Conflict is good for business Matt 15 comments Latest by Per

What do 50 Cent, Hugo Chavez, and Steve Jobs have in common? They realize the value of a good rivalry.

Hip-hop artists like 50 cent use “beefs” as a source for publicity and promotion all the time.

Chavez is getting lots of mileage out of casting himself as the Anti-Bush. You may disagree with his views but he’s certainly been effective at getting himself on the world stage (how many other South American presidents can you name?).

Apple’s Get a Mac campaign uses the Mac-PC rivalry as a frame for defining the advantages of going Mac.

Conflict gets attention

Want people to empty a bar? Tell ‘em there’s a fight going on outside. It’s a fact of life: Conflict gets people’s attention.

That’s why the right kind of conflict can be a good tool for business. When you have an enemy or disagree with someone else’s ideas, people notice. It helps define you. It shows you stand for something. It clarifes what’s different about you. Just be sure to go for a healthy debate of ideas — not name-calling, flaming, cheap shots, etc. (There’s enough of that crap in the web world already.)

Basecamp vs. Project

“A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.”

-Oscar Wilde

We used an enemy, Microsoft Project, to help define our vision for Basecamp. Here’s an excerpt from “Have an Enemy,” an essay in Getting Real:

Sometimes the best way to know what your app should be is to know what it shouldn’t be…We decided Basecamp would be something completely different, the anti-Project.



We realized project management isn’t about charts, graphs, reports and statistics — it’s about communication. It also isn’t about a project manager sitting up high and broadcasting a project plan. It’s about everyone taking responsibility together to make the project work.



One bonus you get from having an enemy is a very clear marketing message. People are stoked by conflict. And they also understand a product by comparing it to others. With a chosen enemy, you’re feeding people a story they want to hear. Not only will they understand your product better and faster, they’ll take sides. And that’s a sure-fire way to get attention and ignite passion.

Taking a stand at SvN

Also, we use SvN as a forum to air gripes. Controversy brings traffic but, more importantly, it helps define our philosophy and views. Recently, we’ve railed against BusinessWeek’s bubble-math, blowhard copywriting, and the idea that small teams can’t compete with Google. We don’t do this just to be difficult. We do it to take a stand for things we believe in (respectively): honest business math, straightforward language, and the idea that innovation can triumph over size.