When we talk to company leaders about mindshare, some immediately understand it but most politely (virtually) nod their heads even though they’re not fully tracking with the concept.

We’ve long observed that the auto industry is often invoked by wireless industry stakeholders to analogously bring clarity to ideas and such. It’s apropos, then, since Mindshare Advisors works mostly with the wireless industry that we similarly look to cars to help define mindshare.

A recent article in Road & Track – We Should All Be Driving Hybrids. So What’s Wrong With Them? – does a great job of defining mindshare, showcasing the upside of having positive mindshare, the pitfalls of having negative mindshare, and demonstrates how to build mindshare.

Let’s parse it out…

The introductory sentences establishes the current image problem for hybrids among auto consumers:

We should all be driving hybrid cars. They solve so many of the issues facing both pure internal combustion and pure electric vehicles: efficiency, range anxiety, public charging network woes, and urban air quality all stand to be improved with hybrids. But we aren’t driving hybrids. We have long-range, dragstrip-ready EVs, and we have gas cars. What’s wrong with the hybrid?

Image. Hybrid cars have an image problem. They just aren’t cool enough for consumers. This is a failure of marketing as well as a failure of positioning.

What is Mindshare: Mindshare is perception derived from the market’s interpretation of the value proposition of a company, product or service. Mindshare establishes relevance, believability and trust. As my business partner Scott Gregory likes to say, “Perception is everything, and it’s wrong most of the time.”

As the article continues, it reveals the positive and negative sides of the mindshare equation in which EVs are the winner and hybrids the loser:

Before Tesla came along and made EV’s the cool thing to have, the Prius came along and made hybrids particularly un-cool, an uncool from which they have never recovered. Jay Leno famously remarked about rich celebrities per formatively driving the Prius, “Look at this terrible egg I’m driving. Slow, wheezy, tinny. For the environment.” Then, in 2012, an American-made EV that looked like an Aston and went like stink gave the Hollywood elite new, more comfortable ways to show green love, and no celeb has been seen in a hybrid since.

Positive & Negative Mindshare: One of our Laws of Mindshare states if you don’t work to create positive mindshare, others will be more than happy to create negative mindshare for you. Ironically, it tends to be not the competition that tends to cast a negative light but, rather, customers. (Learn more about having the right kind of mindshare)

Next, the article examines what could happen if the hybrid auto industry changed the market story:

But I have a suggestion for the OEM’s who still recognize that, objectively, a hybrid is a better solution for the needs of most consumers than almost any gasoline or EV car on the market today: stop using the H word. Let’s reframe it in a way that combines today’s cool thing with something that people know they want. In fact, I got a comment the other day saying this specific thing about the Ford Lightning I drove recently. At the time I laughed it off, but it got me thinking. It read, “I would like EVs so much more if they were lighter, had more range, and charged themselves.”

How about this: “Self-Charging EV?”

How to Drive (get it?) Mindshare: Mindshare is not marketing; but marketing impacts mindshare (Read more about the difference between mindshare and marketing). Indeed, mindshare is positioning or the managed influence of the market’s thinking. Most of all, mindshare is accomplished with a killer story.

Lastly, the article ponders the potential payoff of successfully positioning and delivering a hybrid – er, Self-Charging EV – to buyers:

What if my Mach E had a battery pack a third or half the size of the one it’s got, and a small gasoline engine that acted as a generator, allowing me to never use gas until I really needed it, and then never having to poop charge in public. That would be a superior vehicle. A true self-charging EV. If you called it that, people might even understand the point, and buy one.   

Business Benefits of Mindshare: Mindshare achieves next level results. You can’t have market share without mindshare. It’s just that simple. (Learn more about the correlation between mindshare and market share)

Mindshare isn’t always fair because perception isn’t always true. But mindshare plays an integral role in next level success. It’s a great equalizer to punch above your company’s weight class. And it’s what grows market share.