offensive warfare

Marketing warfare strategy whereby a company in a second or third position will attack a competitive leader in the marketplace. Offensive warfare differs from defensive warfare in that in defensive warfare, the market leader is protecting its position, whereas in offensive warfare, the market challenger is launching an attack on the market leader. There are five basic offensive strategies: (1) frontal attack, where the challenger attacks the competitor's strengths by matching the product, price, advertising, and distribution; (2) flanking attack, where the challenger attacks the leader's weakness by filling gaps not filled by the competitor and by developing strong products where the competitive products are the weakest; (3) encirclement, where the challenger attacks from all directions; (4) bypass attack, which is not really a direct attack but one where the challenger bypasses the competitor and targets an easier market, hoping that demand for its product will overtake the competitor's product; (5) guerrilla attack, where the challenger makes small periodic attacks with price cuts, executive raids, or concentrated promotional outbursts, hoping eventually to establish permanent footholds in the marketplace.