The power of challenger brands to surprise (and often delight)

This event report provides an insight into how challenger brands can seek to take on category leaders.

The power of challenger brands to surprise (and often delight)

Geoffrey PrecourtWarc

Challenger brands aren't necessarily the number-two entry in a hotly competitive category. And they aren't always just innovative products or services that redefine the rules of consumer engagement.

"When ambition is significantly higher than the resources you have available – and you are prepared to accept the implications of the gap between the two – that's when you become a challenger brand," Mark Barden, the San Francisco-based partner of eatbigfish, told an audience at the ad:tech San Francisco conference 2015.

Lagging in a category, he explained, "does...

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