“Disruptive brands challenge the current ways of doing things and introduce new concepts that substantively change the market.”
That’s the view of Denise Lee Yohn, author of Fusion: How Integrating Brand and Culture Powers the World’s Greatest Companies.
But to companies, there’s a lot more to it than that…
Disruptive brands don’t just change their industry; they rebrand it. A disruptive brand doesn’t just deliver something distinctive; they take the ‘this is how it’s done’, challenge it, break it, and reconfigure it, with incredible results.
A disruptive brand doesn’t play by the rules; it strays from the norm and push boundaries in pursuit of business areas not yet conquered.
These brands are continually diversifying; they want new ideas, new approaches and new thought patterns. They bridge the gap between millennials and corporate brands, recognising the huge potential of innovation. Disruptors change an industry’s mindset, not just the market. They embrace new ways of thinking.
Disruption means taking a step back, surveying the industry and analysing where your business fits within the market.
If you’re not leading, why not? What can be changed? What are the market leaders doing well? What are they doing, better than you? What can you do that they can’t do? How can you beat them?
A good example of disruption is Grenade, who launched in 2010 with just £27 in the bank. Through savvy marketing and a genuinely unique offering, Grenade continues to grow exponentially and was sold for £72m to Lion Capital last year.
Alan Barratt and Juliet Barratt, CEO and CMO respectively, have distinguished their brand despite being a sports supplement distributor selling products that looked and sounded like everybody else’s.
Their first attempt at a weight loss product, Thermo Detonator, was so successful that the results were described as “explosive” – and so, Grenade was created. Today, their products are available in over 80 countries worldwide. They make products that exceed label claims, disrupt their market and leave competition firmly in the devastation of their bright orange tank. Recently, they won Protein Bar of the Year at the 2019 Product of the Year awards, and have become one of the UK’s fastest-growing companies of all time.
In short, disruptive brands are the innovators and the future-makers, the ones to look out for.
Want to work with a disruptive brand? Get in touch.
