At 8pm on 6th August 2024, the athletes lined up on the starting line.
It was the Men’s 1500m Olympic Final. There were 12 athletes. But all the focus was on two of them.
Josh Kerr and Jacob Ingebrigtsen. Kerr was the reigning World champion. Ingebrigtsen was the reigning Olympic champion. Two rivals going head-to-head in what was being billed as ‘a race of the ages’.
It’s fair to say they didn’t like each other. Ingebrigtsen had said that he could beat Kerr “blindfolded.” When Kerr was asked about Ingebrigtsen’s best quality he said, “His dress sense. That would be the only one.”
All the talk before the race was Kerr vs. Ingebrigtsen. All Kerr thought about was Ingebrigtsen. All Ingebrigtsen thought about was Kerr.
Bang! The gun went off.
The race was fast. Ingebrigtsen led for most of it. With 200m to go Kerr passed him. It looked like Kerr was going to win. He was fading but the finish line was in sight.
But then US athlete, Cole Hocker, appeared from nowhere. He came bursting through on the inside. He went past Ingebrigtsen. Then he went past Kerr.
He crossed the line to take Gold in an Olympic record time of 3.27.65.
Kerr took silver. Ingebrigsten didn’t even get a medal. He finished fourth.
Steve Cram, the BBC commentator and former World Champion, summed up the race…
“The two of them tried to destroy each other. By destroying each other, they allowed Cole Hocker to step up.”
Why are we talking about this? In the FMCG world it is easy to have tunnel vision.
You can focus on your own performance. Are you growing share? Rather than looking at category performance. Is the category growing?
You can focus on the immediate competitive set. Are you winning the individual category battle? Rather than looking at the wider competitive set. Are you winning the cross-category war?
You can focus on today. What do we need to do to hit our quarterly target? Rather than looking to tomorrow. What do we need to do to win over the next few years?
You’re running a race. You’re running fast. But you’re often not running the right race.
So, how can you change this?
Think category growth not just share gain. Market share is important. You want to be growing your slice of the pie. But category growth is more important. You want the pie to be bigger. A flat share in a growing category is better than a growing share in a declining category. Your share might have gone up but your sales might have gone down. Just not as quickly as everyone else’s. Your market share light is green. But the category growth light is flashing red.
So, you need to be focused on category development. Growing the pie. For instance, if you’re in the mouthwash category. Your first priority is getting more shoppers to start buying mouthwash. Then your second priority is to grow your share of mouthwash. But the first thing can directly lead to the second thing. If your brand is the one getting more shoppers to buy mouthwash you will win disproportionately.
A bigger slice of a bigger pie.
Think broad not narrow. It’s easy to get lost in the category battle. If you’re a biscuit, you battle against other biscuits. If you’re a water, you battle against other waters. But you can win the biscuit battle and lose the wider snacking war. Win the water battle and lose the wider soft drinks war.
So, you need to be thinking about the wider competitive set. If you’re a biscuit you’re competing against all other snacking options. You need to be easier to buy than other snacks. You need to be more visible than other snacks. You need to be more motivating (a compelling reason to buy) than other snacks. You need to be more relevant (to key occasions) than other snacks.
Being the best biscuit option is good. Being the best snacking option is much better.
Think forward not back. There can be a big temptation to protect what you’ve got. If you make sliced white bread, try to keep shoppers buying sliced white bread. If you make normal black tea, try to keep shoppers buying normal black tea.
But products change. Attitudes change. Shopper behaviours change.
So, you need to change with them. Coca Cola is a great example of this. See a move away from sugary soft drinks? Then adapt your portfolio. Drive your Zero and Diet versions much harder. See a move away from carbonated soft drinks? Expand your portfolio into water, juice, coffee.
You need to be selling what shoppers will buy, not what they used to buy.
Focus is good. But too much focus is bad. It can lead to tunnel vision.
Only seeing what is immediately around you.
Thinking you are winning the race. When really you’re just about to lose it.
Feel free to forward. Have a great weekend. Speak to you in a fortnight.