Glossary
Mission and enemy
What a brand is for, and what it is against. The enemy is the shortcut to the mission.
Why does it matter?
The brands that compound have a mission, and the fastest way to a mission is an enemy. Naming the enemy in the hooks makes the right audience feel picked.
How does it work?
- Write the mission as one sentence about what the audience gets.
- Name the enemy: a belief, a habit or a type of person the audience already resents.
- Expect some people to be wound up. Their comments carry it to the people you want.
Where has Tom used it?
Simon Squibb's enemy is the school system, and anyone who tells you that you can't. When Tom joined Sam Stoffel, the content had no mission, purpose or enemy; building one was part of the rebuild.
Related terms
- The eight things: Six to eight messages a person says over and over, a hundred different ways, until people know what they stand for.
- The messy middle: The ground between builder and authority, where a personal brand says both things at once and stalls.