A lot of markets are dominated by one large company

Years ago when a car hire company was first founded it had a grand total of just three cars. Ten years later and it was the second biggest car rental company. No matter what the company did it could not offer as many rental cars as the market leader. So the company turned played on this and came up with the advertising slogan 'We're Number Two, so we try Harder.' The message was both powerful and successful for a number of reasons. It gave the impression that the company will bend over backwards to provide the customer with a better service. It also suggested that the leading company may be lazy sitting after all they were the 'top dogs' of the market and they could afford to be. The message also captured the sympathy vote while at the same time it is very easily remembered. The slogan is still used today and is one of the best known in the world. The company has still not caught up with the market leader and if they did the marketing slogan would no longer apply. This is a prime example of how to turn a disadvantage into an advantage through clever marketing. If you are considering doing something similar, think carefully about your main disadvantage compared with the leader. Then determine a way to twist it in your favour. Any slogan needs to be both short and sweet, but above all easily remembered. The author of this article is an urban art and a graffiti art promoter.