The one-sentence summary:

Ignore what you have done before, decide on something distinctive to do, and do that one thing with full commitment.

WHAT THE BOOK SAYS

The book contains eight credos:

1. Break with your immediate past (forget everything you know and think again)
2. Build a lighthouse identity (state what you are – don’t reflect consumers)
3. Assume thought leadership of category (the one everyone talks about)
4. Create symbols of re-evaluation (do the unexpected)
5. 5. Sacrifice (work out what you are not going to do)
6. Overcommitment (Karate experts aim two feet below the brick to break it)
7. Use advertising/publicity to enter popular culture
8. Become ideas-centred, not consumer-centred (constantly re-invent)

ELEMENTS OF THE BOOK I PARTICULARLY LIKE

• Most marketing books are written about brand leaders, but most marketing people don’t work on brand leaders.
• These challenger brands need to behave differently if they are to compete with brand leaders – effectively doing more with less.
• It concentrates on practical things that most brands can do.
• It can help small, under-resourced marketing teams to mobilise big ideas.
• Brand leaders can benefit from thinking like a challenger to stay number one.