Someone inside your company needs to be asking the biggest of questions. Like, does our core product really work? What would happen if we went in the exact opposite direction? What would happen if we tried to destroy ourselves? Will these kinds of questions produce conflict? You should hope so. There is a lot of power in conflict. Think about the categories you work in and the conflicts that exist among them. If you’re in the traditional energy business, it’s pretty obvious that you have a conflict with the environmental movement. If you’re in the financial world, there’s a lot of conflict around public trust. The cultural conflicts in your category are probably a bit subtler. What are the big, hairy cultural conflicts affecting your company that everyone knows about but no one really likes to discuss?
We always look for conflicts at CP+B. Whether it’s helping MINI launch in the U.S. when SUVs dominated the market; or helping Burger King focus on a segment of the fast-food market that unapologetically wants indulgent food, while the culture at large is very concerned with fast food’s impact on health. Unleashing the power of conflict can not only differentiate your products but also help them find the space to grow.
