The Kobayashi Maru.
Star Trek fans will recognize the name from the 1982 film, Star Trek II: Wrath of Kahn. The Kobayashi Maru is a test that would have guaranteed the destruction of one of two opposing ships and forces cadets to deal with a no-win scenario.

James T. Kirk is the only cadet to ever defeat the Kobayashi Maru.

How? Read on and Prosper.

Let’s face it; business is rigged. Much like the Kobayashi Maru, as you try to build your brand you’ll be faced with seemingly countless no-win scenarios.

• • Business is down, it’s time to market. But business is down, where do I find a budget for marketing?
  • “Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff” but that type-o in your powerpoint, which was pretty small, lost you the deal.
  • The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
  • You don’t have the staff to support growth, but if you did grow you could afford the staff. Which comes first?

Yes, the business world is indeed rigged. But, like Captain Kirk, you do not believe in no-win scenarios and you plan to boldly go where no CEO has gone before.

CAPTAIN KIRK’S ANSWER:

Kirk defeated the Kobayashi Maru by reprogramming the simulation to lean in his favor and ultimately make himself the hero.

THE BUSINESS OWNER’S KOBAYASHI MARU

Today’s business environment has, for many industries, become a race to the bottom: who can sell and make a profit from their product or service at the cheapest price? Unfortunately, this means minor differentiation points get lost in the noise, and differentiation is what ultimately leads to success. 

Now, you ARE special, you’ve got your unique selling proposition in place, but with so many choices available to the consumer do they really have time to listen to what makes you unique?

OUR ANSWER:

As Captain of your ship you can either play by the rules and drag out this destruction as long as you can, or—like Kirk—you change the circumstances of the entire game. As the fearless leader of your company and crew, you can refuse to play by the rules of commoditization and instead, truly differentiate your brand well beyond the traditional unique selling proposition (USP). We call this process becoming Decommoditized ™

Is Decommotization easy? Nope. Is it necessary? 100%.

THE GOOD NEWS

Differentiation isn’t about who has the biggest arsenal (aka marketing dollars), but who—like Captain Kirk—can step outside the boundaries of the “no-win scenario” and instead of fighting against the tide (aka more SEO, more Social Media, more media spend), employ extraordinary ingenuity—which is the main ingredient of the Decommoditization process to circumvent the tide entirely.

WHERE DO I START?

Truly differentiating yourself in a crowded marketplace can seem insurmountable. As your clients may be experiencing, there are so many choices available, it makes the selection process that much more difficult. You may not even know what kind of differentiation is right for your company. 

But fear not, we’ve created THE UNIVERSE OF DIFFERENTIATION which categorizes the top 12 differentiators where brands like yours have had the most success:

We are hard at work creating a fully interactive “Universe” where you can travel throughout the “galaxy” and visit each planet to see real-world examples of how big brands have utilized each differentiator with great success to help spur your imagination and get you on the right path.
Be sure to join club 3:59 below to get early access.

NEED MORE HELP?

Fill out our contact form to setup an introductory call to see how Decommoditized can help you along your process of winning a no-win situation