Al Ries and Jack Trout masterfully indentify marketing triumphs that serve as case studies for students of the game aimed at winning the battle for the mind. Over time, we've also wandered through the burial ground of companies and brands that couldn't take "yes" for an answer, imploding a promising product that almost made it. Serious students of success routinely deconstruct mistakes of the past to avoid the minefield of the future. Consider Royal Crown Cola.
 
Long the number three cola, Royal Crown tried to get back in the game when they hired Wells, Rich, Greene, considered a hot shop back in the day. Asked to launch a major national campaign, Mary Wells proclaimed, "We're out to kill Coke and Pepsi. I hope you'll excuse the word, but we're out for the jugular," she said. This fever dream should have been warning enough to her client: forget about going against brands like Coke and Pepsi expecting to win. Historically, as the story goes, Royal Crown Cola's only moment in the sun came in the thirties when it actually outsold Pepsi, but by the seventies it was much too late. Royal Crown's market share had steadily declined.
 
Gamely, RC Cola wouldn't go quietly (at least not yet), entering the seventies with an unexpected and powerful flanking move when it ramped-up Diet Rite Cola. Three years went by before Coke responded with Diet Coke and Pepsi followed suit with Diet Pepsi. Soon, Diet Rite accounted for half of Royal Crown's earnings! Coke and Pepsi willingly assisted Diet Rite with three years' grace before doing anything, and Diet Rite was surprised to find itself in the position of the successful flanker where rule number one dictates, "Pursuit is as important as the original attack." This rule is known as the pour-it-on principle.
 
Simply put, in any competition when you have someone in a hole, bury them. Back to the Cola campaign, management had a dilemma: Diet Rite versus its parent Royal Crown Cola. Instead of finding happiness in the role of a successful large niche player, RC Cola ran toward a mirage.
 
Apply this to our immediate sphere: Hummer versus family sedans, Jammin' versus Mainstream AC. Simply put, it's better to own a guerilla position than to rank last in a mainstream category. Thus, like so many companies who freeze at the wheel trying to fight on two fronts seeking the best of two worlds only to end up with predictable results, Diet Rite Cola slid slowly toward obscurity, then progressed nicely into oblivion. A brand that once led the diet cola market claims 2 percent today.
 
It was an unfair fight. Coke and Pepsi bet on Diet Rite taking the choke and on cue, Diet Rite delivered. Opportunity forsaken is opportunity lost forever. Graveyards are filled with companies, sports franchises, institutions, and radio stations that held it in their hands but didn't pour it on, only to let a competitor off the deck or invite a new challenger to steal the prize.
 
In a zero-sum game like radio, competition is messy and non-linear. Your best opportunity may only pass by for a moment, then on to the other side. You can't hold a hill if you don't know what you're trying to win. Agree on the target then pour it on. Nobody wants to be Diet Rite.