you REALLY think you’ve got an edge?

Author

Dan Pope
June 23, 2023

you really think you’ve got an edge?

Energy.

Full-throttle fondue.

Pedal-to-floor Pudding.

Voluptuous vortex of rattlin’, chirpin’, burnin’, gurglin’, flirtin’, hurtin’, flashin’, squeakin’, movin’, fuckin’, groovin’, screamin’, honkin’, bonkin’, stinkin’ Energy.

New York, New Yark.

Streaky bacon blah and fuggehdaaabaaaa it

Trucks chug- - growl- - choke- -cough- - - along steamy streets like fat old lions.

Cop Cars sirens wail and whip into the cloying blue air, sky scrappers soar upwards licking the fizzing white sun.

if you want canvas copies of my New York skyline with a bridge in front of it. Just HMU on DEPOP

It’s my last day in New York.

This morning, pottering from SoHo to NoHo to UhOh… not ANOTHER fucking Tacos stand … to OhGo On Then you little minx

‘Pork Trio, por favoro’

As Anthony Bourdain says: Your body is not a temple. It's an amusement park. Enjoy the ride.

Stuffing my face Notorious P.I.G style - Gimme the Loot, Gimme the Loot.

Chomped cookies from Levaine, crack cocaine yum. A crumbly palace riddled with warm melting gooey chocolate shards. Gu Tang Clan for ya taste buds.

Currently sat in a cafe. It’s hot. Very hot. I feel like a clammy chuppa chuppa-con-cankles.

Thankfully cool gushings of air con are smothering me as my cookie-crumb-cuddled fingers slash and thrash against the keyboard.

There’s a BIG announcement coming

STARTER: The Edge

The Edge

New York has an Edge vs. other cities (apart from Bognor Regis… have you SEEN their Crimbo lights?)

New York is so weird, esoteric, irreverent, thumping and wild.

Concrete jungle melts into whirling soup of wildly different people, different ideas, different restaurants, different events, different things.

New York’s wildly different INPUTS = wildly different OUTPUTS = Edge.

New York is valued at around $147 billion, with more than 25,000 tech-enabled startups supported by over 200 co-working spaces and 100 accelerators and incubators (cool story, bro).

THE CITY for disruptive business and brands, because it’s millions of people with different inputs colliding together, creating different outputs. = EDGE.

A vital lesson for challenger brands.

Innovation happens at the Edges - David Hieatt

To truly disrupt categories we must look where no one’s looking. And change inputs to change outputs.

🍓wanna disrupt the crisps category, look at Gucci trainers?

🍓wanna disrupt chocolate, look at fucking bath soap?

🍓wanna disrupt oat milk, look at sofas?

Check out the podcast with Stuart Forsyth from Minor figures, instead of thinking like a “brand”, Minor Figures think like a “Funk band” (input) creates a different (output) aka 70 million retail sales global brand in USA, UK and Australia.

Main Course: The Edge, Disrupting Gin, Racing Cars

ENGINE know The Edge.

ENGINE changed inputs to change outputs.

clever little fuckers

ENGINE are disrupting gin.

The whole brand focus on racing cars, many, many miles and miles away from cocktail bars. And, like a racing car, they’re soaring around the UK (40 tops, 40 max) unlocking listings.

Let’s be honest…

So many gin brands look and feel the same because they didn’t change their inputs. So, outputs remained the same.

Every town has a Gin Brand, another bastardised version of Sipsmith - like Steve-Smith (sounds like a plumber) or Darlington Gin.

ENGINE’s packaging is sumptuous and different and weird. They looked where no one was looking. They found the Edge.

As a challenger founder or leader, ALWAYS change yours and your teams INPUTS to constantly stay FRESH.

stop that right now.

Dessert: THE ANNOUNCEMENT - wanna beat your competition with less effort?

“Fuck me, rather parched up here ... anyone got any water? Not used to gigging in this heat like”

Wanna beat your competition with less effort?

As we know, the biggest issue facing us challenger brands. Same inputs = same outputs = no edge.

Same inputs syndrome for food and drink founders

🍊Founders read The Grocer = same learning = same actions = no Edge.

🍊Founders put teams on GAP negotiation course = same learning as buyers = same actions = no Edge.

🍊 Founders looking at their category to innovate = same learning = same actions = no Edge.

🍊Founders hiring experienced people from big corporate = same learning = same actions = no Edge.

Good news…

Different inputs = different outputs = EDGE.

The edge unlocks opportunities.

Edge is slipstream.

Edge freeway pass to escape competition.

Edge is disrupting categories on the reg.u.lar boss man.

**ATTENTION PLEASE**

**can you put the Jurassic Park Theme tune music on please, Darnell **

Our first podcast with a founder OUTSIDE food and drink.

Why?

Change INPUT = change OUTPUT = Edge.

David Hieatt. Founder Hiut Denim. He lives, breathes, loves challenger being.

David worked at Saatchi and Saatchi, before founding howies in 1995 and selling to Timberland.

Next, he founded The DO Lectures - voted one of the top 10 idea festivals in the world by Guardian. Over 150 million views and counting online, including talks from Tim Ferriss.

On Monday morning prepare to change your input to change your output. Prepare yourself to find your edge.

Fuck me, all this Edge stuff is putting me on Edge, me needy a cold larger pleaseee

Enjoy the sunshine!!

Popey x