PHD UAE will mark the 10th anniversary of BrainScape, its annual thought-leadership event, with a focus on the new wave of ‘challenger’ brands. “CHALLENGER: Rebel, Rethink and Reign” will take place on October 30 at W Dubai the Palm, featuring an exceptional line-up of international challenger brands and thinkers. The program will define and illustrate how challenger brands operate to motivate businesses large and small to embrace their mindset.
As new forms of competition surface on a regular basis, companies need to become much more agile, something challenger brands are particularly skilled at. Since the ‘challenger brand’ concept was coined over 20 years ago, there has been a dramatic shift in the way they operate, position themselves and explore outside of their category. Instead of challenging somebody, like a competitor, they challenge something, for example something they feel needs to change.
This new breed of challenger brands is also the subject of a new book, Overthrow II, authored by PHD and eatbigfish. Overthrow II carries interviews with some of the freshest and most interesting contemporary challenger brand examples around and provides explanations of 10 differing challenger types. Some of these types will be analysed and brought to life on stage by Ronny Gottschlich, former CEO of Lidl UK and founder of Heunadel Retail Advisory, Muatasam Au-Alaqi, co-founder of travel start-up Nomu Hub, and Natasha Ritz, former brand lead of LUSH and current Head of Comms of Parcelpoint and ARNA.
The program will offer insights and advice on how to behave and live more ‘challenger’, as a business but also as an individual, using neurobiological behaviours and techniques. Dawn Metcalfe, International executive coach, facilitator and author, will enable the audience to reset their thinking, from the rigid, creature of habit to the mindset of conquers and challengers. Alessandro Lanteri, HULT International Business professor, TEDx speaker and author, will consider how to create and lead a challenger organization. He will be answering the questions surrounding building a challenger culture and its importance. Malcolm Devoy, PHD EMEA’s chief strategy officer, will open the rulebreaker’s rulebook and reveals its secrets: the five commandments of challenger thinking. He will particularly focus on the marketing and media behaviors of today’s challenger brands and demonstrate anyone can be a successful challenger.
“In a world populated by endless empty noise, brands and individuals need to be more meaningful and impactful,” states Luca Allam, Managing director of PHD UAE. “Adopting a challenger mentality has never been more vital for differentiation, effectiveness and success.”
The 2019 edition of PHD BrainScape is produced in association with MMP Worldwide, the premium programmatic advertising marketplace enabling leading publishers and premium brands to better monetize their digital advertising inventory.
Should you not be able to attend the conference, BrainScape will be live streamed on PHD’s global LinkedIn page, @PHD.
