Opposition is Validation: How to build a brand after you’ve left a huge corporation
This Week, the canned water brand Liquid Death released “Greatest Hates” an 80s themed hair metal album in which they turned their detractors’ comments into music videos.
“F**k Satan. F**k Whoever Started This” Is the lead track on the album, set to a reenactment of the Salem Witch Trial.
It’s as if Andy Pearson, the VP of Creative at Liquid Death got his entire creative team together and asked them, “What could we do that Nestle [the world’s leading bottled water company] would never be able to do?” Greatest Hates is the answer.
When you leave corporate leadership to become a first time founder, how you communicate has to shift from “Repetition is Reputation” to “Opposition Is Validation.”
“Greatest Hates,” proves that out.
But it’s one of the hardest transitions for the Entrepreneur Exodus - the entrepreneurs who launch new ventures after a career in corporate leadership - to make. Here’s how to do it.
Repetition is Reputation: Why every pharmaceutical ad is exactly the same:
There are certain things that a big company can’t say. So the communication strategy is “Repetition is Reputation.” It makes sense when the consequence for saying something wrong is testifying before Congress, the SEC, or the FDA. Everything needs to be approved by communications, PR, editorial, product, and marketing. Communication becomes a Franken-message that is so risk averse that it is stripped of any inspiration, or actionability. To celebrate the fury of your biggest detractors like Liquid Death did is suicidal. “Repetition is Reputation” is not just encouragement to stay consistent. What it really means is “once you land on something that is agreeable to all the stakeholders, don’t say anything else, even if what you’re saying doesn’t mean anything or drive sales. There’s enough money to throw behind it so that we can still spread our safe message of mediocrity. This is why every pharmaceutical drug, bank, insurance, and truck ad is exactly the same.
A massive Banal Brand Industrial Complex of agencies, consultants, thought leaders, and creatives will reprogram the most creative communicator into a risk-averse, on-message automaton. Not always. But most of the time.
For the entrepreneur exodus this is a hard thing to unlearn.
Why you left is as more important than what you do now
When Marc Benioff split from Oracle to launch Salesforce, he was very clear about how he couldn’t continue to fight for a product (software) that was slower, more expensive, and less adaptable than the cloud. He wasn’t just selling a new CRM. He was tapping into an unspoken frustration that incumbents become complacent and self-absorbed as they become dominant. Salesforce, in its earliest days, was an easy company to root for. (Especially when he would prank Oracle, like handing out flyers for his free pop-up conference down the block from Oracle’s main conference).
Everyone who leaves corporate to launch a new venture has an incredible courageous story of why they left. They eventually realize that they could be more impactful and provide better value without the politics, risk aversion and obstructionism of their own company. They have identified an unmet need in the market that their company neglected. People need to know why you left. Your vision of how your market can and should be better is more compelling when you can speak about how customers are getting less than they deserve.
Opposition is Validation: The Taylor Swift Strategy
When we tested the title for my first book, “This Might Get Me Fired,” 63% of the 300 people who saw it HATED it. “You jackass, why would anyone want to get fired?” was one of the comments. But the 37% who didn’t hate it said things like, “Sounds like the story of my life. Can’t wait to read it.” The fights between the haters and the lovers when the book came out, helped make it a best-seller in 6 countries.
It was polarizing on purpose. Because innovation is polarizing. The people who push for progress and innovation in big companies have to contend with everyone who wants things to stay the same. I wanted to honor the people in the trenches who are willing to lose their jobs to build something that matters.
It’s the same strategy as Taylor Swift. She understands that she’s not just a pop icon. She’s a warrior taking on a music industry designed to exploit artists like her. Her addressable market isn’t just pop music fans. It’s anyone who hates corporate exploitation.
Into Action:
Your answers to these questions will help you transition to an Opposition is Validation brand:
1. What is an unmet need in your market that incumbents ignore or neglect?
2. Why do incumbents ignore it? Why can’t they get out of their own way?
3. What are the consequences for the customer? How does it cost them time and money?
4. What does better look like? How are you making better a reality
5. Be a badass - not an asshole. Challenging the incumbents is not the same thing as disparaging them. Sparking a debate about how your industry can be better is healthy. Starting a food fight will backfire. Badly.
Finally, above all else, read these two books:
1. The Hype Handbook by Michael Schein.
2. Trust Me I’m Lying by Ryan Holliday.
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