5 - Enemy

#5.
Enemy
Unify Your Audience
Another great way to create similarity with strangers on the internet is by defining a common enemy.
Creating an enemy has been shown to increase cohesion among strangers by 25-30%.
Remember, people buy on emotion…
Not only does an enemy bond strangers, but it creates additional motivation to buy.
The brain is looking to keep us safe from external threats, so it naturally responds when we declare an
enemy that pushes against our values.
Embracing a brand enemy can activate their emotional brain so when we offer them a solution, they are
already primed to buy.
Emotions create memorable experiences.
Which is why movies and sports are so
entertaining, because they have a clear enemy
to defeat.
This is what's missing from most Origin Stories
and About pages.
People want to look cool and credible, when
really it's the struggles and enemies along the
way that they endured to get to the top that is
going to create resonance and therefore, action.
By declaring an enemy, your products go from
fulfilling a personal need (which is easy for
customers to continue to ignore) to becoming
weapons in this important fight.
The 🧠 On Enemy
STRANGER BONDING:
A meta-analysis in the journal Aggressive Behavior
reviewing over 200 studies concluded that for both
men and women, emphasizing a mutual adversary
activated neural reward pathways, which
influences social bonding.
A study published in the journal, Evolution and Human
Behavior, found that when women were primed to
see another woman as a competitor/threat, it
increased in-group solidarity and cooperation
among themselves.
Having an "outsider" strengthened their bonds.
ENEMIES ARE A POWERFUL MOTIVATOR:
According to an article published on Spring, anger is “a kind of positive energy
and a powerful motivating force. Research has shown that anger can make us
push on towards our goals in the face of problems and barriers.”
This is how we activate the limbic brain to motivate their subconscious to buy
from us.
The War On Water.

Jolie sells filtered shower heads.
One smart thing they did was collect email addresses
with their ‘free water report'.
Once visitors learned what chemicals are in their local
water supply, they became enraged enough to take
matters into their own hands and buy a shower filter.
In its first full year of business, Jolie hit
$4M in revenue!
The War On Pants.
Chubbies Shorts
Chubbies sell short shorts for men, and they're
a Jester brand so it makes sense for them to
stay in their 5" lane and demonize garments that
dare to go beyond the knee cap.
They've built their brand on the ideal of freedom,
relaxation, and weekend vibes…
Naturally, they're not just against other shorts –
they're against the whole idea of restrictive
clothing, or too much clothing for that matter.
The War On Plastic
Liquid Death
Liquid Death Mountain Water sells canned water.
Not only did they differentiate on bottled water for those who want to feel
like they're drinking something more fun than spring water…
But this Rebel-Jester brand is on a mission to "murder your thirst" and take
a strong stand against plastic pollution.
Their enemy isn't just other water brands but the very concept of
irresponsible consumption and environmental harm.
They go as far as selling "Cutie Polluties", plush toys of cute ocean animals
that were murdered by plastics.
The War on Stigma
Dave's Killer Bread
This brand has a backstory of redemption and second chances, opposing
the idea that the formerly incarcerated can't make a positive impact.
They employ people with criminal backgrounds, standing against the
stigma that follows these individuals.
The War On Poor Sanitation
Who Gives A Crap
They sell toilet paper, but their enemy is poor sanitation in developing
countries.
They donate a significant portion of their profits to building toilets and
improving sanitation around the world.
Their branding is cheeky and fun, but their fight is against a serious global
issue.
And your brand can do the same thing!
Start With Your Archetype
Every archetype has a type of enemy baked within it.
1 The Innocent
Seeks happiness and safety and is often portrayed as optimistic and good-natured. The enemy of
the Innocent can be cynicism, corruption, or complexity, disrupting the simplicity and trust they
value.
2 The Everyman
Desires connection with others and fits in with the world around them. Their enemy is exclusion or
elitism that undermines community and belonging.
3 The Hero
Aims to prove worth through courageous acts, seeking to improve the world. The Hero's enemy is
villainy or cowardice, anything that promotes fear or injustice.
4 The Caregiver
Wishes to protect and care for others, driven by compassion and generosity. Their enemy is
selfishness and ingratitude that threaten the welfare of those they're trying to protect.
5 The Explorer:
Craves adventure and the freedom to discover who they are through exploring the world. Their
enemy is conformity and the entrapment of societal expectations.
6 The Rebel
Desires revolution to disrupt what isn't working and to release pent-up energy. The Rebel's enemy
is the status quo and authoritarian control.
7 The Lover
Seeks intimacy and experience in relationships, valuing beauty and sensuality. Their enemy is
isolation, loss of connection, or anything that makes the world seem dull and uninteresting.
8 The Creator
Needs to create things of enduring value and to give form to vision. Their enemy is lack of
imagination or innovation, and the destruction of creative expression.
9 The Jester
Wants to live in the moment with full enjoyment, making people laugh. The enemy of the Jester is
boredom or sadness, or a world that takes everything too seriously.
10 The Sage
Seeks the discovery of truth and to understand the world. Their enemy is misinformation,
ignorance, and being misled.
11 The Magician
Wishes to create something special and make dreams come true. The enemy is the unexplained
negative outcome, disillusionment, or the shattering of illusions.
12 The Ruler
Desires control and order, and aspires to create a prosperous, successful community. The enemy is
chaos, anarchy, or anything that threatens their authority.
Putting It To Work
Look at the enemy of your Brand Archetype and compare it with your Hero Journey to determine an enemy
that you can use to connect with your audience and give your business more reason to exist.
1. What is the opposite of your brand’s core value?
2. What are your customers passionate about that your product can help them feel like an activist in the
fight?
Define enemies big and small that you can vilify in your marketing and community:
Enemy 1=
Enemy 2=
Enemy 3=
Warning: Don't pick a brand that is smaller than you. Nobody roots for Goliath. Apple chose IBM
as their enemy in their early days, but had to pivot once they became the big dog.
Pick an Enemy: The Product Experience:

It can be a competitor, a mindset, an Use this in your marketing to capture the
action/inaction, a habit, characteristic, attention of the right customers, like
behaviour, belief, disease, etc. Propaganda.
And the more painful it is, the more emotional Use this to create new product ideas that help
response you can get, and the more attraction in the fight against this enemy.
they wil feel to your brand. Show how your product fights this enemy
with its usage.
Yay, you made it through Secret #5 🥳

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#5.

The War On Water.

Pick an Enemy: The Product Experience:

Yay, you made it through Secret #5 🥳

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