese bikes quickly became popular
stayed true to its positioning by signing basketball'swith their superior handling and performance. In 1980,
most popular rising star. Adidas strayed from theHarley was at risk of going bankrupt and was sold to
sports theme completely by signing a Hip-Hop group.another company who had a revolutionary marketing
Nike also had the foresight that basketball wasidea.
becoming an American pastime where players likeThe new owners saw their competition, Honda and
Michael Jordan would be idolized. They were dead on.the other Japanese bike manufacturers, sized them up,
JVC vs. Sony - Another struggle during the 80's wasand developed a new strategy. They saw that they
between VHS and Betamax. People always say thathad lost the innovation and performance lead to the
marketing had nothing to do with VHS trumpingJapanese and would never regain it. However,
Betamax as the video cassette standard. However,Harley-Davidson was a company that had a great
marketing had everything to do with it. RCA went tohistory - almost six decades more than Honda.
Sony and asked them to create a Betamax tapeHarley-Davidson's new designs had a "retro" feel to
capable of recording for 4 hours. Sony refusedthem. The new bikes looked like the old bikes of the
because the quality would be much poorer than what40's and 50's and shied away form the sleek and
Betamax was now offering on the 1 hour tapes. RCAcompact look the Japanese were using. They saw
then went to JVC and asked them the same thing.that an American company with a lot of history could
They accepted, began to create the "long play" VHSuse that history to its advantage. The name
tapes, and the industry was instantly changed.Harley-Davidson quickly became synonymous with
What consumers needed was a tape capable ofAmerican pride. By the mid-90's the company had
recording more than an hour. People were beginning tocompletely rebounded and started making deals with
use the recording tapes to make copies of theirFord to produce a Harley-Davidson model of the
favorite movies on television. They could not use thepopular Ford pickup trucks. Again, the Harley-Davidson
Betamax tapes because all the movies were longername prevailed. By 2004, the licensing of the
than an hour. JVC saw the consumer need andHarley-Davidson name was bringing in 5% of the
satisfied it. Because JVC was the one with the marketcompany's revenue.
savvy to see this, they came out on top and BetamaxHarley-Davidson could have been crushed by Honda
flopped.and the other Japanese bike manufacturers - look at
Microsoft vs. Apple - Apple created its first computerwhat has happened to the American car
in 1977 and quickly gained notoriety. Microsoft becamemanufacturers as of late. However, Harley has
popular in 1981 when its operating system was bundledprevailed by keeping a consistent image with their
with IBM computers. So how did Microsoft "beat"bikes. They have never wavered from that "Hog"
Apple in the computer industry when they werementality the company pushed for so hard in the 80's.
almost 5 years behind them?They not only sold their bikes, but they also sold the
Microsoft had the market knowledge and workedhistory and prestige that was behind each one. And
through existing channels to reach their customers.that's exactly how they positioned the bikes in the 80's
Apple thought that their market would like an "all-in-one"to stay afloat against stiff competition.