It’s Friday night. You finally have a chance to relax on your sofa after a long week. You decide to watch a movie with your partner. So you get some snacks and open Netflix to choose a movie to watch. You have a quick look at Netflix’s suggestions. Nothing interesting. So you scroll to the…
Category: How Brands Win
The Goal Gap: How The Clash Between Business And Customer Goals Kills Brands (And How To Avoid It)
In 1977, British Rail decided to do something about declining passenger numbers. Their executives couldn’t find a clear reason why results were getting worse. So they blamed marketing and decided to change their advertising agency. And as it’s a huge company, all advertising agencies in the UK competed to get the British Rail account. One…
Narrow Positioning: How Saying No To Some Customers Increases Your Chances of Winning Big
In 1982, programmer John Walker decided to make a big bet. His friend Michael Riddle had a computer-aided design (CAD) program that he struggled to sell. But Walker believed in the idea. Designers who worked on complex projects —like engineers and architects— needed precise measurements. And doing that on paper was painful. You had to…
The Isolation Effect: Why “Isolated” Brands Win (And How To Become One)
In 1892, the Financial Times was struggling. They had started the newspaper a few years ago. And they were competing against other newspapers that covered business and finance news. The shark in the pond was Financial News. But the Financial Times team believed they had better content than them. They didn’t just cover the news.…
3C Analysis (Competition): How To Find Your Unique Positioning In Crowded Markets
We’ve talked about the 3C’s that drive a brand’s positioning in our Profit-Led Branding Framework: Company, Competition, and Customer. In this article, we’ll look into the second C: Competition. If you missed the article on Company Analysis, you can read it here. Now let’s see how a rental company with seven cars became a global…
Satisficing: Why Customers Choose The Least Risky Instead Of The Best
In the 1970s, IBM was under attack from all sides. They were the leaders in the business computers market. And IBM System/360 computers were the iPhone of the 60s. But just like any new technology, there was a rush. Competitors were announcing their new breakthrough computers every month. RCA, Digital Equipment Corporation, Xerox… Some were…
How Sacrifices Grow Brands (And Three Sacrifices You Can Make)
Have you ever bought avocados? They are tricky. One day they are too firm to eat. So you wait for them to get a bit ripe. But right when you are excited about the avocado toast you are going to make, you realize they got bad. All the avocados you bought go to the trash.…
How Positioning Shapes Everything About Your Business
Positioning shapes everything about your business. How? Let’s make a simple thought experiment. Imagine you have a new business. You want to sell a service — sales training. One way to position it could be “training for sales teams in B2B software companies.” And that would define your: This is clear. Now, another way to…
Brand Narrative: Why You Need A Bold Narrative To Stand Out (And How To Create One)
In 2003, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) realized the city needed a new story. Las Vegas had been associated with gambling over the years. Casinos were indeed a key feature of the city. But Vegas offered many other things. Shows, restaurants, parties… So they hired R&R (an advertising agency) to create a…
Perceived Value: How To Create More Customer Value (Without Changing The Product)
How can a business create value for customers? And how can you increase it without changing much about the product or service? Let’s think together. 1. Benefits Functional benefits are always a factor. You buy a watch to know the time. And maybe you dive a lot. So water resistance up to a certain pressure…