Your Competitors’ Branding Playbook Is Trash — Burn It
Stop Copying the Wrong Homework
Marketers love to peek over their competitors’ shoulders. What’s their logo? What’s their brand voice? What colors are they using this season? Then they copy, tweak, and convince themselves they’re keeping up. But here’s the bold claim: your competitors’ branding playbook is trash. It’s a hot mess of recycled ideas, half-baked best practices, and ego-driven fluff.
Everyone’s so busy copying each other that entire industries start to look like clones. SaaS websites all look the same: stock illustrations, the same sans-serif fonts, the same “disruptive” headlines. DTC brands all lean on pastel palettes and millennial-approved typography. It’s like a giant creative group project where everyone is cheating off the same kid — and the kid isn’t even that smart.
If you’re playing from your competitor’s branding playbook, you’re setting yourself up for mediocrity at best, irrelevance at worst. Customers don’t buy sameness. They don’t want another knockoff. They want something that feels fresh, different, and actually valuable.
So stop copying the wrong homework. Burn the playbook. Let’s talk about what to do instead.
Logos Don’t Sell, Offers Do
One of the biggest myths in branding is that your logo is the key to customer loyalty. Wrong. Nobody buys a product because the logo spacing was precise. They buy because the offer solves a problem they care about.
Think about Amazon. Their original logo was clunky. Nobody cared. What people cared about was that they could get books shipped to their door faster than ever before. The swoosh on Nike sneakers is iconic now, but in the beginning, it was just a mark on shoes athletes wanted because they performed better. The offer drives the sale — the logo just gets remembered after the fact.
Meanwhile, countless startups sink time and money into fancy logos while ignoring offers. They launch with a design award-winning brand identity and then die within a year because they didn’t solve a big enough problem. Their competitor’s playbook said, “Start with a strong logo.” They should’ve burned the book and started with a strong offer.
Look at Costco. Their logo? Ugly. Their stores? A warehouse. Their offer? Bulk discounts and insane deals on staples. Guess which part of that equation keeps customers coming back. Nobody is wearing a Costco t-shirt because of its design. They’re lining up for $1.50 hot dogs because the offer is unbeatable.
Stop Worshipping the Same Fonts and Colors
Every industry has its clichés. Finance companies love blue because it’s “trustworthy.” Wellness brands go green because it’s “natural.” Tech startups use sans-serif fonts because they’re “modern.” The result? Everything looks the same.
Here’s the kicker: customers don’t choose you because your shade of blue is slightly more trustworthy than your competitor’s. They choose you because your product, service, or message resonates with them.
Liquid Death is a perfect example. Their brand is built around metal aesthetics — skulls, gothic fonts, irreverent humor. By the standard branding playbook, this was insane for a water company. And yet, it worked spectacularly because it stood out in a sea of boring blue-and-green water bottles. They broke the rules, and they’re laughing all the way to the bank.
Tropicana, on the other hand, tried to get “modern.” They ditched their iconic orange-with-a-straw packaging for minimalist graphics in 2009. Customers revolted. Sales plummeted 20% in two months. The new look followed “branding best practices,” but it killed recognition. They had to crawl back to the old design. Proof that copying design trends without considering customer connection is suicidal.
So if your competitor is going pastel, maybe you should go neon. If they’re doing minimalism, maybe you should do maximalism. Stop copying palettes and typefaces like they’re gospel. They’re not.
The Cult of Consistency Is Overrated
Another myth the playbook loves to preach: “Consistency builds trust.” Sure, to an extent. But let’s not confuse “consistency” with “success.”
Look at Google. Their “Google Doodles” constantly break their own logo rules. The design changes, bends, and morphs into playful forms that would make any brand guideline PDF scream in horror. And yet, Google is one of the most trusted brands in the world.
The truth is, customers care more about the experience than the consistency. If your support team is responsive, your product works, and your pricing is fair, customers will forgive — or even enjoy — inconsistency. Consistency without substance is like a perfectly iced cake that tastes like cardboard. Pretty, but useless.
Consider Netflix. Their homepage has changed dozens of times over the years. Their tone of voice shifts depending on geography. Their branding? It’s a red “N.” That’s it. And yet, they’ve built global dominance because the product experience delivers.
Why Your Competitor’s Strategy Is Irrelevant
Here’s the ultimate reason to burn the playbook: your competitors’ strategies aren’t designed for you. Their target audience might be different. Their resources, timing, and goals are different. Copying their moves is like wearing someone else’s prescription glasses — at best, blurry; at worst, headache-inducing.
Kodak clung to film because that’s what their “brand” was. Competitors leapt into digital and ate their lunch. Blockbuster clung to its in-store identity while Netflix embraced streaming. Following the playbook of the incumbent meant following them straight into the grave.
Blackberry tried to keep its “authentic identity” as the business phone for serious professionals. Apple made a “fun” phone that doubled as a personal computer in your pocket. Guess who won.
You don’t win by being a slightly worse version of someone else. You win by rewriting the game.
When Breaking the Rules Wins
Some of the most iconic brands thrive precisely because they bent or broke their own supposed rules.
- Google breaks its logo rules with Doodles, and users love it.
- Old Spice ditched its boring “dad brand” voice for surreal ads that didn’t fit any playbook. Sales skyrocketed.
- Zoom didn’t chase brand sexiness; they just delivered reliable video calls. Compare that to Meerkat, a viral darling that fizzled out.
- Liquid Death built a metal brand for water, something no sane branding consultant would’ve advised. They’re now a cultural phenomenon.
Every one of these brands broke away from the competitor herd. Every one of them thrived.
Actionable Anti-Rules
Ready to stop playing from your competitors’ trash playbook? Here are some contrarian anti-rules:
- Prioritize problems, not palettes. Solve something real before you obsess over colors and logos.
- Stand out, don’t blend in. If your industry zigs, zag hard.
- Be inconsistently brilliant. Break your own rules when it creates impact.
- Steal ideas from outside your industry. Inspiration travels better across categories than within them.
- Play your own game. Your competitors’ strategies won’t fit your context. Build for your reality.
- Value substance over style. Nobody buys because your kerning is perfect.
- Dare to be ugly if it works. Craigslist is ugly. Still a billion-dollar empire.
Burn the Book, Write Your Own
The next time you’re tempted to peek at your competitor’s website for “inspiration,” remember this: their branding playbook is trash. It’s a copy of a copy of a copy, diluted and safe. Customers don’t need another lookalike brand. They need something that feels alive, useful, and different.
So burn the book. Write your own. Experiment wildly. Obsess over offers, not logos. Focus on customers, not consistency. If your competitor’s brand looks polished but irrelevant, let them have their award nominations. You’ll be busy winning their customers.
Prove me wrong: ignore your competitors’ playbooks for the next 30 days. Build something that feels unlike anything in your industry. If your customers revolt because your shade of green wasn’t “trustworthy” enough, I’ll admit defeat. But I’m betting they’ll thank you for standing out.
