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What do we need to challenge to succeed?
Common to many of these challengers is a very simple shift in understanding what a challenger is: not a brand that challenges somebody, but
a brand that challenges something. We explore
10 different challenger narratives from this new generation, each anchored in an interview with
a brand owner or marketer that embodies it well; very few of them are explicitly taking on another brand in their category, but all of them are challenging something they feel needs to change. Challenging the consumer’s historical relationship with the product (Lemonade in Insurance), challenging the ethics of the category (Tony’s Chocolonely in confectionery), challenging a
lack of inclusivity and bias (Universal Standard), challenging why the best technology has to be expensive (Xiaomi), challenging how the existing power structure shortchanges the fans (COPA90), challenging whether the historical and much loved cultural norm is something any of us
should be doing at all anymore (Oatly).
Understanding that central challenge gives each
of these challengers real strategic clarity – clarity always on what they are challenging externally, and sometimes what they have also needed to challenge internally (like Eagle Lager in Uganda). Clarity on their positioning, on their culture, and what it will take to really give this challenger strategy teeth. And we can see in this clarity a critical antidote to
a common tendency in marketers today to respond to a fast-changing world by focusing on the wrong
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