Shahid Naseem

Group 3

WHAT IS YOUR BRAND AGAINST?

The article was written by Scott Goodson and published on Harvard Business Review website on
February 15, 2011. Scott Goodson is the founder and chairman of StrawberryFrog, a global cultural
movement agency whose clients have included P&G, Emirates Airline, Jim Beam, Heineken, Pepsico,
Natura Brazil, the Smart Car, and India’s Mahindra Group. In this article, Goodson present a
marketing term ‘oppositional thinking’. An approach that marketers can adopt to effectively
communicate what their brand stands for.

The idea is very simple: “If you really want to show the world what you believe in and stand for, how
about telling us what you stand against?” Goodson explained that by only showing about your
brand’s beliefs and ideals, your marketing communications may come across as generic, dull, and
predictable. And we’ve all seen plenty of that type of marketing and advertising. A little bit of
oppositional thinking might be necessary for a brand to truly and authentically position itself in the
minds of its customers