Take their side
The mutual enemy framework
Hello! Welcome to your weekly dose of INSPO âš
Most DTC ads try to scare people into buying. Your skin is aging. Your gut is broken. You canât focus. Fear works, obviously, none of us want those things, but it exhausts the us too, and it positions your brand as an authority, judging anyone whoâs not fixed this problem yet.
But if you want your ads to stand out and build a trusted brand, thereâs an alternative.
Itâs harder to execute but builds trust fast: find a mutual enemy and take their side.
Not fear-mongering. Not telling customers whatâs wrong with them. Instead, telling them what was done to them â and by whom. You become an ally, not a salesperson. The viewer doesnât feel weak or judged, they feel informed and empowered.
That shift in emotion is the difference between a customer who buys once and one who evangelises your brand.
The mutual enemy framework works because it:
Validates frustration the viewer already feels but hasnât articulated
Externalises blame: the problem isnât them, itâs the system
Positions your brand as the informed insider pulling back the curtain
Creates narrative momentum: thereâs a villain, a turning point and a resolution
I spotted an ad from just-launched activewear brand Nero and itâs the perfect example of this theory put into action.
P.S. Iâve launched a private community for creative strategists, if youâd like an invite reply to this email
Ad breakdown:
I donât know how well this performed but it ran for a long time in the account and I watched the whole thing when I saw it. Itâs long but itâs engaging and theyâve got a lot of other ads like it. A brand to watch.
Hereâs why it worksâŠ
đ The villain is structural, not personal. The enemy isnât the viewerâs laziness or vanity â itâs the oil industry and the sportswear giants who profited from misdirection. The viewer is cast as the victim of an industry that needed something to sell. Thatâs a much more comfortable emotional position than being told youâre buying the wrong thing.
đ The historical proof is genius. Hillary and Bannister are inarguable. No one can claim Gore-Tex climbed Everest. By anchoring the argument in verifiable history, Nero bypasses the credibility problem most challenger brands face. The evidence predates the brand. It predates the entire synthetic fabric industry.
đ The âyou didnât ask for thisâ line is the hinge. Everything before it builds the case. That line delivers the truth. The viewer isnât stupid for wearing polyester, they were misled. Nero then becomes the brand that tells the truth everyone else suppressed. Itâs the âyouâre rightâ moment for the viewer.
đ The tone stays righteous, not preachy. Thereâs a fine line between âweâre exposing the truthâ and âweâre lecturing you.â Nero stays on the right side of it by keeping the script moving fast, rooting claims in specifics and avoiding anything that sounds like health anxiety content.
đ Exaggerated visuals: Clothing can look very similar as a finished product no matter what itâs made from. Big brands do a good job of making polyester clothing look good and sometimes even natural. The exaggerated visual representations of working out in plastic and sweating in plastic help remind the viewer what theyâre clothes are actually made of in case they were thinking âI donât think thatâs trueâ or âsurely what Iâm wearing isnât that bad?â
How to use this idea for your product
The mutual enemy structure has four components. You need all of them.
đȘ© Identify the real villain â and make sure itâs external. The villain canât be the viewerâs behaviour. It has to be a system, an industry, a lobby, a trend, or a set of incentives that benefited someone other than your customer. Ask: who profits from the problem my product solves? Thatâs your villain.
đȘ© Use historical or scientific anchoring. Nero used 1953 and 1954 â dates that predate synthetic fabrics entirely. This is a rhetorical masterstroke. The older and more verifiable your proof, the harder it is to dismiss. Peer-reviewed research, pre-industry comparisons, and origin stories all work well here.
đȘ© Write the absolution line. This is the emotional core of the ad. Itâs the moment where the viewerâs frustration is validated and the blame is transferred. It should be short, direct, and second-person. Neroâs: âYou didnât ask for this. You were sold it.â Find your version of that sentence first â then build the script around it.
đȘ© Position the product as the obvious correction, not the hero. Nero doesnât say âweâre better than Nike.â They say the truth has always existed, and they simply returned to it. Thatâs a far less defensive posture. Your brand isnât competing â itâs restoring. Frame accordingly.
What to avoid:
Donât make the enemy a person (too divisive, too litigious)
Donât exaggerate the threat so much it tips into fear-mongering
Donât forget to resolve it â audiences need the exit ramp your product provides
Donât use this framework for low-stakes problems. It requires genuine grievance to land.
Give this a go and let me know how you get on đȘđŒ
Wider Reading
On narrative advertising and enemy framing
Building a StoryBrand â Donald Miller. The clearest framework for positioning your brand as the guide (not the hero) in a story where the customer faces a real villain. Over a million business leaders have used it to clarify their message.
On challenger brand positioning
Eating the Big Fish â Adam Morgan. Morgan coined the term âchallenger brandâ and the âlighthouse identityâ model is directly applicable here â itâs about projecting a clear, intense sense of who you are until consumers notice you even when theyâre not looking. The enemy identification framework is the strategic backbone behind what Nero is doing.
Case studies of this framework in the wild
Liquid Death â NoGood breakdown. How a water brand turned âdeath to plasticâ into a $1.4B business by making the plastic bottle industry the villain â without ever sounding preachy about it.
Oatly vs. Big Dairy â The Drum. Oatly literally crashed the dairy lobbyâs annual event, then turned it into a guerrilla documentary. A masterclass in weaponising your enemyâs existence.
Oatlyâs wider marketing strategy â Behavio. The behavioural science behind why Oatlyâs âfor humansâ positioning outperformed decades of rational dairy marketing.
If you found this email useful, pass it onto your teamâŠ
Iâm Katherine, a freelance paid social creative strategist. Iâve worked with brands such as ZOE, ChÄmpo, Stride, Rise & Fall, SURI and many more.
Having worked in startup marketing for 10 years, my category experience is broad (everything from bio-fuels to homeware) but the common thread that ties it all together is social-first creative, rooted in customer insight.
đȘ© Work with me: katherineheath.com
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