Eating the Big Fish: How Challenger Brands Can Compete Against Brand Leaders (Adweek Book S.) (Hardcover)

by Adam Morgan (Author) "In 1996-1997 the international advertising agency TBWA commissioned a piece of research among their own customers-their existing and potential client base-to look at the principal..." (more)
Key Phrases: eight credos, challenger brand, second credo, United States, Body Shop, Lighthouse Identity (more...)

Editorial Reviews

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)

Review
  --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (January 13, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471242098
• ISBN-13: 978-0471242093
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #291,826 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Challenges" the conventional wisdom, September 15, 1999

By	J. Ferry (Cape Cod, MA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'm telling all my clients about this book. If you agree with the following, you'll like it too. "..marketing is not a science but informed judgement...the cover of the book should offer a photograph of Herb Kelleher, dressed as his occasional business alter ego, Elvis Presley, with the title 'Does This Man Look Like a Scientist?'"

Great exercises to get you thinking, no matter if your brand is a leader or an also ran. e.g."Grove" named for Andy Grove- "Fire ourselves- leave the building and come back in as an entirely new team. What's one thing you would stop doing and one thing you would do instead?" Morgan punches holes in conventional wisdom- mission statements, focus groups, etc. A favorite quote: "The key failure, then, for any company attempting to effect a gear change in its own performance is not the ability to define its intention, but the inability to translate intention into behavior."

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's Not the Size of the Fish in the Fight...., October 31, 2001

By	Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Morgan explains how "challenger brands can compete against brand leaders." What is a "challenger brand"? In his Preface, Morgan suggests that it is based on eight "credos":

1. Break with the immediate past

2. Build a lighthouse entity

3. Assume thought leadership of the category

4. Create symbols of reevaluation

5. Sacrifice

6. Overcommit

7. Use advertising and publicity as a high-leverage asset

8. Become ideas-centered rather than consumer-centered

He discusses each in detail in Part II.

Morgan's primary objective is to provide what he calls a "magnetic compass" for Small Fish which will enable them to compete successfully. Obviously, they face problems: certain markets have moved for the first time from maturity to overcapacity; as a result, there is not enough "food" to go around; and while turning their attention downward, the Big Fish have also turned outward...toward Small Fish; as the Big Fish moved downward, retailers moved upward. Time and again, he stresses the importance of ideas...actually, better ideas. Hence the imperative to break with the past: assume nothing, take no one and nothing for granted, constantly ask "What if?" and "Why not?" For Small Fish, the status quo is death. Period. Better ideas are engaging, provocative, and self-propagating. They help to create competitive advantages.

Think in terms of an ambush: A Challenger brand can attack whenever and wherever least expected. A Challenger brand redefines terms such as "enemy", "opponent", "competition", etc. A Challenger brand has attitude. It thrives when underestimated. Better yet, when ignored. Big Fish know they are Big Fish. They have a tendency to become arrogant, complacent, hence vulnerable. By breaking with the immediate past, the Small Fish is able to answer several critically important questions such as What is the core issue re Big Fish?, What business are we in now?,
What business should we be in?, What are our best opportunities?, How can we implement a Challenger strategy to take full advantage of those opportunities?

The four dimensions of a Lighthouse brand are identity, emotion, intensity, and salience. As Morgan explains, identity should be self-referential: "This is who we are and this is what we stand for." Challenger brands should establish and then nourish an emotional rather than rational relationship with consumers. Sustainable customer loyalty, not temporary satisfaction, is the primary objective. Moreover, there should be intensity in all communications with consumers. Finally, Challenger brands must attract attention to themselves.

In Chapter 9, Morgan observes that "Challenger brands are not somehow unusual in that they have a monopoly on good ideas; they are unusual, however, in that they make good ideas happen." In Chapter 14, he explains that his premise so far in Eating the Big Fish is that "Challengers need their own models of strategy and behavior; that we [who must formulate that strategy] are entirely unlike the brand leader in position and resource and, consequently, need to find an entirely different set of rules of engagement." In the next chapter, Morgan explains how to write the Challenger program, recommending a two-day off-site during which key people produce it.

The final chapter pulls together all of Morgan's key points. They are effectively organized within a four-stage process: Attitude & Preparation, Challenger Strategy, Challenger Behavior, and Sustaining Challenger Momentum. Everything begins with and an attitude suggested by shin -- Japanese for "spirit." Never give up. Never lose the will to win. Always be willing to take risks. (Jack Dempsey once suggested that "champions get up when they can't.") Morgan includes some copy from Apple's first 60-second television commercial after Steve Jobs returned. It begins: "Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The trouble makers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently." The ad copy concludes: "And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do." This book may have been written for Small Fish but can also be of great value to Big Fish. Moreover, at least a few Small Fish which use Morgan's ideas will become Big Fish. If they think and then compete as if they are still Small Fish, they will probably survive. Otherwise....

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant and entertaining, June 27, 2000

By	Marque Pierre Sondergaard "World's Best Textu... (Liverpool, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

To my knowledge the first book/research study that doesn't fail into the common trap of synthesizing the marketing secrets of the cathegory leaders, that 99% of us are not.

In that way a very interesting approach to marketing. That aside the insights presented here are brilliant and relevant. Also Morgan writes in a very enjoyable and lively style, which definitely makes the understanding and digestion easier.

All in all an entertaining book about a field that should interest everybody involved in managing or marketing a business. Not bad at all!