The power of positioning: Would Santa be a successful brand without the Grinch?

But this wasn’t always the case. For centuries, Santa was a walking, jingling, wildly inconsistent brand failure. Every country had its own prototype. Every illustrator had a different artistic conception.

You had Dutch bishops, British fatherly figures, American elves, Norse legends and the occasional bearded fellow who looked like he escaped from a forest cult. Sometimes stern, sometimes cuddly, sometimes the old man in charge of children’s behaviour. Tall in one story, pint-sized in another. Skinny enough to slip under a door or plump enough to get stuck in one.

Wardrobe? From green robes to brown furs, even blue suits—everything except ‘corporate consistency red.’ Santa was not a brand, but a shared myth with more identity issues than a Bollywood hero with amnesia.

Most people credit Coca-Cola for fixing Santa’s brand problem, but that’s only half the story. Coca-Cola gave Santa his visual form as we now know it, but it was Dr. Seuss who gave him his strategic enemy.

Let’s start with Coca-Cola. In 1931, it commissioned illustrator Haddon Sundblom to create a Santa for a holiday campaign. Sundblom came up with brand magic. He gave the world the Santa we recognize today: red suit, white trim, round belly, rosy cheeks and twinkling eyes. A loveable and huggable uncle from the North Pole.

And here’s the kicker: Coca-Cola never tried to update him. No ‘Smart Santa’ or ‘casual Friday Santa.’ No ‘athleisure Santa’ for millennials. No focus group was held to test if Gen-Z would connect better with a lavender Santa who skateboards. Santa was Santa—and it worked.

Recognizability alone, though, doesn’t build meaning. For that, you need contrast. You need a villain. An opposite. Enter Dr. Seuss. In 1957, Dr. Seuss gifted Santa what Coca-Cola couldn’t: a strategic enemy in the Grinch. Suddenly, Santa had clarity and purpose. Something to push against.

A brand is sharpest when defined not by what it claims to be, but by what it refuses to be. Kids don’t need a deck or a brand manual to get Santa’s essence—the story does it for them. A green Grinch versus red Santa. Bitter versus joyful. Lonely versus convivial. So while Santa symbolized abundance, generosity, warmth and cheer, the Grinch embodied the opposite.

Most brands get this backwards. They brag about being ‘faster,’ ‘better,’ ‘more innovative,’ etc, which sounds like empty corporate blah-blah to consumers. Positioning isn’t about being better. It’s about being different in a way that’s meaningful.

The Grinch helped Santa do that. We know how the story ends: the Grinch eventually melts, returns the gifts and becomes a Santa fanboy. A happy ending for everyone. But here’s the deeper branding insight: Santa never wants the Grinch to disappear forever. He needs him. The Grinch must resurface to remind us what Santa stands for.

What does all this have to do with India? More than it may seem at first glance.

Brands, in their quest to target ‘everyone,’ often end up standing for nothing. It’s why half the ads in India feature the same celebrity doing the same thing. But brands that break out choose a Grinch.

Amul’s strategic enemy? Synthetic and bland stuff. Fevicol’s? Everything that falls apart: weak bonds, quick fixes, unreliable joints. Its ads are basically a 40-year war against instability.

JumboKing? Its strategic enemy is sit-down dining. While McDonald’s and Burger King built large restaurants for customers to linger, JumboKing created ‘on-the-go’ burgers. Railway station kiosks with no seating. Just grab-and-go counters for Mumbai’s commuters.

Tanishq? Its positioning pushes against the idea of jewellery as stiff, ceremonial, kept-in-a-locker wealth. It champions emotional modernity.

And then there’s India’s legendary Dabbawala brand. Its visual cue? An unmistakable white cap. Strategic enemy? Delivery chaos. Opposition so sharp that it became a Harvard case study.

Your brand needs a Grinch too. Not a competitor you claim to beat, nor a villain you manufacture out of thin air, but a real idea or force that your consumer is already fighting—something that lets your brand become the hero.

What is your brand battling? Complexity? Waste? Boredom? Overwork? Obsession with discounts (an Indian Grinch)? Fake news? Poor quality? ‘Chalta hai’ attitudes?

Once you identify your Grinch, two things happen: your message becomes sharper and your consumer instantly knows which side you’re on.

But don’t forget visual cues. Santa doesn’t just behave differently from the Grinch—he looks different. Your brand needs a visual cue so recognisable that even a distracted, multitasking, Bigg Boss-watching Indian consumer registers it in a blink.

Think of Asian Paints’ Gattu, Tinder’s flame, Royal Enfield’s rugged helmet aesthetic and Paper Boat’s nostalgia-driven doodles. Combine a strategic enemy with a visual hammer to create brand superglue.

Santa’s success isn’t magic. It’s two simple things: He looks unforgettable and stands against something even more unforgettable. So, to sharpen your positioning, find your Grinch. As for the visual hammer, keep at it.

The authors are, respectively, a global positioning strategist and bestselling author; and co-founder of the Medici Institute for Innovation.X: @MuneerMuh