Challenger brands aren’t defined by their position in the market, but by their approach to marketing. Rob Grant explores what it means to be a modern day challenger and what all brands – big and small – can learn from 10 of the most disruptive brands in Australia and New Zealand.
Conventional wisdom says the young learn from the old, the child from its parent, the naïve newcomer from the wise and worldly master. In a nutshell, Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars.
Yet, despite being often younger or smaller, challenger brands can flip this logic on its head.
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www.marketingmag.com.au/challenger-brands

Amboselli National Park, Kenya
Intimacy typically comes with privacy, and Satao Elerai Camp has this in spades – but do expect to share your quiet, romantic moments with the occasional roaring elephant. Up close. Prepare also for the constant gaze of mighty Mount Kilimanjaro.
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After years travelling the world to pursue his love of marketing, it’s appropriate Matthias Schuecking is now the Asia-Pacific marketing director at global travel disruptor Airbnb. He tells Rob Grant how he followed his heart and came up trumps.
The marketing world is awash with heroic tales of extraordinary brands and their exceptional achievements. Marketing books, conference papers, agency presentations and industry articles wax lyrically about companies one can only dream of working for. Not Schuecking. After analysing Airbnb as a case study on a Masters course, he called the company and
asked for a job.
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Rob Grant picks the remarkably busy brain of marketing guru Mark Earls, about how to build brands through the love of the crowd, with ideas you’ve basically copied from others.
Widely known for his 2007 book, Herd, Mark Earls is a thought-leading writer, speaker and consultant on a mission to change the way marketers think. He passionately espouses an approach to brand-building that focuses on the group rather than the self. It flies in the face of Western thinking, yet the evidence for this approach is undeniable, both from reams of academic studies and as demonstrated by countless successful brands. Earls has an uncanny ability to recount them at will...
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Against the shiny facade of Sydney Harbour, Cockatoo Island’s rugged, industrial look provides a stark contrast.
Over two centuries, the 18-hectare island housed a convict prison, reformatory girl’s school and, most recently, a sprawling shipyard. Boat building ended in 1991 and, after a UNESCO World Heritage listing in 2010, tourism is now the primary industry. With its multi-level maze of pathways, tunnels and precarious stairways, intrigue lurks around every corner. Nature meets history on an epic scale.
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At Forrester’s CX Marketing 2016, Jill Baptist, GM customer experience and marketing at IAG, showed how emotional connection radically enhanced company culture.
Asia-Pacific insurance group IAG faced a problem: tonnes of information; little or no customer connection at an emotional level. In her talk, titled ‘How to bring the E word into the boardroom’, Baptist left no listener doubting the challenge.
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www.marketingmag.com.au/news-c/design-thinking-iag

Hobart’s illustrious past and creative present combine to stimulate the senses of the curious visitor, writes Rob Grant.
Built on over 200 years of history, and situated near Australia’s most southerly point, Hobart is a unique spot. It can surprise new arrivals, with a quirky mix of sights, sounds and sensations. Forget any illusions of a sleepy town on the edge of civilisation. Hobart is a stimulating showcase of Tasmania’s gourmet excellence and a melting pot of offbeat artists, craftspeople and entrepreneurs.
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