Why reverse benchmarking works
Don't compete head on. Invert, instead.
When BrewDog launched in 2007, beer was dominated by safe, polished giants like Heineken. The category was mature, consolidated and sensible. Competing head-on would have meant better logistics, bigger budgets and marginally improved lagers. A game BrewDog could not win.
Instead of benchmarking the leaders and trying to close the gap, BrewDog benchmarked in reverse. Where big brewers were bland and respectable, BrewDog went loud and rebellious. They brewed Punk IPA. Drove a tank through London. Opened bars that felt less like pubs and more like anti-corporate temples.
The power was not just in the noise, but in the asymmetry. The incumbents could not copy them. Heineken could not suddenly become anarchic without wrecking its own brand. Scale had given the giants reach, but it had also trapped them within a narrow range of acceptable behaviour.
By owning the space the incumbents could not enter, BrewDog turned outsider status into cult appeal and cult appeal into global growth.
Value is contextual
Value is not a fixed quantity. It is created by perception. - Rory Sutherland
Contrary to what economists suggest, the way we value things is not absolute, but contextual. A strength in one frame is often a weakness in another. The more successful an organisation becomes, the more constrained it is by the story it tells about itself.
Most businesses benchmark upwards. They study the leader, copy best practice and try to close the gap. This feels rational, but it quietly destroys imagination. You end up copying what the best do well, instead of asking the more interesting question:
What are the competition bad at because they are good at something else?
Reverse benchmarking flips the comparison. Instead of measuring yourself against the leader’s strengths, you measure against their blind spots.
The unmeasured dimensions
The most important things are seldom measurable. - Peter Drucker
Large organisations optimise for what can be measured. Cost per unit. Market share. Efficiency. Risk. These are the metrics that scale well, but they come with hidden costs.
The most valuable things are rarely on the dashboard. Delight. Status. Humour. Meaning. A sense of belonging. Weirdness.
Coca-Cola’s strength is ubiquity. Its weakness is intimacy.
Ryanair’s strength is price. Its weakness is comfort.
Enterprise software excels at robustness. It struggles with joy.
These are not mistakes. They are trade-offs. And trade-offs create opportunity.
A smaller player that benchmarks in reverse can deliberately occupy the dimensions the incumbent cannot afford to touch. Not because they are ignored, but because they are incompatible with scale, reputation or legacy.
Psychology beats optimisation
People do not buy goods and services. They buy relations, stories and magic. - Seth Godin
Reverse benchmarking works because humans do not evaluate products in isolation. We judge comparatively. We respond to contrast, story and symbolism far more than spreadsheets.
A challenger does not need to be better at everything. It needs to be meaningfully different at something. Preferably something that looks irrational in the old comparison, but obvious in a new one.
This is why a modest change in perception can beat a massive improvement in function. Why weirdness travels faster than optimisation. Why humour, trust and narrative often outperform features.
If you want to change behaviour, it is often easier to change the frame than the facts.
Don’t run the same race faster
If you want to be better than the best, you have to be doing something different. - Paul Graham
Reverse benchmarking is not about being contrarian for its own sake. It is about choosing a different axis of competition.
Don’t try to outrun the leader on the track they built. Find the race they cannot enter without betraying who they are.
In a world obsessed with best practice, reverse benchmarking is a reminder that progress often comes from doing the unfashionable thing, in the unfashionable place, for reasons that only make sense in hindsight.
Applying reverse benchmarking
The opposite of a good idea can also be a good idea. - Rory Sutherland
The first version of my game Conxy (Tetris meets Candy Crush) attracted hundreds of players. It’s now evolving through player feedback and a clearer design philosophy, without attempting to challenge Candy Crush head-on.
While Candy Crush wins through scale, stimulation and constant rewards, Conxy benchmarks against the trade-offs this creates. It embraces restraint, quiet design and discovery, with no adverts or artificial urgency.
Inspired by the short stories of Jorge Luis Borges, Conxy rewards exploration and understanding rather than rapid gratification. This is reverse benchmarking in practice: competing on a different axis for players who value elegance, meaning and thoughtful challenge over short term stimulation.
Other resources
Reverse Benchmark Explained talk by Rory Sutherland
How to Stand Out in a Crowded Market post by Phil Martin
How to Create a Hit Product post by Phil Martin
Rory Sutherland summarises the essence of reverse benchmarking. “Don’t try to be better. Try to be different.”
Have fun.
Phil…
Simple idea, strong insight. This reframed how I think about progress