‘The natural advantage of established brands has not just been eroded, but smashed to smithereens’

There’s been a pretty inauspicious start to the year, but there is one area where I think there is room for plenty of optimism.

It can’t just be me who looks at the brand landscape and sees more interesting brands than perhaps ever before? Brands that are helping people live a more sustainable and healthier life. Brands that are tackling some of the world’s biggest problems and making a positive impact on society.

These ‘change brands’ are some of the fastest growing globally. They’re building on the age-old principles of challenger brands, but going a step further and trying to change things for the better. They are proving that this approach is not just good for the world, it’s good for business.

Tony’s Chocolonely is the fastest-growing chocolate brand in the world. Wild, Trip and Smol have been in The Times’ Top 100 Fastest Growing Companies for the past couple of years. Liquid Death doubled in size in 2023 to $263m in revenue and looks set to continue with international expansion.

The natural advantage of big established brands has not just been eroded but smashed to smithereens. The rise of Amazon, copycat options from discounters and emerging brands finding an audience via social media means people are far more open-minded to experiment than they were before.

This disruption could be seen as either a threat to be managed or an opportunity to be grasped. I am firmly in the latter camp, having just interviewed thirty-plus founders for my book.

Here are three ways you can act now to make the most of the commercial opportunity:

1. Value growth

So many categories are increasingly commoditised – locked in a race to the bottom where value growth is hard to come by.

Change brands present a different proposition. Kantar data shows that change brands are almost twice as differentiated as the average, 24% more likely to gain importance in the future, and 10% more likely to command that all-important higher price premium.

By adding these brands into a category and giving them support, buyers can inject value back into their category, persuading shoppers to spend a little more than they might have previously to align with their values. Brands like Tony’s Chocolonely, Kit + Kin, Bold Bean Co and Fussy are flourishing in retail at a premium price.

Change brands are a proven way to inject value into categories and make sure you’re well-placed for the future.

2. Build partnerships

If you can’t be a change brand, partnering with one could be an approach. This is a way for big brands to throw their weight behind the mission and impact of a change brand, without having to fundamentally alter big aspects of their business.

Tony’s Chocolonely has created the Tony’s Open Chain that allows big chocolate companies to tap into its supply chain and buy exploitation-free cocoa. Waitrose is the first UK supermarket to get on board buying all the cocoa for their own label range from Tony’s and seeing a sales uplift as a result. It’s followed the lead of every major Dutch supermarket.

It can even work with two brands in the same category. The recent Change Please partnership with Nespresso is a win-win for both sides. Change Please has a huge new distribution route via the millions of Nespresso machines around the world, and Nespresso can talk of the positive impact of its coffee on homelessness.

Marks & Spencer’s partnership with nutrition app Zoe adds instant credibility to the retailer’s offering and provides distribution and brand exposure for Zoe, acting as a low-cost entry point to a high-end brand. Aldi is also getting in on the act with its Hop Foundry partnership with Toast, a beer brand using surplus Aldi bread to make a delicious session IPA. 

I’ve convened a collective of over 40 Change Brands to identify opportunities to work together with brands big and small as the power of the right partnerships cannot be underestimated.

3. Disrupt from within

This triple disruption of health, sustainability and impact creates opportunity across the board. P&G has done this very well with the US launch of EC30, a waterless cleaning brand that looks like a start-up change brand. The ability to position the EC30 brand as outside of P&G is an important part of the strategy. It appeals to eco-conscious consumers and uses messages about the amount of ‘unnecessary water’ contained in cleaning products, without damaging own brands.

After a few years of road testing this innovative approach, the laundry patches of EC30 have now been added to the Tide range. The combination of the change brand playbook and a megabrand like Tide could be an incredibly potent mix and show a path for big companies to gently disrupt themselves and evolve without losing share. This is a visionary approach from P&G.

We’re starting to see something similar from retailers. The M&S launch of Brain Food and Yay Mushrooms jumps on growing trends that Change Brands are starting to explore. When you combine the guaranteed distribution and volume of a retailer own-label, with a product range looking to make a positive difference for consumers who are increasingly reevaluating the brands they buy, you almost guarantee success.

The Co-op has also developed its own internal Change Brand of sorts, building on the partnership with Fair Trade to launch sub-branded coffee, tea and chocolate that asks consumers to ‘Choose a Fairer Future’ and buy ‘Coffee with a Cause’ or ‘Chocolate for Change.’

Perhaps this is the next big opportunity for a retailer’s own-label range? They can help consumers live a healthier, more sustainable life, while making a positive impact at the same time. What’s not to like?