How to Be a Disruptive Brand

Disruption is the new norm, challenging established global brands to stay ahead of the curve. The pace of change is faster than ever and will only increase alongside tech advancements and consumer behaviour. 

Lower barriers to entry combined with new consumer pain points and delivery systems create an equal opportunity for incumbents, insurgents and local brands to reinvent markets. 

Our Renovation, Innovation, Disruption framework illustrates how businesses execute change to varying degrees. It enables your company to accurately assess competitive threats and create opportunities to drive growth.  

Defining the framework 

Renovation helps re-establish your brand within a category. Changing formulations or launching new pack sizes can refresh your product. The goal is to keep your brand top of mind with consumers and protect or steal share. Gains are usually incremental but can have a massive impact on sales.  

Innovation requires a transformative approach, leading to the creation of subcategories and new consumer appeal. These strategies focus on targeting a subsegment of your audience or introducing new usage occasions, among others.

True disruption goes a step further. Entirely new categories or markets originate from these efforts. You must focus on four areas to disrupt: reconceptualise the market, consumer centricity, engagement and fearless leadership. 

How do companies renovate, innovate and disrupt?

You need to understand why product categories are evolving the way they are today and how these will evolve in the future. That’s where megatrends come in. 

First, you should be familiar with the socioeconomic drivers behind long-term behavioural changes. These are the five primary forces at play. Then, determine which megatrends matter most for your business. Euromonitor compiled a list of the top megatrends that will continue to shape the world over the next 20 years.  Remember, megatrends aren’t short-term fads. These are trends with longevity that represent a fundamental shift in behaviour.

Megatrend analysis can help you make sense of where your brand stands today, build a long-term strategy that is proactive rather than reactive and create a business plan to remain relevant moving forward. 

Strategies for success

You have to stay focused on the key drivers and influencers of your business. The most successful companies simultaneously go deeper to get to know their customers and wider to seek inspiration from adjacent sectors. 

But success is not a one-off phenomenon, and no company can risk being irrelevant tomorrow. Markets are evolving fast, and innovation requires commitment. All companies should strive to reinvent their strategies in line with consumers and the world.  

Download our white paper, How to Be a Disruptive Brand, to identify new ways to evolve your business model and product portfolio. 

Editor's note: This article was originally published in March 2019 and has been updated.