SummaryMark Edwards leads brand and product marketing at UK healthcare company Thriva and has worked across EA, Starbucks, Zillow and Redpin. He explains how to reposition established brands, evaluate customers outside the ideal customer profile, and use customer truth and simple brand principles instead of rigid playbooks. Keywordsproduct marketing, brand strategy, brand repositioning, ideal customer profile, ICP possibles, customer insight, brand principles, marketing leadership, Monzo, Liquid Death Key topics Edwards argues that diverse category experience builds curiosity, while domain expertise can become outdated or constrain innovation.Across Starbucks, Zillow and Thriva, his recurring challenge has been expanding what a leading brand means without abandoning its existing strengths.He describes “ICP possibles”: fringe customers who do not match the ideal customer profile but may still be profitable or strategically important.To assess fringe audiences, consider profitability, competitor ability to serve them, lifetime value through sub-segmentation, and effects on target-customer perception.Edwards rejects neat, one-size-fits-all product marketing and brand playbooks. Start with the business problem, explore it with stakeholders and customers, and build solutions against measurable goals.Product marketers should examine direct competitors, indirect alternatives and doing nothing, then use customer conversations and the five whys to uncover differentiated value.A core responsibility is communicating consumer truths internally so teams can make informed product, positioning and brand decisions.He recommends clear brand principles as a practical decision filter, citing Thriva’s “focus, real life and momentum” and Zillow’s “possibilities, understanding, and progress.”Edwards admires Monzo’s consistent brand expression and Liquid Death’s bold differentiation in a commoditised category.Takeaways “at best there is a shelf life for domain expertise”“your best work comes when you have massive amounts of energy, of passion, of commitment, of engagement.”“how do we try to get this brand meaning more without meaning less”“they don’t show up as your target today on the slide decks that you’re creating in the strategic documents.”“can you profitably serve the needs of this audience?”“the work is messier than any clean framework can convey.”“identifying the business problem, exploring that problem with an open mind”“telling that consumer truth to the rest of the organisation.”“a clear set of brand principles which serve as the filter through which all decisions are ideally made.”“marketing beyond anything is a team sport”Key frameworks ICP possiblesThriva brand principles: focus, real life and momentumZillow brand principles: possibilities, understanding and progressThe five whysAction items For an audience outside the ICP, test whether you can serve it profitably, whether competitors can, whether sub-segments have healthy lifetime value, and whether serving it affects target-customer perceptions.Start strategy work by defining the business problem, exploring it with customers and stakeholders, and grounding solutions in quantitative goals.Clarify a small set of brand principles and use them to guide campaigns, product decisions and partnerships.Sound bites“I love motion, I like innovation, I like action”“at best there is a shelf life for domain expertise”“marketing beyond anything is a team sport” Guest linksMark Edwards on LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/medwards84Thriva: https://thriva.co
