If Caterham did OTC…

At The Brand Strategy we love using different techniques to solve problems. One of our favourites started in libraries – you think about a problem, grab a book at random, open a page and see what jumps out that might reframe the issue. It sounds chaotic but it works. It forces the mind sideways. It sparks connections you would never expect to get from a brief or a workshop.

So we tried it recently on OTC healthcare marketing. The book in question was a classic car annual. A Caterham to be exact. Not an obvious source for consumer health but that is the point. You go where the thinking is fresh. (We first trialled the approach in a veterinary library years back to see if it could work!)

Purity of Purpose

The first thing that hit us was purity of purpose. The SuperSprint exists for one reason – to drive. Not to cosset. Not to entertain passengers. Not to hide the road. Everything on the car serves that single idea. When you see it through that lens you realise how many OTC brands have lost theirs. They collect claims. They stretch into sublines. They bulk out packs with reassurance that never reassures. Consumers end up confused and confusion kills action. The SuperSprint reminds us that the strongest brands cut back to the core and make that core unmistakable.

Experience Over Features

The second thing was experience over features. Owners never take you through torque curves or engineering diagrams. They talk about how the car makes them feel. Wind. Road. Noise. Connection. The emotional payoff comes first. In OTC we still try to sell the ingredient or the mechanism when the truth is people buy relief and control. They buy the promise that life gets easier, faster, calmer. Lead with the experience and the features become proof rather than the story.

A Book Alone Can't Change the World

"A book can't change the world on its own. But a book can change readers. And readers? They can change the world" - Sarah Mackenzie

That is the value of picking up a random book. A classic car ends up teaching the same lesson as any good brand strategy session. Strip it back. Focus on what matters. Build around how people feel not what the product is made of. The answers sit in unexpected places if you let them.

If you have a conundrum to answer and want a different way of thinking, ask The Brand Strategy team about our different approaches to solving complex problems.