Brand differentiation as innovators see it

One simple truth, so many ways of saying it. Here are a some you may recognize and others you may not:

• “Keep your eye clear, and hit ’em where they ain’t” said the baseball legend William Keeler.
• “The purple cow”, a book written by Seth Godin of “Permission Marketing” fame.
• “Zag when others zig”, the famous adage turned into a book by Marty Neumeier.
• “It don’t mean a thing (If it ain’t got that swing)” is a 1931 composition by Duke Ellington, with lyrics by Irving Mills.
• “The beginning of greatness is to be different and the beginning of failure is to be orthodox” is a famous quote by David Ogilvy.
• “If I am going to sing like somebody else, I don’t need to sing at all” Billie Holiday

Enough said.

We keep hearing that brand differentiation became more important as the choice increased for consumer products. Decided to check the validity of the hypothesis using Google ngram viewer which shows how the phrase emerged in the published books. Sure enough.

What definition of brand differentiation resonates with you?