Challenger brands

Are big brands really doomed? How big brands can adapt to the threat from small insurgents

Article • David Taylor, WARC Best Practice, October 2018

Explores insights from new research into the threat to big brands of attack by small 'insurgent' brands.

Article • Nick Geoghegan, WARC Best Practice, July 2016

This article explores the position of a brand as challenger - a state not necessarily conferred by not-market-leader status; traditions won't do so the rules must be re-written.

WARC from Home classic webinar: What DTC brands know that you don’t

Opinion • WARC from Home, May 2020

WARC from Home is our series of content for those looking to skill up in the lockdown – including a weekly re-run of a classic webinar from the WARC database.

Nothing disrupts category inertia like a recession

News • 20 May 2020

Sometimes recessions and hardships are where challenger brands are made; Nick Geoghegan of eatbigfish explains how in The WARC Guide.

The challenger’s guide to finding opportunity out of volatility

Article • Nick Geoghegan, WARC Exclusive, May 2020

Nick Geoghegan shares lessons from challenger brands on how to thrive during recessions and hardships - organisations must be a little more Netflix and a little less Blockbuster as we sail into this storm.

Betadine: Feel the sign? Betadine

Case Study • Maxine Thomas, WARC Awards, Entrant, Effective Innovation, 2020

Antiseptic brand Betadine launched a new product in Canada, stealing market share from competitors and driving behaviour change.

ookyo: Gaming the telco ecosystem

Case Study • Sheryl Tan, WARC Awards, Shortlisted, Effective Content Strategy, 2020

Digital prepaid brand ookyo gamed the eSports space to its advantage to increase brand awareness and boost sign-ups in Malaysia.

Almosafer: As far as we go

Case Study • Tahaab Rais, WARC Awards, Shortlisted, Effective Use of Brand Purpose, 2020

Travel platform Almosafer reversed declining market share through an emotive Ramadan film in Saudi Arabia.

Jawwy: The Ramadan campaign that didn't launch in Ramadan

Case Study • Mario Morby, WARC Awards, Shortlisted, Effective Use of Brand Purpose, 2020

Telco Jawwy drove revenue growth and brand awareness with an unconventional Ramadan campaign in Saudi Arabia.

How Yorkshire Tea became the UK’s favourite brew

Article • Brian Carruthers, Event Reports, Thinkbox, March 2020

Over the past ten years, Yorkshire Tea has grown from a regional brand to become the number one tea brand in the UK.

RAKBANK: Memotraits

Case Study • Mohit Lodha, Kevin Pinto, WARC Awards, Shortlisted, Effective Innovation, 2020

RAKBANK, a leading UAE bank, raised awareness of its sponsorship of FC Barcelona and related credit card product by emotionally connecting with football fans through AI.

Three themes from WARC’s Effective 100

Opinion • Lucy Aitken, March 2020

Lucy Aitken spotted three themes among the case studies featured in this year’s Effective 100 rankings.

How traditional CPG companies adopt a challenger brand mindset

Article • Sonja Leskinen, ANA Magazine, Forward, February 2020

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) and start-up brands have been eating away at the margins of long-stablished legacy brands for years – no industry sector is safe from the onslaught, which is just beginning.

India’s e-commerce rivalry heats up

News • 13 January 2020

Reliance Industries, the Indian conglomerate controlled by Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest man, launched an e-commerce platform called JioMart at the beginning of this year and the move is expected to provide a direct challenge to Amazon and ...

Fintechs struggle with exclusivity

News • 08 January 2020

For all of the progress that fintechs have brought in terms of what banking products could and should feel like, new data show that very few people are using these services as their main bank and shines a light on the UK’s mobile banking behaviour.

Starling Bank moves from start-up to scale-up

News • 17 December 2019

Starling Bank, the five-year old, mobile-only challenger bank, is boosting its brand-building efforts as it looks to move beyond its start-up status and become a significant player in the market.

mytaxi: jazz cab

Case Study • Integrated Marketing Communications Council Europe, Grand Prix, 2019

Mytaxi, a taxi service, increased passenger numbers and brand growth in Ireland by launching a live jazz piece at the Cork Jazz Festival based on GPS data from its taxis.

Starling Bank: Where technology meets long-term brand building

Article • Anna Hamill, Event Reports, MAD//Fest London, November 2019

Starling Bank, a digital-only challenger bank in the UK, is disrupting the banking category by thinking about customer experience and brand building differently.

Business banking switch - business unusual for RBS

Research Paper • MRS Awards, Winner, MRS Award for Financial Services Research, 2019

RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland), a banking brand, launched real-time customer communication research in the UK to understand how it could get consumers to switch banks.

How TSB Bank used the face of adversity to transform into a challenger brand

Research Paper • MRS Awards, Finalist, MRS Award for Financial Services Research, 2019

TSB Bank, a bank, used a new measurement tool tailored to retail banking to help senior TSB executives navigate through an IT crisis to a brighter future in the UK.

Google Translate: The Secret Menu

Case Study • Leslie Yu, Mimi Lu, WARC Media Awards, Silver, Effective Use of Tech, 2019

Amid a highly cluttered and competitive mobile app market in China, Google Translate succeeded in driving downloads of its app and increasing brand awareness.

Virgin Mobile: Virgin made you feel the service like stars

Case Study • Camila Carrillo, WARC Media Awards, Entrant, Effective Use of Partnerships and Sponsorships, 2019

Virgin Mobile launched a radio takeover to stand out from competitors in Colombia.

Booking.com: Data-proofed social campaign

Case Study • Camille Lin, Linda Qin, Doris Xu, Nicholas Short, WARC Media Awards, Bronze, Best Use of Data, 2019

As a newcomer in China, Booking.com sought to build strong audience connections in what is a fiercely competitive online travel industry.

Rexona: Grab Life by the Hands

Case Study • Patricio Shilton, WARC Media Awards, Entrant, Best Use of Data, 2019

Number-one deodorant in Argentina, Rexona created a precision marketing campaign to launch its new hand soap, grow market share and generate awareness.

Three successful marketing trends in Asia

News • 13 November 2019

Adopting a challenger mentality, using AR and VR to create new consumer experiences and reframing brands using cultural insights are among the successful marketing trends being used in Asia, according to a new WARC study.