For many brands, the risk is no longer one of being overlooked – it’s one of complete irrelevance. The internet has pushed the marketplace to a depressing sea of sameness: the trend for ‘averaging’, an outcome of our algorithm-first culture which aesthetically optimises everything from hipster cafes to brand logos, is inadvertently making brands look and feel the same, catapulting us to a dangerous middle ground of global ubiquity where all differentiation is lost. Indeed, Marketing Effectiveness experts Adam Morgan and Peter Field have famously warned us that this extraordinary cost of dull is costing businesses big money: 18.9 billion dollars, or the equivalent of the GDP of Greece to be precise.
And for marketers in commoditised categories? The stakes are even higher. Consumers in these markets are especially price-sensitive, and brands that fail to stand out risk competing on price alone, sacrificing both profit margins and consumer loyalty.
The good news? This set of challenges presents a critical opportunity to win and unlock growth by building a brand that isn’t just different for the sake of difference, but is meaningfully different in a way that resonates deeply with consumers. So, what does your marketing team need to know and do to unlock this opportunity?
Part 1: Brilliant Thinking
Consider beloved brands like Fairy (“For Hands that Do Dishes”), and Heinz (“It Has to Be Heinz”). These iconic brands operate in categories where products are often seen as interchangeable, with minimal differences in features, benefits, or price. So, what sets them apart?
Their marketing teams, along with the broader business, understand the power of creating a memorable and impactful identity, especially in highly competitive, commoditised markets. They know they can’t just decide they have a unique space in the consumer’s mind, they need to put the hard graft (and time) in to earn that space.
When we’ve worked with businesses facing this challenge, from dairy brands like Yeo Valley to Clorox (Burts Bee’s & Ever Clean) and PZ Cussons range of personal care products (such as Original Source, Imperial Leather & St Tropez), we design our training programmes around a fundamental set of questions: How skilled is your team at thinking critically and strategically? Do they deeply understand your consumer? Are they adept at distinguishing data from insight and applying those insights to craft top-tier brand strategies?
The World Economic Forum predicts that critical thinking, along with problem-solving, will be among the top skills employers will seek in the next five years. In an era of AI, it’s never been easier to fall back on lazy thinking and commonly available inputs, so it’s more important than ever to equip your team with the ability to strategise if you want your brand to win. Instead of constantly discussing tactics, marketers need to be able to look broadly at price, product, place, promotion and other fundamentals of how competitors and successful businesses operate, identify opportunities to unlock growth, and apply this thinking to develop and execute strong strategies.
Part 2: The One Big Thing
The ability to think critically is only half the battle. The real impact comes when you can translate that critical thinking into a compelling narrative that enables quality marketing solutions that truly resonate, whether it’s creative, innovation, media or shopper marketing.
The problem is that many marketers haven’t been trained to deliver a compelling narrative. That means, for many, the temptation is to treat brief writing as a form-filling exercise, an administrative process to rush through in a 20-minute stop-gap between meetings. We see this frequently and it represents a costly missed opportunity for brands, especially for those in commodity categories where brands must work harder and be more creative to connect emotionally with consumers and make an impact.
Take telecoms, for example. When Orla Nagle, Head of Marketing at Vodafone, approached us, her team in Ireland struggled to write the concise, targeted briefs needed to give their creative or media partners the best shot at producing impactful work. To reframe their approach to briefing, we designed a one-day intensive workshop focused on defining “The One Big Thing” — the core message or insight that drives a campaign. The workshop led to Vodafone’s “Nothing Brings You Closer” TV Play campaign, a real turning point for from the brand to signal the new quality of creative work their marketing team was able to deliver.
Part 3: Commercialising Your Plans
In a commoditised category, being a brilliant marketer with a brilliant brand plan isn’t enough if you don’t know how to execute and commercialise your plans. Far too often, we see marketers writing excellent plans on paper but struggling to turn those ideas into tangible outcomes, and selling nothing as a result.
Forget plans that are 100% perfect on paper but not executed. More significant growth comes from an 80% perfect plan that’s executed brilliantly. Execution is where the real challenge lies. When Niall McKee, Marketing Director at organic dairy brand Yeo Valley, approached LockSmith to upskill his team for a new era of growth, we designed a three-day end-to-end foundational marketing skills program that equipped the team not just with planning capabilities, but with the commercial skills needed to bring those plans to life. We included a one-day workshop focused on mastering the art of delivering compelling selling propositions, as well as plenty practical advice to help the team build stronger relationships with sales teams and retailers.
Conclusion
So, for any marketing director challenged with transforming commoditised products into powerful brands, ask yourself: Is my team critically and strategically astute enough to create strong positioning? Are we writing briefs that are targeted enough to unlock big, bold work that stands out? Does my team have the core commercial skills needed to seamlessly execute our marketing plans?
If you’d like to know more about how LockSmith can help you tackle your capability challenges to drive long-term profitable growth, contact us at chris@locksmith.works or alex@locksmith.works. – we’d love to hear from you.
