Synopses & Reviews
"Eating the Big Fish is on fire with ideas.
Best in the marketplace." -Steve Hayden, President, Worldwide Brand Services, Ogilvy & Mather
"In 1986, the Levi's? Dockers? brand challenged the biggest fish in the men's apparel sea, Haggar. And we beat the pants off them! In his new book, Adam Morgan adroitly presents many of the same fundamental marketing principles which worked so well for us. A must read for marketing professionals." -Steve Goldstein, V.P. Marketing & Research, Levi's Brand U.S.A.
Years ago, Avis was a little fish in the car rental industry. Fearing the company would be swallowed up if they didn't "try harder," Avis boldly announced its #2 status to the world through advertising-and the rest is history. Why has this approach become a marketing legend? Because there are more people who can relate to being #2, 3, or even 4, than can claim they know what it's like to be the Big Fish.
There are plenty of little fish out there, circling in schools around the brand leaders they so desperately wish to surpass. Squeezed by new competition, a retreating consumer, and aggressive retailing practices, marketers of second- and third-rank brands are struggling to survive in a business environment where they have fewer resources and less control than ever before. But instead of watching-and copying-every move the Big Fish makes, these "Challenger" brands need their own set of marketing rules if they have any hopes of staying afloat and competing effectively against the leader.
Eating the Big Fish is the first book that sets out to define those rules. Adam Morgan offers an innovative mental and strategic framework for those who find themselves in this new, hostile middle ground, looking for aggressive growth against the market leader. Morgan, the Joint European Planning Director of TBWA (the international advertising agency behind the campaigns for such brands as Absolut vodka, Apple computers, and Sony Playstation), has examined in detail forty of the most successful Challenger brands of the last ten years -new or relaunched brands which have achieved rapid growth (and fame) with limited marketing resources. He outlines the reasons why Challengers must think differently in order to survive, offering hands-on advice, plentiful examples, and invaluable information to help a Challenger learn how to swim out of the shadow of the Big Fish.
At the heart of the book are the Eight Credos of Challenger Brands -Morgan's analysis of the common marketing strands that these Challengers seem to share, which range in scope from the need to project who you are and what you believe in (#2, Build a Lighthouse Identity) to insights about the organizational structure and focus in such companies and brands (#8, Become Idea-Centered, Rather Than Consumer-Centered). Morgan fully analyzes each Credo, discussing in detail the marketing strategy and behavior of the specific Challenger brands that have shaped the rules. He provides case studies that include both his agency's clients and other well-known brands, such as Lexus, Oakley, Fox TV, Energizer, Virgin Atlantic, Swatch, Nissan, and more. Morgan then draws the Credos together into a "Challenger Strategic Program" that can be applied to the reader's own market and brand challenge, offering a proposed outline for a two-day Off-Site Program that will attempt to kick-start the Challenger process for a core group within any marketing or management team. In addition, Morgan looks at the great Challengers of the last ten years who have gone on to become brand leaders, and shows how even the rules of brand leadership have changed -why staying #1 now means, in fact, thinking and behaving like a #2.
Anyone can follow a leader. It takes a smart company to go up against the Big Fish, and Morgan's innovative, strategic program will show even the littlest fish how to make a meal out of the competition.
Review
: "Although out last year, Eating the Big Fish, is one of the most stimulating books on brands and has grown to become a must read." (Marketing Business - Year's Best Books, January 2001)
"...full of such useful ideas that a whole generation of marketing folk bang on about [it]" (Campaign, Friday 23rd November 2007)
"Always find your brands in the slipstream of the market leaders? Well this could be the book for you." (The Drum, October 17th 2008)
Synopsis
Years ago, Avis was a little fish in the car rental industry. Fearing the company would be swallowed up if they didn't "try harder," Avis boldly announced its #2 status to the world through advertising-and the rest is history. Why has this approach become a marketing legend? Because there are more people who can relate to being #2, 3, or even 4, than can claim they know what it's like to be the Big Fish.
