Coke Doesn’t Talk About Pepsi

At my day job, we have a saying: The best life-hack is just to be a person.

This saying can be extrapolated for the world of business, whether you’re the product (i.e. you are a freelancer), or you’re trying to get someone to buy a product. It’s also kind of handy to keep in mind when trying to navigate your life.

The best marketing is a good product. The best way to be liked is to be likeable. And the best way to ensure you’re always in a fair fight is to never punch down. In fact, it might be to never throw a punch at all.

Or, as a person very close to me reminds me when I get into dangerous trash-talk territory: Coke doesn’t talk about Pepsi.

Uber has found itself in the midst of (another) PR nightmare this week, in part because someone at the top of their chain decided that, rather than developing a better product or being a better company, a potential tactic could be to attack a group of people whose job it is to hold them accountable.

But if you’re Uber—you are so at the top of your market that you have created demand where once there was none, you’re valued at potentially multiple billions of dollars, and your model has become so respected that people begin Twitter jokes with “like Uber, but for [insert object or service here]”—you shouldn’t need to threaten people, denegrade the competition, or go on the defensive. You are playing offense all of the time, and you just need to keep doing what you’re doing.

If you are doing your damndest to create a good and decent service, you shouldn’t need to win anyone over. If you’re making something great and being a decent person, you probably don’t need to worry about “shady journalism.”

If your strategy to get ahead — to get them people to buy something or buy into something—is to make something that’s not-great and also to kneecap everyone else, you’re losing.

This isn’t a new idea. David Ogilvy was talking about it decades ago.

Can advertising foist an inferior product on the consumer? Bitter experience has taught me that it cannot. On those rare occasions when I have advertised products which consumer tests have found inferior to other products in the same field, the results have been disastrous.

But it remains salient — and apparent.

If you’re Apple, your ads need never make mention of the Surface, because a.) the iPad is a very solid and well-liked product, and b.) Microsoft is spending so much time and effort throwing punches that they have yet to create a product that people actually prefer. Instead of making a better product, Microsoft is desperately trying to get people to use something that they don’t want.

And if you’re Coca-Cola, you need never to talk about Pepsi, because you know you are doing it so right that competition is of no concern.

You are endeavoring into new territory (multilingual ads that infuriate racists? Check. Gay dads that send conservatives into a tailspin? Yup.) while keeping a lock on your base clients. When you do fuck up, you set it right and learn from it. Your product can even be legitimately terrible for public health and drop substantially in revenue and you can still rest assured knowing that you’ll land on your feet by expanding in smart ways.

All of this isn’t to say that you shouldn’t call out bullshit when you see it. As much as people love to wring their hands about the “outrage machine,” the fact is that it works. Relentless coverage of systemic issues and non-stop discussion about how to best serve everyone — not just the long-held majority—is part of a movement toward actual change. It achieves justice for groups of people whose needs have traditionally been ignored or outwardly denied.

But that’s not punching down—that’s pointing out. That’s being useful.

What I mean to say is that the best course of action, when running your own life, business, brand, etc, is to be as great as is possible for you —which includes learning from your critics and actively listening when someone tells you that you are wrong. No one is flawless; when Apple failed to take into account the needs of women and the potential health concerns for people with real disorders, the world rightfully noticed. Now it’s Apple’s turn to listen.

There are a lot of people — and brands—who worry chiefly about being liked. They just want people to like them. And, moreover, they want their competition to be not-liked. I think there’s a very fair argument that this is one of the root causes behind the rejection of feminism by non-female-identified individuals and racial equality by non-People-of-Color.

I would argue that instead of trying to be liked, try to be likable, and to do things that make people like you. Make things that are beautiful and work well. Be a person who is kind and helpful. Consider the needs of others and try to serve those needs. Don’t try to con people into being on your side by tearing down the competition, whether perceived or otherwise.

Instead, have a side worth being on.