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Marketoonist is the thought bubble of Tom Fishburne. Marketing cartoons, content marketing with a sense of humor, keynote speaking.

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this little piggy

March 28, 2010 6 Comments

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As Jerry Garcia once said, “You do not merely want to be considered the best of the best. You want to be the only ones who do what you do.” That quote was part of Rule #24 in Alan Webber‘s inspiring Rules of Thumb book, and partly inspired this cartoon (except I played with toes, not thumbs).

The vast majority of innovations launched each year are “me too’s”. It’s very tempting to drive by the rear view mirror, with your eyes on the competition rather than on the consumer. I blogged a few months ago that companies can be classified either as Rule Makers, Rule Followers, or Rule Breakers. Most companies duke it out amongst themselves as Followers, trying to gain share against the market leader by playing the rules of the market leader.

When I worked at Nestle ice cream, we acted as Rule Maker in launching a new “Slow Churned” technology that dramatically improved the taste of low fat ice cream. Unilever followed quickly with “Double Churned”, based on the same technology. Because Unilever didn’t have the same R&D investment, the Unilever launch was more efficient, even though they weren’t first. Both strategies have their pros and cons.

However, the worst position is to be a timid number three or four. Yet many companies jump on the bandwagon of a new idea only when the presense of competition has endorsed the idea. The thinking is that is must be a good idea because everyone else is doing it.

A few companies like Unilever excel at fast following (they call it “stealing with pride”), but most companies that consider themselves fast followers are actually slow and timid followers.

The real opportunity is to be the Rule Breaker and change the game entirely. Skinny Cow took the challenger brand approach, launching tasty lowfat ice cream sandwiches that attracted a cult following. Skinny Cow fanatics identified themselves, not with the lowfat ice cream category, but with Skinny Cow. Skinny Cow generated so much value that Nestle ultimately paid a premium to acquire them. Rule makers recognize the value that rule breakers create. The slow followers rarely create value at all.

Instead of obsessing about market share, think market creation. Become “the only ones who do what you do”.

Filed Under: challenger brands, innovation

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6 Comments

Join the Discussion
  1. binell@earthlink.net says

    March 29, 2010 at 7:26 am

    Skinny Cow, not incidentally, also had an outstanding name. Thanks, Tom, for great thoughts for a Monday mornings.

    Reply
  2. Andrew B. Clark says

    March 30, 2010 at 12:00 am

    Hi Tom –

    I do have to say, I love your work.

    I’ve forwarded and re-tweeted your work more over virtually anyone else in the “Branding & Marketing” world… I promise I’m not a stalker, I just really appreciate your vision. And being a “wanna-be” cartoonist myself, I relate quite well.

    Thank you!

    Keep Cooking!
    Andrew B. Clark
    The Brand Chef

    Reply
  3. Steve Lubetkin says

    March 30, 2010 at 5:14 am

    I’m always reminded of the great 1960s commercial for Barney’s New York, which back then was a discount clothing store (today it’s an upscale suit/fashion emporium). The teacher went around the classroom asking the fourth graders what they wanted to be when they grew up.

    The answers included the predictable: police officer, fireman, doctor, teacher, and finally, it was Barney’s turn.

    “What about you, Barney?” asked the teacher.

    Thinking for a moment and tapping a cheek with his finger, Barney says, “Well, you’re all going to need clothes…”

    Which is what has led me for the past five years to say “Well, you’re all going to need podcasts…”

    Steve “@PodcastSteve” Lubetkin
    steve@professionalpodcasts.com
    http://www.professionalpodcasts.com
    @PodcastSteve on Twitter

    Reply
  4. Marta Gonzalez says

    March 30, 2010 at 9:39 pm

    Hi Tom!

    I just love how grounded you are and how some situations though they seem hilarious in your cartoons just mirror the way we approach business in my workplace. I have been sharing your messages with my colleagues at work in an effort to bring them a new perspective on how to do and look at business and how “idiotically” our approaches and practices could be if we look at them from the outside. Of course beating the status quo is not easy. Keep it up. You are an inspiration.

    Reply
  5. Jason says

    April 2, 2010 at 6:18 am

    Outstanding! That was great. I need to be THAT little piggy. Right now I feel like I am the fourth.

    Reply
  6. Aspen says

    April 15, 2011 at 6:10 am

    dO3Bvd I’m not esaliy impressed. . . but that’s impressing me! 🙂

    Reply

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  • Paid licensing options include high resolution download.
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  • Looking for other licensing options? click here
  • View Cart
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