Page 86 - Decoding Decisions ~ Making sense of the messy middle

86 CHAPTER 5 IMPLICATIONS OF THE MESSY MIDDLE

For challenger brands

For less-established brands, our shopping experiments demonstrate that the
messy middle offers rich prospecting for nimble and resourceful marketers.

Challengers should see the messy middle as a window of opportunity:
consumers are willing to explore and evaluate alternatives, and even entirely
new brands have the chance to change mindsets, disrupt established
preferences, and win new customers.

Our research reveals that far from being an insurmountable obstacle to
market entry for newcomers, consumer brand preferences can be fragile

across many categories. Our insights into the impact of biases such as social
proof, the power of now, and the importance of visibility at key moments of
consideration can help level the playing field against even established brands.

The good news is that for both well-established and challenger brands, the
right approach to marketing in the messy middle is identical. We’ve identified
three key actions, which we’ll explore in detail over the rest of this chapter:

1. Ensuring brand presence, so that your product or service is

strategically front of mind while your customers explore.

2. Intelligently (and responsibly) employing behavioural science

principles, so that your assets and messages become more
compelling as customers evaluate their options.

3. Closing the gap between trigger and purchase, so that your

existing and potential customers spend less time exposed to
competitor brands.

Challengers should see the messy

middle as a window of opportunity.