Competitive Audit
A competitive audit maps the territories owned by the competition, before a brand claims new ground of its own.
What is a competitive audit?
A competitive audit describes the review of everything claimed by competitors—visually, verbally, and strategically—before a brand decides what to claim for itself.
Far from a mood board of inspiration, it's a map that shows where a category is most crowded, guiding a brand as it lands on a more ownable position.
Without a thorough audit, a brand risks sharing ground a competitor already owns, or worse, not being able to claim that ground. With one, a brand has stronger confidence in the creative and commercial decisions it makes.
How a competitive audit gets built
Define the real competitive set
Not every competitor is on an equal footing. When getting the lay of the land, be clear on which brands a consumer is most likely to draw comparisons to.
Map the category codes
Note the visual, verbal, and strategic space taken by each competitor to see where your brand shouldn't go.
Look for what nobody's saying
Find the unclaimed ground that your brand could confidently claim, then stress-test it against existing consumer attitudes to make sure it's worth pursuing.
Separate necessary changes from unnecessary ones
Not every convention is worth challenging. Ask which ones are stopping your brand from standing out, and which ones could help maintain a sense of familiarity as you evolve.
Turn the findings into a recommendation
An audit that doesn't lead to a clear strategic direction stays as research. Propose exactly where the brand can move, with clear justification why.
How a competitive audit works in practice: Big Cartel
Big Cartel had 20 years of brand equity in a category that it helped build. But after two decades, it now has 600 competitors chasing the same 4.9m businesses.
The competitive audit had to answer an uncomfortable question: in a world of Shopifys, what makes the world's OG e-commerce platform different?
Big Cartel
A complete audit compared Big Cartel against the polished playbook of today's e-commerce. What it found was a messier, realer space that Big Cartel could elbow its way into. While everyone was speaking to businesses, nobody was speaking to the actual creators building something from nothing.
That insight shaped the entire repositioning, shifting them from a nostalgia brand to a scrappier, more human go-to for entrepreneurs taking the leap. Carrying it all is the idea "Goodbye, Caution!", which encourages people to start dreaming and start doing.
Outcome: 30% increase in website traffic in the first month after rebrand, along with a 142% increase in purchase conversions.
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We zero in on the one thing only your brand can claim, then dial it up until it’s impossible to ignore.
