Superbowl XLIV. The Indianapolis Colts are favored to beat the long-suffering New Orleans Saints, who had never been to the championship game. Trailing 10-6, the Saints kicked off to start the second half. But rather than the expected deep kick, the Saints went for the risky and unexpected onside kick. And recovered it. They drove down the field, took the lead 13-10, and changed the complexion of the game, which they went on to win.
The challenger: willing to make a bold move and surprise the competition. Americans love the underdog story, perhaps because it’s our story as a nation — a ragtag group of colonists up against the world’s greatest power. And so it is with brands. There are the dominant players, and then there are the upstarts who challenge the supremacy of the market leaders. They have fewer resources, smaller marketing budgets, and a tinier footprint at retail. Yet, somehow they overcome these obstacles and manage to do more with less.
It’s easy to dismiss their tactics as “desperate,” since they have so much to gain with so little to lose. But I believe their motives are more about a mindset than an act of desperation. Given the current marketing environment, it can also literally pay to take a challenger mentality. What if you had a limited budget and knew you were going to be outspent by an order of magnitude by the market leader? You would have no choice but to get creative, innovate strategically and execute flawlessly.
Look at Mini USA. Not long ago, the head of Mini challenged Porsche to a race between the Mini Cooper S and the 911 Carrera S. Not only did Mini call Porsche out, they boldly made the challenge through a full-page ad in the New York Times. Porsche refused, but the folks at Mini went and did the race themselves.
Thousands of Mini fans watched it play out on the brand’s Facebook page, signed petitions to
Porsche and generally reveled in the sheer fun of it. Of course, the Porsche won — by only two seconds — or as the Mini team called it, “at an additional cost of $38,000 per second.” The point was made. “We’re a confident brand. One that delivers quality and value. And is that extra two seconds of speed really worth an extra $76,000?”
It wasn’t so much what Mini did, it was the way they thought about it. As a brand, they’re hardwired to inspire, breed loyalty and be confident in everything they do. You’ve got to love the sheer audacity of it: a true trait and tactic of a challenger brand.
One of the longest running and most visible challenges is the “cola wars” between leader Coke and challenger Pepsi. Pepsi’s “juices” have recently been reignited by competitive pressure from Diet Coke. This may just be what’s needed to stoke the innovation engine and return Pepsi to its greatest skill as a fast, nimble, relevant and powerful competitor.
Take Pepsi’s latest innovation: a “social vending machine” that allows you not only to buy yourself some cool refreshment, but send a free one to a friend using an interactive screen. Just enter a name, cell number and a personalized text or video, and the machine sends a special code to a similar machine where the free Pepsi can be retrieved. It’s another new way to enjoy a Pepsi with a friend, bring a bit of the “cool” factor to the brand, and change the marketing landscape — all from the same people who asked you take the “Pepsi Challenge” a generation ago.
When played best, challenging is more than just stealing sales or share from the top dog. It’s about looking at things in a whole new way, redefining the message and changing the rules of the game. That’s what David did to Goliath in the original challenger story. He chose not to fight the giant by Goliath’s rules, with swords and armor; he would always lose that battle. Rather, David fought Goliath using the simple yet familiar weapons of a shepherd — a rock and a sling. His game. His rules. His victory.
Likewise, the best challenger brand forces a category leader to fight in an unfamiliar manner, in ways it does not understand, or by rules it cares not to learn, or with methods it cannot respond to quickly enough.
And speaking of methods, one of my favorite challenger brands is Method cleaning products. Talk about a challenger! These guys were going up against Procter & Gamble, Clorox and others in what many would claim is the lowest of low-interest categories. But they had other ideas about that.
You may know the story. Two roommates, Adam Lowry and Eric Ryan, decided to create safe, non-toxic cleaning products for the home. Their website says it all, characterizing Adam and Eric as “SuperHeroes … who set out to save the world and create an entire line of home-care products that were more powerful than a bottle of sodium hypochlorite. Gentler than a thousand puppy licks. Able to detox tall homes in a single afternoon.” But they created more than a company; they created a movement that they called “People Against Dirty.”
According to Method’s mantra, “Bottles can be role models. Lotions don’t have to be scary potions. You should be able to inhale while you clean and exhale knowing that a guinea pig out there somewhere thanks you. We’re people against dirty and we think you might be too.” Who knew cleaners could be about something more than just cleaning? It became a very high-interest category overnight. They didn’t play by Goliath’s rules, and ended up cleaning more than just the counter top. They cleaned his clock.
Adam and Eric started with $300,000, and within three years were a $45 million company, had a deal with Target and a 60 percent share of the environmentally-friendly cleaning market. They single-handedly created a category that wasn’t there before. And they did it using a few of the key tenets of challenger brands: They created a new perspective on what most thought was a stagnant industry. They had a vision that was unique, and they fostered real change in a social way.
Challenging does not always equal success, however. Consumers don’t love challenger brands just because they challenge. They love these brands because they sell something they want, something they can identify with, and in many cases, something they actually love.
Great challenger brands are the tinkerers, the inventors, the risk takers who move us to new places. But why does that have to be number two or even number five in a category? Why can’t a market leader be a market challenger? Most would say they have too much to lose, that they are motivated to play defense, not offense. They are risk-averse.
Tell that to Phil Knight at Nike. Although a huge, ubiquitous brand, Nike retains its energy and passion as a challenger. He takes great pains as a marketer to portray Nike as something very personal. A lifestyle.
Adam Morgan, author of Eating The Big Fish, points to Oprah Winfrey as a case in point. Although a huge force in media, Oprah has avoided the old “big is bad” moniker by doing something all number-one brands should do: find something to challenge, and create a monster bigger than yourself.
In Oprah’s case, those “monsters” are the issues that confront women every day — domestic violence, child abuse, weight loss and self-esteem issues, to name a few. She confronts them on behalf of her fans with a warm, empathetic viewpoint that inspires, informs and educates. Oprah now has an entire network devoted to telling such stories.
Whether the challenged or the challenger the key is looking at the world in a different way, creating news rules, and redefining the game.
Surprise them. Go for the onside kick. 
