MOJU & MILFS: What EVERY challenger brand gets COMPLETELY wrong about Strategy

I couldn’t believe my luck.

MILFS EVERYWHEREEEEEEEEE

Blonde haired MILFS. Brown Haired MILFS. Tall MILFS. Short MILFS. Mohawk MILFS. (off piste: why not?)

Middle Managers
I’d
Like to
Forget about

All wearing Chelsea Boots.

Middle Class Milfs were flapping their gums and spaffing out sallow turgid chat.

Gossip, Baby, Gossip,
Gossip, Baby, Gossip

Cutting to the Chase. Looping back round. Close of Playing. Quick Catch Upping.

Chewing the Fat. Chewing Elf Bar Watermelon Vapes. Chewing each others egos.

“Ian is LITERALLY… the most boring man… I’ve EVER met….actually… THE SECOND MOST BORING MAN I’VE EVER MET… that’s my Brother in Law, Crispin hahahaha and he knows NOTHING about STRATEGY.”

Har-Har-Har-Harrrrring HAWKIN’, HAWKIN’, HAWKIN’ like vultures.

MILF-who-thinks-He’s-The-Wolf-of-Wall=Street-but-is-just-a-recruiter

“Yahh, they don’t know how bloody good I am… my STRATEGY turned the Pepsico into a £4mill-y account ALL ON MY OWN”

“Darling, your team are BLOODY USELESS… you’ve got a team of BUFFOONS… they LIT-ERALLLYYYYy are SO. FUCKING. STOOOOOOOPID”.

“Darlingggg, Darlinggggg order some more fucking Rosé, darlingggg… can you pop to the offy darlllinngggggg and grab me an Elf bar, darrrrling… need it by CLOSE OF PLAY DARLING”

“More like CLOSE OF ROSÉ DARLING…harharhar”

“I need to tell Malcom, to whack a Charlie Bigham’s Fish Pie in the oven for Hettie and Till’s dinny fucking din dins”.

It reminded me: NO ONE REALLY KNOWS WHAT STRATEGY IS.

Most, including me, confuse tactics for strategy.

MILFS & MOJU teach us loads.

Let’s WAKE.SHAKE. BOOM some strategy sense into our senses.

first some thoughts on strategy: i changed my mind (kinda)

I’ll hold my hands up, I’ve recorded the podcast for 4 years.

Originally, there was no strategy for HUNGRY. I just followed my gut and curiosity and intuition.

To get something off the ground you need blind oblivion and brash naivety. If I knew how hard it’d be growing podcast, I’d have never started. Similarly, this is true for getting a brand off the ground.

Ready. Fire. Aim.

You need naivety: guts: boldness: momentum.

Once you get out the Trough of Sorrow (do you ever get out the Trough of Sorrow?)

I’ll admit, you need a Strategy.

Seth Godin’s new book “This Is Strategy” is wonderful.

first lesson from the book: most confuse TACTICS for STRATEGY.

Most Middle Managers confuse tactics for strategy. When they talk strategy, they’re really talking tactics.

I do this, too.

Strategy is a philosophy.
Strategy is further up stream.
Strategy is a compass.
Strategy is a way to say no.
Strategy is the way to sketch the future.
Strategy is an unvisited city.

Seth says: Making an apple pie from scratch, requires you to build the universe from scratch.

Yup, strategy is UPSTREAM of tactics.

Tactics before strategy is like finding and polishing the best ice skates, only to realise you’re playing football in the waterlogged mud.

Tactics enhance the strategy.
Tactics are scaffolding to spread strategy.
Tactics are day to day.
Tactics are on the ground.
Tactics are DOWNSTREAM of strategy.

second lesson from the book

Seth says Systems, Time, Empathy, Games are four threads woven together.

every “strategy” will interact, hinge, converse, dance, rub up against, argues with, fight, play with these four threads.

1. Systems

2. Time

3. Empathy

4. Games

like this…

third lesson from the book

all strategy boils down to answering these two simple questions

Choose Your Competitors. Choose Your Future.
Choose Your Customers. Choose Your Future.

Let’s apply this to challenger food & drink brands… ya little fuck hound

Let’s use MOJU as a case study babyyyyyy

How do our challenger brands interact with Systems, Games, Time, Empathy

_{What are Systems?}

Supermarkets is a system.
Wholesalers is a system.
Fleets of delivery vans going into depos is a system.
EPOS sales data is a system.
Your supply chain process is a system.
The Food System is a system.
The tax man is a system.
Tesco’s Q1 meeting is a system.
HFSS is a system.
Gondola ends in Sainsbury’s going to MARS is a system.
B Corp Bays’ is a system.

As challenger brands we must UNDERSTAND we’re in a system.

a fish doesn’t know it’s in water. We, too, often don’t even know we’re in a system.

To change the future, we must UNDERSTAND the system we’re in.

Dance with the system.

A system is like a river flowing downstream.

Dumb system strategy:

Swimming upstream is pushing against the system. It’s hard. It often doesn’t work. Unless you’re a fucking Salmon.

Smart system strategy: The other option is to flow and dance with the river (system) dig a little ditch, create a little slip stream. A little niche market. That you Own.

