Second Place Brand Religion

Normal people have this image in their heads when they think about the story of David and Goliath. They think about the biblical fight between this nice young man and this huge monster of a man. They fight and the outcome is not as anticipated, the little man wins, because of his smartness and his faith. The story applies today as it applied in those ancient days. Its a story most of us carry with us, being inspired by its meaning. However this is fdor normal people, for non marketeers. I realized recently that my opinion on David and Goliath story has changed dramatically.  Nowadays when I think about David and Goliath another name appears in my mind- the name of Richard Branson. Its quite strange you might say. How is this possible, he can be Richard Branson, famous, glamorous and so on, but he can't get to the level of "biblical stories". However when I think about David and Goliath I think about a positioning, a positioning of a challenger brand in the way that a challenger brand can position itself - against the "Big bad cat" or the "Goliath's " of the market place. And this is what the virgin brand did with most of its brands and this is Richard Branson's special "competitive avantage". Maybe is not as convincing as " we try harder" but its quite convincing as this marketing strategy is put into practice by more and more brands every day. "David and Goliath" is the true story within the Cristian religion and today leaves a foot print for the challenger brands.