What I see in tougher competitive landscapes, especially in retail, are that too many brands are walking around clutching “best practices” like they’re the Ten Commandments.
“Thou shalt optimize. Thou shalt discount. Thou shalt post at 9:17 a.m.” Who decided 9:17? Was 9:16 busy?
Here’s the thing: there’s no such thing as a universal best practice. There’s only a practice that worked for one company, in one category, during one oddly specific quarter… and now everybody’s acting like it’s gravity.
Best practices are helpful. They’re like recipes. But if every restaurant used the same one we’d all be eating Chicken à la Competitor and the chef would come out and say, “Our twist? We added confidence.”
Ogilvy legend Rory Sutherland says all value is perceived value. Which means in a discount category, sometimes the bold move isn’t to slash prices, it’s to raise them. That’s not bad math; that’s good psychology. Meanwhile everyone else is racing to the bottom like it’s a clearance sale on ambition.
Blue Ocean Strategy reminds us to eliminate category norms (with impunity), yet most brands can’t even eliminate the extra bullet point on slide 47.
And Harvard Business School Youngme Moon talks about the “competitive treadmill,” where brands try to be 3% better at the same thing. “We’re just like them… but slightly more moist.” That’s not differentiation. That’s Aristotelian thinking run amok Michael Fanuele.
Look, respect best practices. They’re fine. But the moment you follow them just because “they worked for them,” you’re not doing strategy, you’re doing cosplay.
If you want a distinctive brand, at some point you have to stop asking, “What’s everyone else doing?” and start asking, “What would make us interesting?”
Because whether following suit or the leader may seem like a practice worth copying, what you're really doing is giving yourself a reason to put innovative thinking aside for an easier way out.
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