How to be a brand leader
Jeremy Davies
Justin King’s forthcoming departure from Sainsbury’s, with
the supermarket thriving, and Tesco’s troubles since Sir Terry
Leahy stood down, have got us thinking about leadership.
As Manchester United fans have discovered this season, a
successful brand depends on strong, consistent leadership
that commands total respect. It holds as true for marketleading brands as it does for leaders of people.
When a market-leading brand starts acting out of character,
you know there’s something odd going on. Innocent’s new
Super Smoothies range, for example, seems, at first glance,
at odds with the brand’s personality. Functional foods may
be popular at a time when consumers are acutely conscious
of what they consume, but their appeal is rooted in a sense
of anxiety. Innocent as a brand has always had the feel-good
factor. No scientific mumbo jumbo ever infiltrated the brand’s
unique tone of voice before. Where’s the fun in antioxidants?
Since the term ‘challenger brand’ emerged in the late-1990s,
‘think like a challenger’ has become conventional marketing
wisdom. To become a market leader, though, you need to
first behave like one. Think like a challenger, act like a leader
may seem a tricky balance, but it’s hardly unprecedented.
Did you ever hear of the mouse that roared?
Tesco’s series of mishaps began under Sir Terry, with the
ill-fated discount brands strategy (foreign misadventures
notwithstanding). From this perspective, at a time when
Aldi and Lidl were just beginning to steal share from the
Big Four, the move made sense. But market leaders should
lead, not follow. Tesco had plenty to differentiate it from the
hard discounters: quality, provenance and traceability, not to
mention the relentless customer focus behind the old “Every
little helps” slogan of their range. Instead, it chose to dance
to their tune.
By contrast, when Walkers found its position as the leading
crisp brand under threat from fresh brands offering exciting
new ingredients, its response was to innovate, not imitate.
Using the full range of tools at its disposal (distribution,
awareness, so 6