T-Mobile's new campaign is a promising example of challenger branding in action. A common misperception of challenger branding is that it is simply a case of the #2 or #3 brand tweaking the category leader. However, challenger branding is more nuanced than that. There is a range of challenger branding models: "The higher cause" – challenge consumers to lift their sights and opt for something more meaningful than what's offered by the status quo. Dove has championed this approach in its "real beauty" campaign through its opposition to the falsehood of media-defined beauty. "For all of us" – a democratization strategy in which a brand liberates and makes available to the masses what has heretofore been exclusive or out of reach. Target democratized chic design, starting years ago with the Michael Graves toasters. "Change of the guard" – the classic storm-the-palace strategy in which the leader is repositioned as out of touch
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