There are plenty of little fish out there, circling in schools around the brand leaders they so desperately wish to surpass. Squeezed by new competition, a retreating consumer, and aggressive retailing practices, marketers of second- and third-rank brands are struggling to survive in a business environment where they have fewer resources and less control than ever before. But instead of watching-and copying-every move the Big Fish makes, these "Challenger" brands need their own set of marketing rules if they have any hopes of staying afloat and competing effectively against the leader.
Eating the Big Fish is the first book that sets out to define those rules. Adam Morgan offers an innovative mental and strategic framework for those who find themselves in this new, hostile middle ground, looking for aggressive growth against the market leader. Morgan, the Joint European Planning Director of TBWA (the international advertising agency behind the campaigns for such brands as Absolut vodka, Apple computers, and Sony Playstation), has examined in detail forty of the most successful Challenger brands of the last ten years-new or relaunched brands which have achieved rapid growth (and fame) with limited marketing resources. He outlines the reasons why Challengers must think differently in order to survive, offering hands-on advice, plentiful examples, and invaluable information to help a Challenger learn how to swim out of the shadow of the Big Fish.
At the heart of the book are the Eight Credos of Challenger Brands-Morgan's analysis of the common marketing strands that these Challengers seem to share, which range in scope from the need to project who you are and what you believe in (#2, Build a Lighthouse Identity) to insights about the organizational structure and focus in such companies and brands (#8, Become Idea-Centered, Rather Than Consumer-Centered). Morgan fully analyzes each Credo, discussing in detail the marketing strategy and behavior of the specific Challenger brands that have shaped the rules. He provides case studies that include both his agency's clients and other well-known brands, such as Lexus, Oakley, Fox TV, Energizer, Virgin Atlantic, Swatch, Nissan, and more. Morgan then draws the Credos together into a "Challenger Strategic Program" that can be applied to the reader's own market and brand challenge, offering a proposed outline for a two-day Off-Site Program that will attempt to kick-start the Challenger process for a core group within any marketing or management team. In addition, Morgan looks at the great Challengers of the last ten years who have gone on to become brand leaders, and shows how even the rules of brand leadership have changed-why staying #1 now means, in fact, thinking and behaving like a #2.
Anyone can follow a leader. It takes a smart company to go up against the Big Fish, and Morgan's innovative, strategic program will show even the littlest fish how to make a meal out of the competition.
Synopsis
Eating the Big Fishremains the only and definitive study on how challenger brands succeed in business. It has sold close to 50,000 copies and become enormously influential in the marketplace. This new edition will explore new brands, new challengers, new media, and changes to the environment since the original edition released in 1999.
Synopsis
A revised and updated version of the classic book on what it takes for small brands to eat the big tuna
Since Wiley first published Eating the Big Fish in 1999, the concept of the challenger brand has become a mainstream idea among marketers and advertisers. But Adam Morgan's classic is still the best and most definitive study of the way challenger brands take on and defeat bigger competitors, and this 50,000-copy bestseller has been tremendously influential in the marketing and advertising arenas. For this new edition the author has interviewed 30 fresh challengers, and explores today's radically different marketing environment.
Adam Morgan (United Kingdom) is founder of eatbigfish, an international brand and marketing strategy consultancy with offices in the UK, US, and New Zealand. He runs workshops for companies of challenger brands and has appeared on CNNfn and Sky Business News as the industry expert on challenger brands.
Synopsis
Once upon a time, spirited David challenged the towering Goliath. Forty years ago, rental car company Avis challenged Hertzthe big fish in its industryand won a larger, more profitable share of the market by "trying harder." Today, Challengers such as method, JetBlue, Nintendo Wii, and Linux successfully compete with much bigger brands in their markets by redefining in their favor the criteria consumers use to make choices. The leaders in any market are never in reality invulnerable; they just seem that way before a smart, focused, Challenger brand takes them on.
Updated and revised with additional chapters and thirty new examples of Challenger brands in action, the Second Edition of Eating the Big Fish reflects recent developments in the marketplace and media since the publication of the bestselling and influential first edition. Author Adam Morganwho, with his company, has researched and worked with Challengers over the last decadepresents and analyzes the effective marketing tactics Challenger brands use to raise their profiles and take market share.
