Ultimate @JambaBananaMan Showdown Fail –
Competing Outside Of Focus

Jamba Juice continues to pique my interest…in negative ways. Jamba Juice, you know I love you, but seriously, I need to have a little chat with your CMO or CEO.

Recently, Jamba Juice ran a Cheeseburger Smoothie parody video to show how silly it is to mix focuses. The jab was at McDonald’s for serving fruit smoothies. Jamba Juice felt that other businesses were encroaching into their industry. *cough* just like how they are now serving coffee flavored smoothies that do not taste like coffee */cough*

Ultimate Showdown? Of What?

Sorry, but McDonald’s isn’t even trying to compete with you, Jamba. It’s parallel to having Starbucks compete with Denny’s, IHOP, or 7-11. Yes, they sell coffee too, but no one is going to go to IHOP just for coffee.

There are two questions that I will answer –

1. Is it better to be first or best in a focus?
2. Should I compare myself to my competitors?

First vs. Best

I wrote this in another article, but I’ll repeat it. Anyone know of Buzz Aldrin? He was the second person to step on the moon. We don’t remember him because it was Armstrong who registered first in our minds. I’ll give you some more examples using beer / ale since I’m a huge fan.

• Jamaican Beer – Red Stripe
• English Ale – Newcastle
• Dutch Beer – Heineken
• Belgian Ale – Fat Tire

The list goes on… So according to Al Ries and Jack Trout – positioning as a leader requires one to brand first in said category. Otherwise, create a new category. So if you’re not the first Belgian Ale, be the first Light Belgian Ale. I have a point to this.

So Jamba Juice is already branded as the juice smoothie king. They should only focus on that and stop side tracking with coffee or even mentions of cheeseburgers.

Comparison To Competitors

If you’re not the best in the industry, compare yourself to the best. Itemize them and show how you’re better. That’s what Burger King, Carls Jr. Jack in the Box always do – compare.

However, if you are the king of that industry (not necessarily best), you never compare yourself. Have you ever seen Newcastle talking about other inferior English ales? No. They don’t need to.

For Jamba Juice to not only try to compete with McDonald’s prices, but to compare themselves with them in the juice market is a major fail in positioning with consumer’s minds. It’s like having Canon or Nikon making an announcement as to why they’re better than Sigma.

What I want you to do now…

• If you love Jamba Juice, help them via Retweet or Facebook buttons below.
• Comment below how you can apply these strategies into your own business.
• Classwork: go buy a case of your favorite beer / ale / beverage and comment below which category it owns – treat it as “practice.”

My best to you Jamba Juice,

Lawrence Chan

P.S. What’s your focus or category in the industry? It’s tough, I know.

P.P.S. I’ve been making a lot of sandwiches recently and I want to share with you all a wonderful cheese I found – it’s a Wisconsin Havarti Cheese by Dofino mmmm…

Related posts:

1. The DEATH of Jamba Juice –
   Violation of Marketing Law