How Underdogs Win Against Monopolies

This New Year’s Eve, I’m spending time with someone who, years ago, didn’t believe Purple Cow could succeed.

When he first heard we were starting an internet service provider, he confidently told one of his friends that Eastlink and Bell would crush us. They were billion dollar companies, he said. There was no room for someone new to win.

I don’t hold that against him. I’m sure many people have thought similar things about others, and even about themselves when starting something new.

I’ve stood at the starting line of things that felt almost impossible before. The start of a 1,600 kilometre dog sled race across Alaska called the Iditarod. Standing on Shakespeare Beach in England, about to swim more than forty kilometres across the English Channel to France. Starting Purple Cow felt very much the same. You’re doing something people think is crazy.

In some ways, that skepticism says more about the limits people place on themselves. At the end of the day, everyone is entitled to their opinion. What surprised me was that I had no idea he felt this way until years later, when we ran into each other again at a Wanderers game. That’s when he told me he never thought Purple Cow stood a chance.

Obviously, Purple Cow is still here. We’re still growing. And personally, I don’t feel like we’re anywhere close to where I want the business to be yet. But there are reasons we’ve found success.

Part of it is that people in the Maritimes like supporting the underdog and local businesses. Part of it is that Nova Scotia has some of the highest internet costs in Canada, which gave us room to offer lower internet prices while still running a healthy business. But more than anything, I believe any business can take on a monopoly if it can do one thing well.

It has to find a way to speak to the customer.

That sounds simple, but it’s not. People are habit driven. They follow the herd. They stick with what they’ve always done or what everyone around them is doing. Ask yourself who you bank with. Then ask who your partner banks with. More often than not, it’s the same bank. Not because it’s the best option, but because it’s familiar.

You can have the better product and the better price, but if you can’t reach the customer, nothing changes. They carry on with life as usual.

I come back to this idea often. We just need to be able to speak to the customer.

Purple Cow has the best price. We have the best customer service. We’re on par with Eastlink and Bell for reliability, and on par with Eastlink for technology. If a price conscious customer compared Purple Cow Internet, Eastlink, and Bell side by side, Purple Cow should be chosen just as often, if not more.

But that doesn’t always happen.

And it’s usually not because the product is worse, the business has a bad reputation, or the pricing is wrong. More often than not, it’s because the customer simply doesn’t know or doesn’t fully understand all of their options.

That’s where the underdog needs to do better. You can’t rely on customers to research every decision in depth. If people did that, they’d never get anything done. Today, decisions are made quickly and people move on with their day.

So how do you get in front of customers when you’re taking on giants?

The short answer is marketing.

You need a strong message that resonates with the right people. That doesn’t mean you can’t talk about the same features or benefits as your competitors. It means you have to do it differently.

Dollar Shave Club is a great example. They were the underdog going up against Gillette. Instead of polished ads, they ran a funny, honest video about overpaying for razors. It went viral, built trust, and stole massive market share.

Big companies play it safe. They stay inside the box. Underdogs win by stepping outside it.

At Purple Cow, we’ve leaned into that. We’ve put up purple election signs during provincial elections saying “Vote Purple Cow.” We’ve run edgy billboards saying our internet prices are more stable than some world leaders. We try to be funny, bold, and a little uncomfortable.

That’s how we cut through the noise.

Once people notice us, they look us up. Once they look us up, they realize Purple Cow is the best internet option in Nova Scotia for most people.

Taking on the giants isn’t about being louder than them. It’s about being different enough that people stop, listen, and rethink what they’ve always done.

If you’ve got stories about how your team has played outside the box to take on bigger competitors, I’d love to hear them. Feel free to email me at brad@purplecowinternet.com.

Bradley Farquhar
CEO