Generic Curse - Part 2

Earlier I wrote about the Generic Curse - a condition where industry competitors copy each other's strategy to the point where all that results is poorly executed sameness within an industry. Bland, and boring

And it continues to happen.

Witness the latest announcement by Microsoft, to open retail stores (Apple anyone?).

This of course, won't work. But it will be interesting to watch it fail. eWeek has a humorous look at what a Microsoft Store might look like.

I think Microsoft's time might be better spent building products people want to buy, rather than expanding channels to buy them.

The Generic Curse

A colleague and I were at lunch yesterday. We went to a local chain restaurant. The waiter greeted us using the same phrase they do at EVERY chain.

"Hi my name is "Shane" and I'll be serving you today. Can I get you some drinks while you look over the menu?" as he writes down his name on a napkin, in case we can't remember.

As drinks arrive, I notice that this menu looks a lot like every other menu from every competing chain restaurant. Honestly, if the restaurant's name hadn't been on the first page, the place could have been an Uno's, Chili's or Applebees.

Same banter, same service, same prices, same atmosphere, same food.

The only reason we ended up at this restaurant was that the place we really wanted to go to was jammed. So we settled for easier parking and "no surprises". Makes a Brand Manager proud.

Sameness deserves to be relegated to second place.

How do you stand out from your competition?