Why Jesus was the ultimate challenger brand and how it helped Riverford grow.

It’s Christmas, so it seems like a good story to end the year. This is the one about how we created a ‘Jesus was a challenger’ presentation for Guy Watson and his brilliant team at Riverford.

Riverford had thrived for years when Rachel Watson approached us. She wanted help to prepare it for the next generation but had to convince the founder, Guy Watson, that we were the right people for the job.

Guy famously loathed consultants like us. He described us as “marketing tossers” who use marketing bollocks and pointless PowerPoint slide decks to charge people an arm and a leg for what they already knew! Harsh but possibly fair in some cases!! 

He certainly wasn’t excited by the idea of spending time with us in our London offices so we had to think on our feet.

However, Rachel knew Riverford needed to ensure the brand could compete as it scaled. They needed guidance on how to present the brand to the next generation. And, despite his misgivings, Guy accepted that they could probably do with some guidance. So he agreed to exploring it further.

The first step was to meet Guy… 

So, instead of dragging him to our Chelsea office, Perry drove to Devon and took him surfing followed by a picnic on the rocks. He called it a ‘board’ meeting. 

It was clear from the moment they met that Guy  was a genius, with strong opinions and a challenger mindset. He was troubled by the fact that not enough people seemed to understand the evils of conventional farming or the Riverford proposition and their work to help increase the chances of survival of all life on Earth.

Guy and his sister Rachel also needed their team to accept a big shakeup. They needed a succession plan that  would involve handing the business over to the employees as the new owners. They also needed a replacement for Guy, the brand’s hero for 25 years. 

Riverford needed to be better understood across the board with a rallying cry that everyone could get behind and that consumers would love too.

Their business was and still is all about farming food the right way with a network of organic growers, franchisees and committed people with good values. Delicious organic veg, delivered to people’s doors fresh from the farm (sometimes covered in mud!).

Nestled in amongst the order you’d find clever tips from Guy and his team on how to turn its contents into delicious dishes.

We advised them that they needed a brand framework to provide guardrails for their team to scale it without losing the magic. We turned to the brilliant work of Adam Morgan who famously defined what makes a challenger brand with his ‘8 Challenger Credos’.

We decided to use his challenger framework to help the Riverford teams better understand their secret to success and roll it out at scale.

But knowing how much Guy hated “marketing bollocks,” we realised he wasn’t going to enjoy the challenger jargon, so we created a presentation for his team at the outset of our process to take them through what it meant to be a challenger.

Here’s how it went…

Just like farming, challenger branding has been around for over 2,000 years. Before viral marketing, mass media, and the printing press, one person started a movement. It would influence billions and endure for millennia. His name? Jesus!!

If we take each of Adam’s challenger behaviours and apply them to Jesus we see how he played it like a good’n.

1. Break with the past!

2. Build a lighthouse identity

3. Sacrifice

4. Overcommit

5. Assume thought leadership

6. Create symbols of re-evaluation

7. Enter popular culture

8. Become ideas centred

1. Break with the past!

Jesus didn’t care about convention. Throwing out the money lenders in the temple is a great example of breaking with the past. It rejected corruption, materialism, and the exploitation of faith. It laid down the gauntlet. He defied entrenched norms, forcing people to take notice.

We noted that Riverford was doing the same in conventional farming. It rejected retailers like Tesco and Sainsbury’s and went up against industrial farming. And yes, Guy’s outspoken and brilliant ability to call “bullshit” was uncannily like JC!

2. Build a lighthouse identity

Next, we showed a painting of Jesus performing a miracle. We explained how he’d positioned himself as the only path to God. He had a clear mission. His goals were unambiguous. He had a powerful way of getting people to follow his ‘light’ and example.

Again, we pointed out that for Riverford this was all about “living life on the veg”. A philosophy that embraced many behaviours. People could adopt them by ‘subscribing’ to Riverford.

3. Assume thought leadership

Jesus stood on a hill and began speaking. Crowds gathered as he redefined the spiritual and moral framework of his time. Taking a leadership position that challenged the status quo. He became a teacher and an inspirational figure. He gave people advice on living a more rewarding, fulfilling life.

“Sound familiar?” We pointed out that Guy’s in-depth newsletters were a favourite part of the weekly veg box. They were full of observations, provocations, and recommendations.

4. Create symbols of re-evaluation

Next up was a picture of Jesus baptising John in the river. Jesus knew the power of branding. So, he created rituals and ceremonies to reinforce his mission. The ultimate welcome letter and registration process! Genius! 

When brands like Riverford sign up customers, they have an onboarding “baptism” process. They also got people to buy online or through a catalogue which was way ahead of its time when they started. These acts aren’t just operational necessities. They are key ways to make people rethink a category and act differently.

5. Sacrifice

This one’s obvious, his ultimate sacrifice at Easter. He literally sacrificed himself for the sake of all humanity. Now, we didn’t suggest to Guy that he and the Riverford team go to those extremes. But, a challenger brand must sacrifice and let go of the past to break into a market or gain share.

In Riverford’s case this meant lots of things from sacrificing the opportunity to reach consumers in supermarkets, to getting rid of all sorts of things they held dear but in and of themselves weren’t helping grow the business. 

One great example was their stance on plastic, which they rightly said they’d justify using to offset waste until such a time that they could find an alternative. This was an act of sacrificing their promise ironically.

6. Overcommit

When Jesus did something, he’d overcommit. Like going into the desert for 40 days and 40 nights. Or his unwavering to teaching, healing, and challenging norms, despite knowing it would lead to his persecution. 

Our advice to Riverford was to mimic this relentless pursuit of better on behalf of the planet and their consumers because it was what set them apart and people loved them for it and were prepared to pay more.

7. Enter popular culture

Jesus cunningly trained his sales team (those 12 disciples of his) to spread the word by entering popular culture rather than using big pomp and ceremony to impose his beliefs on society. The disciples got among the crowds and started sharing Jesus’ teachings.  

Riverford’s approach was to play the long-game and build a network of followers who would then recruit more followers by waxing lyrical about the offer. Word of mouth marketing. The best kind of marketing.

8. Become ideas centred

Well this one was easy. The Bible was literally the brand bible. It laid out all the ideas in an easy to understand and follow instruction manual! His followers wrote the “good book.” They kept adapting its ideas to the times. 

Jesus was selling an ideology, but so is Riverford. And it’s that ideology that attracts the talent needed to make the brand thrive. Ideas-centred brands see themselves as idea factories. People there constantly build, discuss, and iterate on ideas. They open their eyes to possibilities, rather than live in a “no but” world.

And we then went on to add even more!

9. Riverford is a franchise network, just like the church!

10. And the franchisees are key to running that network just like the clergy

So, why compare branding to religion?

We wanted to discuss the science of good challenger brands, design, and marketing. But we wanted to avoid “marketing bollocks” and be relatable.

We made it clear we weren’t being blasphemous or taking the Lord’s name in vain. However, even for the non-religious, the story’s familiarity and parallels make it a useful and actionable framework.

It was a great ice-breaker!

Today, Riverford is thriving and growing. Our work was done back in 2016. It was a big effort to refocus the company’s identity. It aimed to highlight its passion for growing top-quality organic veg and its farming roots. 

As part of the rebrand, we introduced the rallying cry “Live Life on the Veg.” We also made a subtle name change. We changed “Riverford Organic Farms” to “Riverford Organic Farmers” to stress their identity as independent farmers.

And the rest, as they say, is history!

Want to see how challenger thinking could transform your business? Get in touch via hello@bigfish.co.uk

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