I’m delighted to introduce the Challenger Brand issue of the award-winning marketing communications publication – Five.
The phrase ‘Challenger Brand’ tends to generate mixed emotions. For many, the phrase conjures up thoughts of a very public fight, like Pepsi versus Coke, for example. For others it may symbolise a brand with a charismatic founder who is hell-bent on destroying every rule in the book, with complete disrespect for the category around it or the anarchy they create. And to a certain extent, those are both forms of Challenger brand behaviour. But at eatbigfish, we have come to evolve our understanding of what being a Challenger represents.
At their core, Challenger brands challenge. They ask very different questions of the category or broader contemporary culture. They ask these questions in a way that sets themselves up to provide a better answer than the competition. Whether it is Nest Home Heating systems challenging the established drivers of the category by asking, why do thermostat systems have to be ugly? Or Nintendo Wii challenging how the market shops in the gaming category by asking, why does the gaming community not make consoles for people who don’t traditionally play games? Or Dove challenging an aspect of broader contemporary culture by asking, why does the beauty industry rob women of their self-esteem?
In the following stories you are going to learn more about the credos of Challenger Brand behaviour in the B2B arena, first made famous in Adam Morgan’s book Eating the Big Fish. Each of the following credos feels particularly pertinent to the energy industry at a time when stakeholders are beginning to ask different questions of the category.
I hope the following credos and stories provide the fuel for you to ask your own propelling questions of the category. A different kind of question that changes the rules of the game to your advantage.
(Introduction by Brett Donahay Strategic Director, eatbigfish)
