Customer Reviews

The Pirate Inside: Building a Challenger Brand Culture Within Yourself and Your Organization

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It pains me to say that I was disappointed with Adam Morgan's second offering. His first book on challenger branding, 'Eating the Big Fish', was such a brilliant read. 'The Pirate Inside' got off to a promising start, but then parts of it began to seem like a rehash of 'Eating the Big Fish' (minus the brilliant insights). Other parts of the book seemed unnecessarily drawn-out, possibly because they lacked substance. Some of the advice in this book is old news. I found the section on challenger teams especially tedious. Adam tries to make old news sound new again by changing the labels (for example, Ideas People are now known as Ideas Hamsters).

'Eating the Big Fish' closes with a guide to running a two-day challenger branding workshop in your company. Like the rest of the book, it was brilliant. 'Pirate Inside' tries to close on a similar note, but I thought the guide was mostly fluff...the kind of thing you'd pay a consultant big bucks for, only to feel cheated when you get presented with six hours of buzzwords, some cool charts and nothing really helpful.

Adam uses the words 'soft centre, soft shell' to describe a weak brand strategy. I think 'Pirate Inside' has a big gooey one.

I truly love the first half of the book that told the genuine history about pirates (far from what we saw in "Pirates of the carribean" and "Captain Hook") and how various David won over Goliath in their own markets. For sure I will remember the stories of "Discovery Initiatives (Rhino dung brochure)", "Tommy Bahama (the persona)", "Puccino's (suggar bags and kiss me coffee cups)", "Howies (colorblind & spelling test + blue patch vs Levi's legal threat) etc etc. The second half, primarily on management of a creative team and culture, is over stretched. Nevertheless, it's a great resource to all marketeers. Just read the first half and tear the second away, you will still thank me for the recommendation.

p.s. Below please find some of my favorite passages for your reference.

The role of a Challenger is not to unseat the Market Leader, it is to reframe the category. Meaning we do not prosper by accepting what the category gives us - we need to get the consumer to see the category on our new, redefined terms, rather than the way they have always seen it. pg24
At the basis of any marketing philosophy, there has to be a story that's going to be told. pg54
I have written and sold 23 novels, and all are terrible except one. But I'm not sure which one. - PK Dick pg56
Successful piracy depends on not just having an idea: it's about our behaviour with that idea once it appears - and in particular our preparedness to really push it. To recognise that even small ideas can become interesting if they are pushed as far as they can go...let's not ask "Is this too much?" until we have asked "Is this enough?"....what seems initially very different is soon something we become very used to. pg58
"I think comment cards are silly. They're analysed by weirdos in ivory towers. My name is Sandra. I'm the GM of Pret at Kingsgate. My team and I meet every morning. We will discuss the points you've raised ...the good, the bad and the ugly. If we can deal with it ourselves we will. If we cant, I will forward your card to Julian Metcalfe at the office. I know he'll do what he can. Either way, thanks" pg62
If one regards a medium as any vehicle for building or nurturing a relationship with an existing or potential customer, then we all have far more media at our disposal than we think we do. pg63
What we refuse to accept will define our success just as much as knowing what we are passionate for. pg181

The Pirate Inside is fantastic. I was responsible for the marketing of the launch of the MINI brand in the US market. While my official title was Guardian of Brand Soul, after reading The Pirate Inside, I was thrilled to learn that I was (and still am) also a 'Denter'. As I read The Pirate Inside and reflected on the MINI launch, I couldn't help but smile and scream aloud...yes, yes, yes! Adam hit the nail on the head with this book. It's the perfect road map to building a challenger brand culture. While this book wasn't around when we launched MINI...it's as if Adam was fly on the wall and noted everything that made the MINI launch a raging success. This is a must read for every CEO, CMO, COO...really, anyone who genuinely cares and wants to make a profound difference.

Like many others, I consider Adam Morgan's previous book, Eating The Big Fish, to be one of the most truly original, seminal and important books on marketing/branding/advertising ever written. It is, in fact, my personal favorite--one that I have purchased in quantities and given as a gift to anyone who touches a brand in any way. So, The Pirate Inside had a hell of a lot to live up to going in. And, in my view, it over-delivered. Rather than a re-hash of Eating The Big Fish, it was for me the perfect compliment to the challenger bible; the new testament, in fact. Because it deals primarily with the real-world verities of trying to have a challenger mindset within a larger, more navy-like organization. While ETBF was fresh and inspiring, it was perhaps more relevant for entrepreneurs and CEOs, people in control of their own destiny and job security. The Pirate Inside is "the ETBF for the rest of us," those who want to be or feel the need to be (what Morgan refers to as) "Denters" within establishment brands. I felt that it was a primer on how to get away with being a pirate within the navy. Letitia Baldridge may have provided the world with the essential book on executive manners, but Morgan shows us how to be effective and successful within multi-layered and political environments--and he and his colleagues have gone to great pains to give us credible examples and case studies of people who have managed to effectively navigate that terrain. That makes this volume nothing short of a gift. I read it in a week and just passed it along to a friend of mine who wants/needs to be a difference-maker within a big tech firm. If one of the marks of a Challenger Brand is that it engenders intense enthusiasm, The Pirate Inside, as a book, is a true Challenger. Because I am intensely enthusiastic about it.