What are Games?

a range review is a game.
investment and raising money is a game.
fighting for shelf space is a game
attracting the best talent is a game
competing for off shelf is a game
sampling at taste of london is a game
a monthly board meeting is a game
writing viral LinkedIn posts is a game

You must play games you can win.

Choose Your Competitors. Choose Your Future.
Choose Your Customers. Choose Your Future.

What is Empathy?

What’s your consumers WHY?

What’s their dreams, fears, anxieties, worries?

Does your Gut Health Soda brand ACTUALLY satisfy your consumers WHY?

What’s your buyer going through, that you can’t see? Maybe a divorce?
Or a health scare?

What’s the TESCO store manager who’s struggling to pay her rent actually thinking when you ask for more facings?

What is Time?

What’s the decision you’re going to make today to make tomorrow better?

Do you raise money today and dilute your brand for the big exit tomorrow?

Do you say yes to a shitty back of store Waitrose listing today, just to post it on LinkedIn, only to cause more stress in 6 months time when you can’t drive the rate of sale?

Do you really need to hire a bigger team, as your distribution grows, when you haven’t proven your rate of sale? Which could cause huge problems down the line.

Remember there is NO ORDER.

Time, Game, Systems, Empathy all interact, intertwine and dance together.

Empathy <> Time <> Systems <> Games
Systems <> Empathy <> Time <> Games
Time <> Games <> Systems <> Empathy

MOJU Systems, Games, Empathy, Time & Successful Strategy

Strategy is the compass to a future unvisited city. Let’s imagine MOJU’s landscape in 2015 when the brand started.

2015 Systems

the juice category is crowded with innocent and Tropicana and Coppella

innocent and Tropicana have way bigger budgets.

Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Ocado have limited shelf space for “another” juice brand.

fresh supply chain is a nightmare, but a huge opportunity if we get it right.

2015 Games:

Are we going to play a game with competitors with way bigger budgets?

How are we going to raise money in an incredibly crowded category?

What’s the game that no juice brand is currently playing?

What’s the game with less competitors? (Only play games you can win)

2015 Empathy:

Do Tesco, Sainsbury, Waitrose buyers want another juice brand when they’ve got innocent and Tropicana?
Probably not.

Do consumers want another juice brand when they’ve got innocent and Tropicana? Probably not.

Do consumers really believe MOJU is that different vs. other brands?
Probably not.

2015 Time:

What are the decisions we’re going to make today, to create a better future for tomorrow?

What competitors are we going to choose today, to make tomorrow easier/better?

What customers are we going to choose today, to make tomorrow easier/better?

MOJU Strategy Genius One: Own a Category of ONE

MOJU created a category of ONE and OWNED IT.

MOJU doubled down on shots and binned off their standard juices.

A perfect example of:

Choose Your Customers. Choose Your Future.
Choose Your Competitors. Choose Your Future.

Shots:

Suddenly, this opened up shelf space.
Suddenly, opened up a new consumer who “got it”.
Suddenly, there’s little competition in shots.
Suddenly, buyers under the shopper and consumer need.

Strategy Genius Two: Own the Occasion. WAKE. SHAKE. BOOM

MOJU shots created a brand “new occasion” in consumers minds.

An occasion MOJU could own vs. innocent and Tropicana and Copella

WAKE. SHAKE. BOOM

Consume MOJU first thing in the morning = become part of consumers consumption habits = become part of buying habits = increase Rate of Sale = increase distribution = bigger brand.

Strategy Genius Three: Choose Your Competition. Choose Your Future.

MOJU decided to NOT compete with Innocent & Tropicana.

Instead, MOJU picked way easier competition in Yakult and energy drink shots.

MOJU’s brand is so much stronger vs. Yakult + energy drink shots.

(check out the Alex Smith poddy for more on this)

Only play games you can win.
Choose Your Competition. Choose Your Future.

_{Strategy Genius Four: Four Threads Woven Together: Time, Empathy, Games, Systems}

MOJU’s larger pack format innovation with the number of shots listed down the side is the greatest example of Four Threads Woven Together: Strategy + Time + Empathy + Games.

Empathy for consumers

Empathy for consumer (Mary, 45, Southampton). Knowing our consumer is health conscious and will take a shot every single morning = Bigger format takes up less fridge space.

Empathy with correct consumption amount down side of bottle stops consumer overfilling or under filling dosage.

Time & Games for consumers:

the shots down the side of the bottle gamifies the consumption occasion. Utter genius. Invariably, this increases the rate of sale.

Empathy & Systems for retailers (Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose buyers)

Empathy for retailers, understanding they’ve got limited shelf space in the fridge for 9 single shots.

Empathy for buyers, understanding they want to ADD to their category, increase their rate of sale, add volume, whilst not taking up much space.

System & Games & Empathy for 

Knowing the larger format drives more volume + more cash, whilst taking up less shelf space.

Games understanding: putting the number of daily servings down the side of the bottle = game theory = faster rate of sale

System empathy and Games: keep writing, beat resistance, beat fucking resistane, beat resistance… consumers hate plastic waste and massive trend for this to change.

Thanks so much for reading!!

Popey
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