You Don’t Have To Be Nudie To Get A Good Drink

This is the third post of ten in the Predatory Inspiration's series by Ashton Bishop, Head of Strategy at Step Change Marketing

The theme of this series is Predatory Marketing.

Predatory Marketing is defined as: strike at the weaknesses that arise out of your competitor's greatest strength. If that sounds familiar, then read it again. It's not 'strike at your competitor's weakness' and it's not 'talk about what's different'. This is more powerful.

See, when you strike at the weaknesses that arise out of your competitor's greatest strength you strike at the part of your competitor that they are least willing to change. It also changes the conversation from the same marketing words that every other company in your category uses, to a conversation that leverages your relative advantages.

These case studies demonstrate how Predatory Marketing has been applied.

Nakula were a very small player that came to us with a fantastic coconut water product. Unfortunately, they were not first to market. The big guys in drinks were already selling coconut water products. Big guys, however, tend not to care.

Target

Nudie and other large drinks providers.

Greatest strength

They produce many types of drink in many different categories.

The weaknesses that arise from their strength

They don’t really care about the coconut or where their ingredients come from.

Relative advantages

We created a "good for you, good for others" positioning that meant when you bought a can of Nakula, we’d make sure that a child from the country of origin would get a drink too.

'Fitness First' drank it up too with a distribution deal opening up new channels for Nakula and a chance for them to share their brand story.

Predatory recap

Strike at the weaknesses that arise out of your competitor's greatest strength. This achieves greatest impact and makes response more difficult.

In the next post, Ashton talks about The Australian, a brand that offers balanced journalism to what are often conflicting points of view on a particular subject.