Insight on the Prius

I have wanted to post on this subject for some time (sorry for the delay).

Toyota executed a supreme (yet ugly) job on the Prius. Toyota found a way to engineer and profit from hybrid cars.
Essentially, Toyota saw that a type of consumers needs were not being met. Namely: people who are open to a hybrid AND people who liked hatchbacks. There aren't a whole lot of that type of consumer out there, but that doesn't matter because Toyota hit that combo out of the park.
Along comes Honda: "Hey, we want that success too!" Then comes their execution…or lack there of. They release a fake Prius with a Honda symbol on it (well actually they released the Honda Insight, but it is essentially a carbon-copy of the Prius). Take a look at the image below. Just try to tell them apart.

Honda could have said: "Ok, well Toyota has the hybrid/hatchback lovers, lets go after the hybrid/[insert: sedan, coupe, mini-van, SUV, crossover, truck, motorcycle, etc.] lovers." No. Instead they decided to play catch-up and try to steal market share from Toyota's Prius. Honda could have made its own mark in the hybrid wars by differentiating from the competition, but it took the easy (not to mention the less successful) way out.

My personal preferences: I wouldn't mind having some of the benefits of a hybrid (fuel efficiency, decreasing our oil dependency, etc.), but I HATE hatchbacks. There just aren't enough good sedan hybrids out there (or perhaps auto makers haven't done a good job marketing them to me).

[Image: 2010 Toyota Prius (left), 2010 Honda Insight (right)]

The Block went Bust

Today we saw an industry leader fall prey to new comers (who were still wet behind the ears). Blockbuster has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection (CNN news story).

What does Chapter 11 mean? Basically, it’s a way to decrease your debt and restructure the business quickly. They will now owe the people who lent them money a lot less. Does that mean Blockbuster will go the way of the dinosaur? No, they could make a strong recovery (depending on their leadership).

What happened? Blockbuster was the titan of movie rental after all. No one else came close (Hollywood Video, Shmollywood Video). They got too comfortable, they felt indestructible. Competition saw an opportunity (two opportunities actually) to give customers added value that they didn't even know they needed. They saw something that Blockbuster could have easily seen, but neglected and overlooked.

Lately, I have read a number of blog posts by Seth Godin (an amazing and insightful writer). Upon hearing the news this morning, one in particular blog post stuck out. The post is titled Learning from Singer. To sum it up: "The best marketing strategy is to destroy your industry before your competition does."