Yesterday I went to the supermarket to buy bottled water. There are at least 7 different brands of bottled water.
Guess which one I picked?
ALL Seven.
The thing with bottled water is that they are nearly identical regarding flavor. You’re buying water that tastes similar.
I was intrigued by their prices.
How can one brand DOUBLE the price of the other when it has no distinctive advantage? I have never seen advertisements for bottled water in Singapore.
That tickled my curiosity genes.
Taste Test
So, I went back with 7 bottles of water and got my wife to help me with two rounds of BLIND taste test.
Here comes the surprising results.
My favourite picks for the first and second round are different!
I repeated the test and my picks for the two rounds are different again.
Because they taste almost the same, it’s really hard to distinguish one from the other.
Let’s say you’ve been buying Brand X all the time.
You went to this supermarket and they are not selling Brand X. What do you do? Will you go to another supermarket just to buy Brand X?
Chances are, nobody would do that for a bottle of water.
Don’t be a perfect substitute
Bottled water are perfect substitutes.
Here’s the lesson:
Don’t be like bottled water.
They are cheap, and there are no opportunity costs to switch brands.
I love to eat Chicken Rice. If you didn’t know, chicken rice is a very popular dish in Singapore.
I would queue at this famous stall to eat chicken rice that is almost 1.5 times the price of other stalls. And there’s a long line every day.
Here’s another lesson:
Be different.
Become yourself.
Always put your best foot forward.
Strive to improve, overcome and become the best version of yourself that you can be.
When you show your worth, people will appreciate you for who you are.
You can’t be substituted.
“Think of yourself as a brand. You need to be remembered. What will they remember you for? What defines you? If you have it in you, do something that defines you. Invent something, develop a unique skill, get noticed for something – it creates a talking point.” – Chris Arnold