Why this idea means business : We explore the need for more maverick marketing. Learn the drivers and impact of challenging the status quo. Read this for ideas on making your marketing less mundane.
Pop culture usually portrays the “maverick” as a positive and charismatic character.
This hero leads the charge against stuffy, conformist rules and the “old way”. Someone with the courage and conviction to go their own new way.
Rebel Without a Cause. Footloose. The Hunger Games. Top Gun even nicknamed their hero character Maverick.
Cool, right?
However, synonyms for maverick leads you to words like extremist, radical and dissenter. Oof. Not so positive, charismatic and cool now, right? Mavericks sound like trouble.
So, which view should marketers take of being a maverick? That really depends on your brand’s context. However, in most cases, being a maverick is the better choice. Let’s explore why.
The challenge of maverick marketing
The definition of a maverick is “one who takes chances and departs from the accepted course”.
In marketing, this usually means challenger brands. Brands that aim to shake up category norms.
These remarkable brands reject the existing mundane approach and depart from the accepted course. They choose to do things differently.
What drives this choice?
First, courage and determination underpin a maverick marketing approach. Mimicking the category set by the market leader is what everyone else does. Mavericks choose to not “be normal”. They stand out from the crowd. They’re OK with some of the market opposing their approach.
Second, mavericks are usually smaller. That means fewer resources to put behind their ideas. However, it also means they have less to lose than bigger competitors. There are more opportunities for creative thinking. Such brands move faster, experiment more, and face fewer internal creative barriers. This leads to more bright ideas.
And lastly, maverick marketing creates an exciting vibe that’s hard to put your finger on. There’s more belief in your purpose. More support for your values. This usually leads to better long-term customer loyalty. Maverick marketing creates stronger connections with specific customers
The prevalance of mundane marketing
So if maverick marketing is so great, why are there so few examples of it? Mundane marketing seems to be the norm. It’s surprisingly hard to find good examples of maverick marketing, and we’ve got some ideas about why that is.
First, maverick marketing usually demands a high level of creativity. And aside from some agencies, most businesses aren’t set up to be creative.
They often fear creativity rather than see it as a source of competitive advantage.
They dislike the ambiguity and open-mindedness that underpin the creative process. Instead, they prefer to play it safe with more obvious and less creative thinking.
Maverick marketing also means rejecting what’s gone before. Breaking old habits and trying something new. Many marketing leaders are terrible at this. Bigger businesses often find a marketing approach that works initially, and then refuse to change it when it becomes outdated. For example, look at how much business “innovation” is basically just packaging refreshes. Or how adverts and sales promotions in categories like cars or cleaning products all look and sound the same.
Mundane marketing leaders are also more likely to follow rather than set trends. For example, they’re OK using AI to write their advertising copy. OK doing all their designs with template tools like Canva. Saves money on copywriters and designers, right? But what they don’t get is that when everyone uses the same tools with no human thinking involved, the overall creative output becomes the same.
Mundane.
Maverick marketing leaders reject all of this. They choose to go their own way. Let’s explore where they can do that.
Where to use maverick marketing
Unless you’re the market leader, the easy answer to where you should use maverick marketing is everywhere.
However, that’s not really that helpful, so let’s get into some specifics :-
Competitive strategy
Maverick marketing is a given for brands whose competitive strategy is differentiation. The whole premise of differentiation is not copying others and breaking category norms. You can’t differentiate without acting like a maverick.
For example, differentiation means looking for a customer need that’s not being well met. You allocate your resources differently. You focus on areas where you can win, and sacrifice others where you can’t. And you need to take more risks to stand out. To make your brand different.
Positioning
This idea of maverick marketing also influences your brand positioning. This statement, part of the segmentation, targeting and positioning process, defines how your brand plays in the market.
For example, choosing to follow a maverick marketing approach shapes your choice of target customer and the benefit you offer them.
You go after a segment that’s not being well served, and meet their needs with an offer that delivers more value than they currently get.
It also affects how you see the category frame of reference and how you build your point of difference versus competitors. Maverick marketers are more likely to stretch into adjacent categories, sell through new channels or change the way customers think about buying products in that category. For example, think about how video streaming (e.g. Netflix) changed the way we watch movies at home. This is why Blockbuster Video no longer exists. A maverick marketing positioning triumphed over its more mundane marketing.
Brand activation
Finally, maverick marketing only makes an impact when you can bring it to life. Thinking maverick is a good start. But doing maverick is how you win.
Your whole creative process and subsequent brand activation have to show customers how you do things differently.
That could be your brand name. Think Who Gives a Crap, for example. It’s a maverick action to include the word Crap in your brand name.
It could be the way you package your product. Think Red Bull. Their tall 250ml cans were distinctly different from the regular 330ml cans of the mainstream brands in the soft drinks market.
It could be that you make your overall design offer super-premium to stand out against more everyday brands. Voss water (see our Why Brands Matter article) is a good example of maverick marketing.
Why we need more maverick marketing
So why does all this matter? Well, here’s the crux for marketers. Mundane marketing wants to keep things the same. It plays on habits. Maverick marketing wants to change things. It plays on emotions.
It’s OK to have both. But habits are kind of boring. And emotions aren’t.
Habits are fine for everyday stuff. But emotions make life worth living because they open our minds to improvement. And in most categories, there’s always room for improvement.
This is why we need challenger brands to push boundaries. To drive the improvements that bigger brands won’t. A maverick marketing approach drives new sources of growth. It stops customers from getting bored or complacent. It keeps people interested in what your brand is doing.
Without it, the marketing world would be a much duller place.
Conclusion - Maverick marketing, more of it, please
As we said at the start, there are mixed views on the merits of being a maverick. It can be seen positively or negatively.
Our article focuses on the more positive sides of maverickness. We believe that given the choice, pushing boundaries brings way more benefits than setting them.
Maverick brands keep the market leader on their toes, and explore the innovation edges of what’s possible in the category.
It’s not about being reckless. It’s about being open-minded. About accepting that creativity is a better long-term option than playing it safe. That you need the odd mistake to learn. Maverick brands are bold enough to reject mundanity and to speak their minds about how to make things better. Who doesn’t want more of that in these most challenging of times?
Check out our challenger brands article for more of this thinking. Or get in touch if you need some maverick marketing support. Always happy to help challenger brands looking to push a few boundaries.
Photo Credits
Entering the ring : Photo by Attentie Attentie on Unsplash
Bored in front of computer : Photo by Magnet.me on Unsplash
Red tulip / Yellow tulip : Photo by Rupert Britton on Unsplash
Chess board : Photo by Randy Fath on Unsplash
Person holding compass : Photo by Aron Visuals on Unsplash
Heart graffiti : Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash
