The Book of BYRON

Sunday morning I happened upon the latest post from Professor Sharp. 

His chosen title was ‘Yawn, I’m sick of the fake differentiation debate’.

I expected the normal arguments. Distinctiveness wins every time. It’s no longer a case of Differentiate or Die, if it ever was.

The Trumpian tone of the headline was new, but the post itself was pretty balanced. Some brands are differentiated in product terms, most aren’t, not by much anyway. 

Then I got to the comments. The majority were from his followers. Byron replied to a surprisingly high number of them, offering words of encouragement.

But in there were a few challengers. 

Are there other peer-reviewed studies that directly measure perceived differentiation apart from EBI’s own 2007 study?

Aren’t people looking for distinctiveness because it has a different associated meaning?

Differentiation may be on the physical level of the product or the emotional, psychological level of feelings. 

You cannot be distinctive unless you are different.

In each case his reply was the same.

You should read How Brands Grow.

Have you read the evidence?

Read How Brands Grow.

Which struck a chord, because last Thursday we went to see The Book of Mormon. The kids were finally old enough. 

In the musical, two young Mormon missionaries are sent to a part of Uganda under the control of a ruthless warlord general. So far, the mission there has had zero success in converting anyone.

The apparent protagonist is Elder Cunningham. He has the most stage time, drives the plot forward, gets the girl, solves the problem with his creative rewriting of Mormon scripture and gets the biggest laughs. 

But the thematic protagonist is Elder Price. His journey from absolute certainty to crisis of faith to continuing understanding is the real arc.

Along the way he also has the show’s biggest song, ‘I Believe’.

In all the absurdities of the book - ancient Jews built boats and sailed to America, the Garden of Eden was in Jackson County, Missouri - he seeks to reaffirm his faith: 

You cannot just believe part-way / You have to believe in it all.

I can't allow myself to have any doubt.

I am a Mormon and, dang it, a Mormon just believes.

Fair to say, his gift of the book to the warlord doesn’t go down well.

But even the general understands by the end that The Book of Mormon isn’t meant to be taken literally.

Like all sacred texts, it’s a metaphor. 

And it’s never the end of the story.