Jumping on a Competitor's Mistakes

I love watching companies that jump on their competitors' mistakes.

Trigger: OpenAI removes CEO Sam Altman with no real explanation.
Reaction: Microsoft hires Sam Altman (and offers to hire and salary-match any OpenAI employee who leaves).
Timeframe: <72 hrs

Nathan Barry and ConvertKit are great at doing this too. Examples include jumping on Gumroad's sudden seller fee increase and Drip's pricing change. The Convertkit team would have no-brainer special offers spun up and published on Twitter in <24 hrs.

And while the speed to action is essential....

.....it's really the narrative behind what's happening. And this is something all brands can/should learn from:

💩 Competitor does something dumb that might hurt the ideal customer.
💩 They fail to communicate a good reason for doing it.
💩 The target audience feels betrayed, hurt, etc.

✅ You slide in with an offer that 110% fixes things.
✅ You'd better believe you do it in public, baby!
✅ The target audience switches teams and LOVES you.

This is one way Convertkit "proved" its commitment to creators.

And I dunno about you, but the Altman story makes me think of the board (who I never thought of) as wildly incompetent and Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella as a forward-thinking force.

Story matters.