Conor and Kylie: Positioned to Win
by Cormac Siegfried
I want to have some fun with my first blog post of the ‘20s. We have to keep mind and life fresh with a bit of play, stretch our tenuous neurons to help us maintain the elasticity necessary to discover new ideas. So, what do Kylie Jenner and Conor McGregor have in common? And how does their common denominator relate to positioning? Turns out, they are each a paragon of positioning. Positioning is understanding from a fundamental and honest level who you (or your company) are and why you matter. With that information, you can understand how to place yourself for success in your market; by finding what value you can own that no one else can own. By positioning yourself, you are diminishing competition, making your communication credible and consistent, and thrusting a stake in the ground toward which your team can align and around which your audience can aggregate.
You may see where I am going. Conor is a powerful, fiery featherweight MMA fighter who gained fame but not much fortune fighting in the UFC. His attitude is boastful, ego-driven, and offensive. He is an urban ruggard and hype-beast who dons suits with pinstripes formed from endless strings of “F*** YOU.” He never pretended to be someone else. I don’t personally appreciate Conor, who I have described as not a pleasant person. However, his personality has won him a real fan base. With that fan base, he was able to banter-lie his way into bigger title fights. With his audience, he could prove his worth and he started making money. But his cash was not yet wealth. He then founded his own whiskey brand called Proper 12. It has gone incredibly well. He recognized his position and saw a wealth-building opportunity in a mid-priced Whiskey that is rugged to urbanites and classically manly, which also flashes wealth. Conor made for his fans what Hennessy is to hip-hop. It is fairly fortunate for Conor that his fans don’t know much about whiskey as a drink. They see it as a symbol. The whiskey flew off shelves. Conor simply made something that matches his personality. Whiskey and suits are symbols of success to him and his fans alike. Conor didn’t make a gin or vodka. He didn’t try to sell hoodies, golf bags, or axes. Those things would not have matched the position he already owned. He did not try to be someone he is not. He made a product fit for his personality, his position, and the sales speak for themselves.
More successful than Conor, and by a very significant margin, is Kylie Jenner. She is apparently the youngest self-made billionaire due to the success of her makeup line. I admit to having rolled my eyes at this news when first it appeared. How the Kardashians came to matter may be a mystery to me, but that they matter is not up for debate. Ancient mariners may not have understood the ocean but they still fished it. Kylie became Instagram famous while still in her teen years. She skipped school and focused instead on growing her following and becoming the quintessential influencer. She monetized her audience through sponsorship or paid posts. However, she did not create her real wealth until founding her makeup line. Her product matched her aggregated audience perfectly and she was very quickly launched into the stratosphere. Kylie didn’t try to market power tools. She did not think, “I don’t know how to code, I should learn to code.” She instead recognized the value of what she already had and found therein a significant revenue opportunity.
Both of these examples may seem simple, but a true position should seem simple after it is discovered. The tricky thing is recognizing your position and knowing how to use that information once you know your unique value. If you are still not impressed with Conor and Kylie, even though they are flooded with contemporaries who have not so successfully monetized similar positions, then try this exercise with your team. Set a 30-minute meeting with leadership and have everyone write just four sentences to answer two questions: Who are you? Why do you matter? If after 20 minutes all of your answers are the same and aligned, call me: you’re a case study. If not, call us: we can help.