Adam Morgan

In 1997 Adam Morgan set up the Challenger Project, a research based study into how certain brands change the rules in a variety of categories. This resulted in the book, "Eating the Big Fish" which became the 'must-read' book for brand leaders and challengers alike.

It has now been translated into 8 languages and is read in boardrooms and marketing departments around the world.

Adam has continued to focus on both the theory and characteristics of challengers. A second book followed in 2004, "The Pirate Inside : Building a Challenger Brand Culture within yourself and your Organization". An updated version of "Eating the Big Fish' has just been published.

Adam's ideas have rewritten the lexicon of marketing and innovation. Inspired by his intelligent analysis of ground-breaking marketing in a wide variety of industries and countries, we all aspire to be 'Challengers' with 'Lighthouse Identities' who understand but 'do not navigate by our consumers'.

Inspirational is probably the best way to describe Adam Morgan. He divides his time between working with clients on challenger workshops, speaking engagements and further research on challengers. He is currently working on his next book about 'Innovation and Opportunity'.

Adam is the founding partner of an international consultancy specialising in challenger strategy and behaviours.

Further information

Following the success of his book "Eating the Big Fish", the Challenger Brand Bible, Adam left the advertising business to launch a company inspiring companies worldwide to take on the brand leaders.

Acknowledged worldwide as the challenger brand guru he provides a strong insight into the winning tactics employed by Challenger Brands who deliberately break with their own past and reinvent themselves to compete more successfully.

Brands must have a strong sense of identity, of who they are and where they stand - which Adam Morgan calls the Lighthouse Identity. They must deploy "Thought Leadership" to find an innovative insight into what consumers really want and play to it by breaking the norm that markets itself. One example given by Adam is the Body Shop who put their products in cheap plastic bottles but created strong emotional value that went beyond the basic appearance.

Adam Morgan looks at the use of powerful symbols that confront and provoke people to sit up and take notice; the unexpected that positions the brand firmly in the consumer's mind by using strong visual images to portray an emotional value towards a product. Strong emotional relationships are the only consumer relationships for a Challenger to pursue, and to achieve them, it must be prepared to sacrifice... a lot.

Challenger Brands succeed by being over-committed, as demonstrated by the karate expert who aims well below the surface of the brick to break it. The Challenger Brand likewise must over-commit in order to break-through the pockets of inertia and resistance that it will experience.

Adam Morgan delivers presentations to business conferences around the world and recently his speech to the Unilever Advanced Marketing Workshop was rated 4.9 out of 5 by the participants, the highest score ever given.