BACK TO PRINCIPLES
Launch a brand, not a product.
A product is not a brand.
Many companies launch products - a new innovation or a new way replacing the old way, assuming there is an old way. These companies only sell products. They do not sell their brand and therefore don't create ubiquity surrounding their product.
Companies that launch original products rather than brands eventually realize their rocket-science innovation is quickly replicated, ripped off, commoditized, duplicated, copied (call it what you want) by a competitor with a better, faster, or cheaper version of their original product. And so the bloodbath begins.
When this happens the success of a product rests entirely on the strength of the sales team. This produces a never-ending head-to-head battle surrounding feature-function-benefit claims and margins crumble.
Over time, product patents will expire, features hit diminishing returns and new competitors move into the marketplace. When this happens, companies that only launched a product have nothing to stand on. But if they launched a brand, they own a brand name along with the differentiated and sustainable value it offers their consumer.