Morgan provides practical advice and plentiful, easy-to-follow examples to show how a Chal-lenger brand can get noticed and steal customers from competitors with much bigger advertising and marketing budgets. He presents eight Challenger credos that stress bringing a fresh perspective to market, building a prominent and emotionally appealing identity, implementing a pervasive communication strategy, and focusing intently on ideas rather than consumers.
This new edition explores what needs to change and what needs to stay the same for Challenger brands in the shifting communications landscape of media, technology, and the Web. Most important, it affirms that Challenger brands are alive, well, and hungry. If you want to increase the profile and the profitability of your brand against bigger competitors, this book puts the big fish on your menu.
ADAM MORGAN is a partner in eatbigfish (www.eatbigfish.com), an international brand and marketing consultancy specializing in Challenger brand strategy, behavior, and culture. Previously an executive with TBWA\Chiat\Day, one of the world's largest advertising agencies, he has worked with clients like IKEA, Unilever, Virgin, and Apple. He and his partners together run The Challenger Project, the evolving research into how Challenger brands think and behave, on which their thinking, writing, and speaking is based.
Synopsis
Praise for Eating The Big Fish
"Eating the Big Fish is on fire with ideas. Best in the marketplace."
Steve Hayden, Vice Chairman, Ogilvy Worldwide
"Adam Morgan's brand advice is among the most practical and useful there is. My team is responsible for helping drive the success of brands like Axe and Degree deodorant in the United States, and Eating the Big Fish has shaped our thinking, driven our teams to adopt 'Challenger' behavior, and helped us dramatically grow
our market share."
Kevin George, Vice President and General Manager, Unilever United States
"My bedtime reading when we were setting up innocent."
Richard Reed, cofounder, innocent
"I devoured Adam's book and used his thinking to create method as a Challenger brand to take on the giants of the soap industry. To say we live his principles daily is an understatement. This book will give you the framework to run through the legs of Goliathand create relentless growth."
Eric Ryan, cofounder, method
" 'Challenger' isn't a state of market, it's a state of mind.?This way of thinking is as important and powerful for a hugely successful brand as it is for a start-up, and this book will show you why."
Andy Berndt, Managing Director,
Google Creative Lab
About the Author
ADAM MORGAN is Joint European Planning Director of TBWA, one of the world's largest advertising agencies, whose clients include Absolut, Taco Bell, Nissan, Energizer, and Apple. Most recently, as Planning Director, North America for TBWA Chiat/Day, he has worked on the launch or relaunch of Challengers in markets as diverse as airlines (Virgin Atlantic) and video games (Sony Playstation), across the United States, Europe, and Latin America. Founder of the Challenger Project, a continually evolving worldwide study of Challenger brands (of which Eating the Big Fish is the first output), he has lectured on Challengers to audiences as diverse as American advertising directors, Portuguese business graduates, and the Global Marketing Conference in London.
Table of Contents
Preface.
Foreword.
Part I. The Size And Nature Of The Big Fish.
1. The Law of Increasing Returns.
2. The Consumer Isn't.
3. What Is a Challenger Brand?
Part II. The Eight Credos Of Successful Challenger Brands.
4. The First Credo: Intelligent Naivety.
5. Monsters and Other Challenges: Gaining clarity on the Centre.
6. The Second Credo: Build a Lighthouse Identity.
7. The Third Credo: Take Thought Leadership of the Category.
8. The Fourth Credo: Create Symbols of Re-evaluation.
9. The Fifth Credo: Sacrifice.
10. The Sixth Credo: Overcommit.
11. The Seventh Credo: Using Communications and Publicity to enter Social Culture.
12. The Eighth Credo: Become Idea-Centered, Not Consumer-Centered.
Part III. Using The Challenger Program.
13. Writing the Challenger Program: The Two-Day Off-site.
14. Areas of Necessary Impact.
Part IV. Mindset Culture And Risk.
15. Challenger as a State of Mind: Staying Number One Means Thinking Like a Number Two.
16. Risk, Will, and the Circle of Rope.
Postscript.
References And Sources.
Acknowledgements.
Index.