Why Brand ‘Why’ Isn’t Working
Purpose may inspire, but it doesn’t convert. Winning brands start with the customer’s real problem and build strategy around solving it.
The Future of Brand Strategy: Competitive Brand Systems
Branding isn’t surface-level design, it’s a competitive system. De-Positioning integrates strategy, marketing, and sales around customer pain.
How De‑Positioning Works: Six Principles for Customer‑Centric Strategy
Learn the six core principles behind De-Positioning and how they turn positioning into a repeatable system for winning markets.
Your Logo Isn’t Your Brand.
A brand isn’t what you say. It’s what you solve. It’s an experience and system, not a just a visual identity.
Connecting Brand Strategy to Growth: De‑Positioning Explained
Why does so much branding fail to drive growth? De-Positioning turns brand strategy into a scalable system for competitive advantage.
Differentiation Is Branding’s Biggest Lie
Customers don’t buy “different,” they buy solutions. Todd Irwin explains why differentiation fails when it puts the brand at the center instead of the customer.
The Purpose Lie: Customers Don’t Care About Mission
Purpose doesn’t close deals when customers are in pain. Ground your purpose in solutions that actually drive buying decisions.
Differentiation is dead. De-Position.
In saturated markets, uniqueness fades fast. De-Positioning wins by anchoring brands to real customer pain instead of surface-level differentiation.
See the Name. Know the Promise.
Great brand names aren’t clever, they’re clear. Strategic naming can reinforce positioning by signaling the problem a brand exists to solve.
The Science Behind De‑Positioning: Aligning with How People Buy
De-Positioning works because it aligns with how people actually make decisions. We connect brand strategy to the science of buying behavior.
Brand Strategy Must Build a System.
Logos don’t drive growth, systems do. Brands win when strategy, product, marketing, and sales are aligned behind one solution.
Brand Purpose Dies in a Recession
When budgets tighten, customers choose problem solvers. Todd Irwin explains why pain-led brands outperform purpose-led ones in downturns.
De‑Positioning Brand Lecture: Fordham University
A strategic talk on why differentiation and purpose fail, and how De-Positioning turns brand strategy into a system for competitive advantage.
Start With Customer Pain, Not Stories
Brand storytelling doesn’t trigger buying decisions. Problem solving does. Craig Bagno explains why De-Positioning starts with customer pain.
MasterCard’s “Priceless:” The Last Campaign
“Priceless” redefined the credit card category by shifting focus from money to meaning. This case shows De-Positioning at work before it had a name.
IBM’s “Smarter Planet” Repositioned a Tech Giant
IBM escaped feature-driven competition by reframing itself as a solutions partner. Learn how De-Positioning enabled category leadership.
Make Competitors Irrelevant: Win by Solving the Hero Pain Point
You don’t beat competitors by being louder. You beat them by owning the problem that matters most.
Differentiation Is Dead. Why Being “Different” No Longer Works
In crowded markets, differentiation collapses into noise. Solving customer pain is the only sustainable strategy left.
The Only Way to Compete and Win: De‑Position Your Rivals
Instead of attacking competitors, De-Positioning reframes the market. See how redefining the problem changes the rules of competition.
De‑Positioning Data: Evidence That Pain‑Led Strategy Works
The data backs it up: brands that solve pain outperform those that chase differentiation. De-Positioning is grounded in measurable results.