Blue Ocean Strategy (BOS) is a business theory created by Renee Mauborgne and Chan Kim of Harvard Business School. In essence, BOS advises that instead of trying to go head-to-head with competitors over an existing market (the red ocean where you’ll waste lots of time and money), you are better off creating a new market, that is a blue ocean, with no competitors.

This is how today’s most successful companies became what they are – they saw a market or need that no one had yet addressed and focused their efforts there. Apple, in its launches of the iMac, iPhone and iPad, is frequently used as a textbook Blue Ocean example. Another example is Starbucks, “the largest coffee house in the world”, which, when operating in the highly competitive market place of retail coffee houses, turned the idea of having a cup of coffee into a ‘way of life’ by redefining how customers can enjoy a Starbucks experience, introducing music and wi-fi in a relaxed setting where you can enjoy good coffee.

Blue vs Red Ocean

At Pug&Peach, we follow Blue Ocean Strategy principles in our day to day social media strategy design and content creation for our clients. Moving traditional companies to embrace the digital age requires a cultural shift within your organisation and what your brand stands for to a digital audience. Previously brand loyalty was considered a vital contributor towards brand survival. However now an impatient digital audience expects to be delighted by brands that create remarkable products and services and they frankly don’t care if the brand is well established or not.

We Reconstruct Market Boundaries – Looking for new growth opportunities

We Focus on Your Big Picture – Look at the horizon ahead and not just at immediate numbers

We Reach Beyond Your Existing Demand – Don’t have too narrow a focus

We Get the Strategic Sequence Right – Anticipate new demand but be smart about it