The message from Marketing Against the Grain hit me like a clear wake-up call: stop fighting for scraps in red oceans and go make your own blue water. That’s smart marketing, and it’s practical. My take is simple. Most brands don’t fail for lack of effort—they fail for lack of open water. If you’re stuck in a feeding frenzy, you’re the bait.
Blue vs. Red: What They Meant
Kipp Bodnar and Kieran Flanagan cut to the core with a reminder many teams ignore. The market you choose can make or break the plan. They didn’t dress it up. They named the obvious truth and gave a reason to act on it.
“If the ocean’s red, it means it’s highly competitive. And if the ocean’s blue, it’s wide open.”
“It’s easier to catch fish in a blue ocean than in a red ocean.”
They even shared how deep this idea ran at HubSpot. The company named two conference rooms after the authors behind the strategy. That signals respect and practice, not theory. This wasn’t a fad. It was a playbook.
My Take: Create Your Own Blue Water
I’ve built online businesses through waves of hype cycles—from early web media to crypto and social platforms. The pattern repeats. The money moves to the creators who spot open water first. The trick isn’t to wait for a perfect blue ocean—it’s to carve one out of a red one.
Blue water is not always a new category. Often it’s a new angle, a new channel, or a new promise. In crypto, that might mean an on-chain rewards model that makes customers owners. In marketing, it could be a unique content format or a pricing move that flips a default. You don’t have to invent a spaceship. You need to change the game the room is playing.
What Kipp and Kieran Got Right
Their core point is a survival rule: if you swim with sharks, bring a bigger boat—or find a quieter cove. They framed competition as a cost you can choose to avoid. That choice is your edge. The best marketers reduce friction in the market, not just in the funnel. They look for open space before they pour gas on spend.
- Red oceans drain margins. You pay more for clicks, talent, and attention.
- Blue oceans grow faster. You set the terms and define the win.
- Market choice beats tactic tweaks. A fresh pond beats a sharper hook.
That’s why the “easier to catch fish” line matters. It’s not laziness. It’s leverage.
How To Find Blue Water This Quarter
Here’s how I would act on their advice right now. Keep it simple and testable.
- Hunt for underserved buyers. Who hates the current options? Build for them.
- Switch channels. Go where rivals won’t—niche communities, on-chain loyalty, or partner media.
- Change the offer. New pricing, guarantees, or ownership perks can reset the game.
- Ship a new format. Short, daily, visual, or interactive—own a style others ignore.
- Limit scope. Win a specific use case, then expand once you dominate.
Run small bets for 30 days. Kill what stalls. Double down on anything that pulls referral and organic lift. You’ll know you’ve found blue water when acquisition gets cheaper and word-of-mouth starts to carry weight.
The Pushback—and Why It Fails
Some leaders argue that red oceans are fine because big markets mean big prizes. True, but only if you have a clear moat and deep pockets. Most teams don’t. Competing head-on invites a pricing war and feature bloat. That’s a slow bleed. A smarter path is to carve a sub-market with a sharp point of view. Then scale once the economics work.
Final Word
The takeaway is not “avoid competition forever.” It’s this: pick the fight you can win, then change the rules. Kipp and Kieran reminded us that market choice is strategy, not a slide in a deck. I agree—and I’d add that blue oceans are built, not found. Start building yours now.
Act this week. Interview five frustrated customers. Map one underserved niche. Launch one offer that breaks a norm. If you want growth, stop swimming in blood and go make water worth fishing.
