how kris allen or adam lambert can win american idol 8

we have talked about how the two finalists in this week's american idol season 8 finale can be so different from each other. their uniqueness is so clear that we can call them Brand Kris and Brand Adam. in marketing terms, both have very clearly defined brand equities.

in marketing terms, these are the things kris and adam can do to win on thursday, in no particular order:

• song choice of course is most key. we all know both sing very well and both has his own brand of singing. song choice affects differentiation in a significant way. bad or wrong song choice has also been the biggest failure of most of the contestants.
• song choice we will define as one that will showcase their singing prowess, one that allows them to get their voice and singing style in full display for everyone to appreciate. i hope they will not choose a song that they just " like", or a "favorite" or "i enjoy singing". american idol is a singing competition for crying out loud. the song is the medium or stage by which your singing voice is shown, use it in that way.
• is moving for "even clearer differentiation" the thing to do? that we think is something both kris and adam need to decide on. they ought to know one is very different from the other. you can argue that it is this clear differentiation that has led them to the finals.
• will "more of the same" or "do something different" the thing to do. this is related to the point, above. is staying the course on the "defined" differentiation the thing to do or is some change needed? staying the course means applying the same thing that has worked. is that the way to go?
• is "beating the other on his own game" the thing to do?
• should adam sing one song that dials up the cute factor? kris is more like the matinee idol type, the romantic singer and has good looks. we know that adam can be extremely effective even in songs that kris sing. should adam sing a song that captures the strengths and things that kris has.
• should kris do the same? adam is the rocker and one very good at it. should kris sing a song that can appeal to adam's rocker fans or those who voted for adam because they like his rocker style? can kris effectively deliver here? or will he lose his identity?
• in marketing a clearly defined brand equity works very well. but there is also the fact that because of the clear differentiation between these two singers, we can assume each one has his own loyal or core fans who vote for them week to week. for one to win, one needs to get get switchers from the opponent's core fans.
• we think kris needs the above strategy more strongly than adam does. kris has failed in some weeks during the whole season. that can only mean kris has supporters who at times tend to not vote for him. he needs to gain more voters and the way to do that is to sing a song that will appeal to adam's traditional supporters.
• adam on the other hand can exploit the weakness of kris' core users who tend to switch away from kris from time to time. for adam, singing a song that appeals to kris' fans may get him a lot of switchers from kris' supporters.
• this thing called "star quality" is sometimes ignored. that is very important specially in this kind of contest. contestants with "star quality" can get voes despite having a voice that is not so perfect. we have seen this time and again in american idol where some contestants stay on mostly on the basis of appeal or star quality and those with great voices get booted out because they lack appeal or star quality.

these are tough questions. while to the contestants they may see them simply as doing their thing, looking at them more deeply will reveal these are actually marketing and brand issues that they need to tackle.