There’s a brand strategy exercise that firms like ours often do in which the client is asked to define their enemy. Not their competitors, but their spiritual enemy. The thing they stand against. The idea is that defining what you’re against helps clarify and focus what you’re for.

‍

For example, if a brand were against danger, it would build products that encourage safety. It would sponsor safety initiatives and invest in developing materials that made its products safer. Or if a brand’s enemy was blandness it might over-index on flavor in its products, or partner with controversial artists in its marketing.

‍

Frequently—almost every time—the client lists “complacency” or “the status quo” as the enemy among its first responses. 

‍

But of course they do. Few leaders seeking to make their mark want to do it by keeping things as they are. Often they’re charged with growth and transformation targets that demand doing things differently. 

‍

And that’s fine, but when it comes to creating a distinct place in the market, it doesn’t give a brand much to go on. “Disrupt the industry” is a noble objective, but only if there’s good reason for it. Identifying “the status quo” as the enemy is often a client’s backdoor attempt at saying “we’re for innovation,” which only raises the question, “why?”

‍

So, as we embark on clarifying your brand’s position together, we’ll ask you to get more specific. What’s wrong with the industry? What about the status quo isn’t working? What about what you do will make it better? Would your audience agree? Will they value it? 

‍

Only then can we get to “how” you’ll disrupt. The “how” is where your brand’s value lies. Importantly, this isn’t about what you do, per se. It’s not your product specs or manufacturing process. It’s not RTB’s. It’s how you think. It’s about how you see your industry. It’s about how that philosophy, for lack of a better word, shapes your actions. 

‍

Many smart people and many great brands have made much of focusing on the “why.” Yes, motivations are important, and purpose matters. But most purposes are platitudes: too broad to be disagreeable, too lofty to be distinctive, and too grand to be actionable. 

‍

When someone forks over $240 for a Patagonia jacket, they might be thinking about saving the planet, but they’re also counting on all that recycled plastic and thoughtfully sourced down to be made well and perform. The how—philosophically and practically—puts proof to the purpose.

‍

So that’s what we’ll focus on when we work together. Whether we do it by defining your enemy or questioning every assumption, the result will be to know how your brand matters as much as why it exists. 

‍

The disruption will follow.

‍

Indelibly yours,

Mike, Matt, Jeff and Thom