Creative Thinking
Contrarian thinking

You've probably heard of contrarian thinking. Most often it is associated with investment advice, but contrarian thinking creates opportunities for brands too.

A contrarian thinker is 'one who takes a contrary view or action, who makes decisions that contradict prevailing wisdom'. You too can find opportunities by becoming a contrarian. After all, no brand is going to achieve success by copying the rest of the pack.

Here are a few brands that have been built with an element of contrarian thinking (roll your cursor over the images to discover the brands).

The computer brand that overcomes market challenges because it can 'think different'.

The books that no bookshop wanted to stock. Now with more than 100 million books in print.

The brand name that broke all the rules. One of Christian Dior's most successful perfumes.

Try this exercise…

Pick a topic you'd like to explore. Draw a line down the centre of your page. In one column, write many short statements, of everthing you know to be true. Then, in the other column, write the opposite statements. Then explore these contrarian statements for ideas.

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