If you’re not too familiar with New Coke, it’s because it was a colossal failure.

Coke began worrying about their competitors.

So much so, they changed their iconic product to be like the competition.

A reformulation of their soda to taste more like Pepsi-Cola.

It lasted 3 months.

And, to relaunch their original formula, it went through a rebrand and was introduced as “Coca-Cola Classic”.

In short, don’t be like New Coke.

Stop worrying about your competitors.

Too often, I’m in a meeting and someone asks “what is XYZ competitor doing?”

Typically, we’re talking about top of the funnel marketing activities.

This is the wrong time to be concerned about a competitor.

Sure, we want to have a pulse on the competition.

But, there is a time and a place for this.

It’s at the end of the funnel.

If we think about an attribution model, concern about competitors would be last-click attribution.

It’s when our audience begins to evaluate their last options directly before making a purchase.

It’s when we have battle cards. Competitive analysis landing pages.

Only then should you heavily discuss the competition.

Anything before that, we should be telling our own story. One that resonates with our audience.

Not trying to be like the competition.

Let’s avoid becoming New Coke.