Challenger strategy vs. supermarket brands
A challenger brand strategy helps Kitar Cats, a raw cat food maker, take on its much larger, more established competitors.
A Small Brand Takes On an Entire Industry
Kitar Cats is a new home-based business with a passion for its product: raw, natural cat food. The business challenge is immense. The pet food market is dominated by huge, trusted “supermarket brands” and the “raw food: category itself is often viewed with scepticism.
The core challenge is not just to sell a product but to win a battle of beliefs. How does a small brand build a passionate, loyal following for a controversial product when competing against the massive marketing budgets and established trust of industry giants?
The Strategy of Challenging vs. Just Competing
Our strategic insight is that a small brand cannot win by playing the giant’s game. Instead of being defensive, the strategy is to go on the offensive. Our unique approach was to transform the product’s primary controversy—the “raw food” debate—from a defensive liability into our main offensive weapon. We embrace the controversy and build a tribe creating a powerful “us vs. them” narrative.
The goal is to transform Kitar Cats from a simple product into a challenger brand with a courageous, unapologetic point of view.
A Brand Designed to Pick a (Friendly) Fight
A key excerpt from the Kitar Cats Manifesto, designed to challenge the industry narrative and build trust with a sceptical audience.
To execute this challenger brand strategy, we develop a complete brand designed to be bold and tongue-in-cheek confrontational.
Building on the brand belief that raw food is truly nutritious for cats, we craft the Kitar Cats Manifesto. This document is the soul of the brand, its brand identity and personality, written from the perspective of the brand’s cat mascots. It’s honest, a little bit cheeky and directly addresses the “haters” of raw food.
Also within our manifesto is our brand message, declaring that Kitar Cats is “Hated by kibble makers everywhere”. It comes from the insight that kibbles, sold by the big brands in supermarkets everywhere, are the equivalent of junk food for kitties. Our brand content takes its cue from this message, with content pillars such as a “Hated” content category for stories on the raw food qualities that kibbles do not have; and a “Loved” content category to highlight testimonials from loyal cat customers.
The core content pillars for Kitar Cats’ Instagram, strategically designed around the brand’s cheeky confrontational “Loved vs. Hated” narrative.
Complete Challenger Brand Strategy and Assets
Our primary deliverable is a comprehensive brand strategy package that transforms Kitar Cats into a bold challenger brand. This includes:
- Kitar Cats Manifesto, the brand’s core belief system written from the cat mascots’ perspective.
- Brand story framework positioning raw food as superior nutrition.
- Content pillar structure including “Hated” and “Loved” categories.
- Product story templates that emphasize raw food benefits.
- Testimonial story framework to showcase customer success.
A Brand that Builds a Tribe
The result of our work is a brand that’s deliberately, not for everyone. We accept that haters will always be haters, recognising that our true target audience are those who are willing to invest in the best nutrition for their cat children.
Mock-up of an Instagram Reel for Kitar Cats, showcasing the “Hated by kibble makers everywhere” brand story.
Kitar Cats is now ready to compete not by being bigger, but by being bolder and more interesting than any of its corporate competitors.
