Create ideas using: Make an Enemy
How do I choose the right enemy without alienating potential customers?
Pick an enemy your target audience already hates or is frustrated by. Don't create division--surface it. The enemy should be a force, system, or mindset that genuinely stands in the way of what your customers want. Make it big enough that fighting it feels meaningful, specific enough that it's not just vague complaining.
What if making an enemy feels too aggressive for my brand?
Then you're either picking the wrong enemy or you don't have the spine for this technique. Making an enemy isn't about being an asshole--it's about standing for something by defining what you stand against. If you can't identify what you oppose, you don't stand for anything. Brands that try to please everyone end up mattering to no one.
Example: How it could look
A meal kit service doesn't attack competitors--they make the enemy 'Big Food': the system that hides ingredients, prioritizes shelf life over nutrition, and makes eating well expensive and complicated. They position themselves as the rebellion against an industry that doesn't give a damn about your health. Clear enemy. Clear positioning.
Or like this:
Why is Make an Enemy a great technique?
Defining an enemy creates clarity, urgency, and tribal loyalty by giving people something to fight against together.
Creates clear differentiation and positioning instantly
Builds passionate community around shared opposition
Generates controversy and conversation that spreads
Makes choosing your brand a values statement
Having an enemy focuses your message and energizes your base. It's not about being negative--it's about being clear. When people know what you're fighting, they know why you matter. That clarity is magnetic to those who share your frustration and invisible to those who don't.
! When not to use the Make an Enemy Technique
When you're picking fights just for attention without any authentic connection to your brand values. Empty combativeness is exhausting and transparent.
Technique first described by www.deckofbrilliance.com