I read an interesting story yesterday.
Taylor Monahan, one of the cofounders of the popular wallet service MyEtherWallet, left that team.
And he's started a new competing outfit called MyCrypto.
Now, I don't use MyEtherWallet.
And I haven't tried MyCrypto either.
But if you look at this split from a marketing point of view, there are some big lessons to be learned.
So in an attempt to inform and entertain, let's look at why the new MyCrypto is set up to fail from the start:
1. MyEtherWallet is a better name than MyCrypto
MyEtherWallet clearly explains what its service is.
MyCrypto does not.
Big brands with massive budgets (Google, Apple) can afford to have vague or meaningless names.
Niche software services have a harder time.
That's why I think the generic MyCrypto brand is biting itself in the seat cushion with its vague name.
2. MyEtherWallet has first-mover advantage
In the seminal book Positioning (which invented the term), ad men Al Ries and Jack Trout give one recommendation for success: be the first to a market.
Well, MyCrypto is definitely not the first in the free Ethereum wallet market.
I'm not sure whether MyEtherWallet was either.
But it was successful enough that it's now definitely got a huge advantage over MyCrypto which will be hard to overcome.
3. MyCrypto seems to be after the exact same market as MyEtherWallet
In the same Positioning book, Ries and Trout give another bit of positioning advice.
If you cannot be first in a market, the next best thing is often to find another market.
For example, Intel was once the world's biggest chip maker.
But other companies, like Nvidia (graphics cards) and Samsung (mobile chips) managed to make good businesses for themselves by carving out a specialized market, rather than taking Intel head-on.
(Samsung has even passed Intel in recent years.)
But MyCrypto seems to be going after the exact same market as MyEtherWallet.
Even the website looks exactly the same.
Maybe MyCrypto will overcome the dominance of MyEtherWallet in the long run, thanks to perserverence and competitiveness or just a lucky break.
But as a positioning and branding strategy, it doesn't look too good right now.
John Bejakovic
P.S. this story has a moral for any ICOs out there: You have to differentiate yourself from what's gone on before. Oftentimes, it's a good idea to pick a narrower niche and excel there.
Anyways, if you want more marketing ideas for ICOs, whether it's positioning or hard-core direct response, you can sign up for them on my site.