Challenger Brand Credo # 2 - Take thought leadership of the category

In every category there are two types of brand leadership:

Market Leadership – the brand which is the biggest in the category, the brand which is selling the most, the brand with the largest distribution, the brand with the largest advertising budget, the brand that is most familiar, trusted and respected.

Then there is Thought Leadership- the brand which everyone talks about. If a challenger brand cannot compete with the market leader on any planks of the market leader (which most challenger brand will not be able to because of limited resources), the challenger brand should assume thought leadership, the currencies of which are not determined by significant financial or historical business resources.

The key currency to assume thought leadership is ‘Momentum,' in the sense the brand introduces new ideas into the marketplace and re-frames the way people think about how the category operates.

Now to assume thought leadership, challenger brands deliberately and carefully breaks all the established conventions of the category. And by doing so, they redefine the rules of the category to gain well-deserved respect.


Becoming a thought leader necessarily involves understanding category conventions and re-framing it mainly from three critical perspectives to build a new kind of relationship and buzz in the marketplace around your brand:

Conventions around how a category represents itself
Media conventions of the category
Current user experience conventions

Conventions around how a category represents itself

This could be conventions around how the category sees its relationship with its customers, packaging design, philosophy of doing business etc...


How Planet Fitness Health club changed the rules of fitness centers by striking a chord with everyday fitness enthusiasts.




Media conventions of the category

Innocent in its initial days put a lot of emphasis on creating disruptive OOH and retail shelf displays which reinforced its 'natural' core.







Current user experience conventions

How WeChat and Line challenged market leader WhatsApp with a better user experience.

While WhatsApp has higher global numbers, WeChat and Line are very successful challengers in the Asian markets. 


Line sold colorful emoticons for users to send them to one another. On the other hand, WeChat gained early traction partly thanks to "shake," a function that allows you to see other, nearby users shaking their phones at the same time – a brand new way to find dates, a revolution.


DISCLAIMER:
This blog represents my views. They do not necessarily reflect those of my employer

Challenger Brand Credo #1- Symbols of re-evaluation

A challenger brand needs to create symbols of re-evaluation to succeed in the market and not just brilliant ads that try to change assumptions with attitude and words.


When a challenger brand wants to compete with an established brand, they need to puncture the consumers’ autopilot thinking by creating symbols of re-evaluation. These symbols of re-evaluation are often the game changers. And they are steeped in the business and not just brilliant communication. 

Below are three great examples of challenger brands which went on to challenge the established brands:


Toyota Tundra:

Toyota had an over-engineered product when they were taking on Ford & GM, the big daddies of trucks in their home market, US. 




Chobani:
Questioned Nestle & Danone on the way their products are made 




Fogg:
Created symbol of re-evaluation by questioning what consumers are paying for  




DISCLAIMER:
This blog represents my views. They do not necessarily reflect those of my employer