BrainCram

In Eating the Big Fish, Morgan explains how “challenger brands can compete against brand leaders.”

Morgan’s aims to provide a “magnetic compass” that will allow smaller companies (Small Fish) to compete successfully.

That is, how to become a “challenger brand”?

Morgan suggests that it is based on eight “credos”:

1. Break with the immediate past – Forget everything you know and think again
2. Build a lighthouse entity – Tell consumers what you are, don’t let them drive your activity
3. Assume thought leadership of the category – Be the one that everyone talks about
4. Create symbols of re-evaluation – Do things differently
5. Sacrifice – Decide what you are not going to do
6. Overcommit – Aim beyond the mark
7. Use advertising and publicity as a high-leverage asset – Use it to enter the popular mindset
8. Become ideas-centered rather than consumer-centered – Constantly reinvent to stay ahead of the trends and competition

Reading this book is worthwhile because:

• It focuses on the practical things that can be done
• It describes how to run a workshop and apply the thinking
• Most of the credos can be used to overcome organisational inertia
• It can help small marketing team do big things
• It can also help brand leaders act like a challenger to become number one

After reading this book, ‘Small Fish’ are able to answer several critically important questions:

• What is the core issue for the Big Fish?
• What business are we in now?
• What business should we be in? What are our best opportunities?
• How can we implement a Challenger strategy to take full advantage of those opportunities?

Dare to Aspire