Marketers seek points of difference to distinguish their products from competitors’ offerings, keep products from reaching maturity/decline and to deliver extra value through augmentations.

More cynically, points of difference are a means of creating interest in a tired, mundane product, justifying a price premium or to keep staff busy!

Having recently refreshed my Anaphylaxis, it seems to me that the two rival providers of adrenalin, Epipen and Anapen need to put aside their (point of) differences for the benefit of allergy suffers and medical practitioners. I am certain their point of differences are merely patent related.

 

 

 

 

Epipen (Left Image) must be administered without the thumb covering the top of the pen, as this has tragically resulted in the administrator of the pen self applying the dose with the syringe.

Anapen (Right Image) can only be administered by pushing with the thumb. You can easily see the danger here, particularly when timing is crucial and the pen is a single dose.

I’m sure that one company originally held the patent one pen design, meaning that any competitors had to design something different. For a product that has life and death consequences, it seems petty to me. Join forces and share the profits!

Once you look for patent differences rather than points of difference, life could be made simpler by companies agreeing to standards and finding a basis for competition elsewhere.

When using a computer, do you instinctively go to close a window in the left or right corner? 😉