The best new products--and the most successful--solve real problems in a way that no one has thought to previously address. Often, the problem(s) solved come as a cluster of needs, which appear to be insoluble, even unrelated. Existing hegemonies may appear to counter-indicate new solutions. The logic of the status quo is not a good tool in opening a window to new product categories.
Why Rebrand?
Although Interbrand’s president credits the success of Coke to his interpretation that it “continues to reinvent itself,” the facts say otherwise: of the 15 new Coca-Cola brands the company has introduced since 1983, only a couple are still around. The most notable “reinvention” (New Coke, in 1985) was one of the greatest marketing boondoggles of the last century.