Products generally compete on a basis of their features and functionality. Many marketing leaders hold an implicit assumption that more is better, and the ability for customization and personalization is best. It makes perfect sense that the more features a product has, the more ways it can be marketed, and the more likely a customer will believe the solution will be ideal for them.
Because categories are becoming increasing complex, simplicity can be a competitive advantage. Creating simplicity for a sophisticated solution is challenging (a little has been written about creating product simplicity John Maeda’s “The Laws of Simplicity” being the best known). It is even more difficult to market, which means that its advantages don’t benefit the business.
Simplicity is most valuable when it is strategy. Simplicity can be a brand principle, an engineering objective and the goal of user experience (UX). Its competitive advantages helped create many unicorn companies (Airbnb, Zillow, Square, Etsy, Wunderlist). But what about established companies? Should existing products set simplicity as a key innovation target, or for it to be an effective competitive advantage does it need to be a fundamental principle of the brand?