The Market Share Compass

Category Exclusivity

Jim Richards

CEO & Founder of The Market Share Group

Part of the property selection process includes understanding how a property is going to protect your investment. Can they build a mote around your category? On occasion, there are opportunities for multiple brands within a category, but that is rare. This is a key component to the property selection. Once you demonstrate that an affinity group is valuable to your category, your competitors and your property’s competitors will look for ways to compete for the same audience and dilute the value of your program.

If you are being charged extra for category exclusivity, you need to know how well the property can protect you. If you have naming rights on an arena, does that keep a competitor from sponsoring an in-game broadcast segment? If you sponsor one NASCAR team, that does not keep a competitor from sponsoring another NASCAR team.

Category exclusivity is crucial. Using the Market Share Compass helps you understand where you may be vulnerable to competitor ambush and how to combat it.