The new strategy – AND.
Seems to me there’s a vein of still untapped strategy that lies in the recombination of bits and pieces of existing ideas and competitors to create something new. Call it post-post-modern strategy it’s been very successful for a bunch of people and it works like this:
Comfort of home AND Cafe-style coffee EQUALS Starbuck’s Third Place
Great design AND low prices EQUALS Target Design For All
While these brands played mix and match with things – the real opportunity is to do the same with ideas, values and beliefs. For example, I’ve always thought the idea of Conservative Christianity was a bit hypocritical because I didn’t think Christ advocated building fences around your property/country and screwing the poor (I’m not a Christian so I’m just guessing here). However, it’s obviously a mashup that many have found appealing and completely complimentary. The point is there’s a wealth of other concepts that are open to the same treatment.
Selflessness AND Selfishness
Racial assimilation AND preservation of identity
Environmental concern AND technological progress
Etc.
Many of these ideas are possible because new technology has rendered the old divisions obsolete, others are made possible because our social mores have evolved to the point where they are no longer relevant. Perhaps this is our new subtlety – the re-contextualisation of definite and singular concepts through juxtaposition with other (often contradictory) concepts.