Success through innovation means continuous disruption. Disruptive brands tend to grow in leaps and bounds, changing the trajectory of consumers’ viewpoint of the brand and the marketplace. They are vibrant, daring and authentic, and often are challenger brands, operating unseen below the radar until it is too late for the competition to react to their ascendency.
They often shape the culture itself in innovative ways. Apple is the best example that comes to mind. It broke all the existing norms and conventions and created consumer advocates that evangelized for the the brand.jobs
Disruptive brands are different from ordinary brands because they get people engaged and immersed in the brand’s equity. They often mention these brands to others and treat them anthropomorphistically.
Richard Branson said, “Disruption is all about risk-taking, trusting your intuition, and rejecting the way things are supposed to be. Disruption goes way beyond advertising, it forces you to think about where you want your brand to go and how to get there.”
Here are the 25 disruptive brands that ruled 2015:
1. Uber: The year’s most highly valued start-up
2. Airbnb: The world’s biggest accommodation company
3. Facebook: The new face of mobile too
4. Red Bull: Taking content marketing to an extreme
5. Snapchat: 2 billion pictures and videos disappear daily
6. Alibaba: Helping consumers save, spend and be entertained
7. Netflix: 70 million subscribers and content muscle
8. Under Armour: Keeping Misty Copeland on her toes
9. Instagram: The mobile social networking
10. Apple: Creating magic in wearables too
11. CVS: Kicking the smoking habit
12. Taylor Swift: Saying no to low-royalty streaming services
13. Google: Another “Moon shot”, a self-driving car
14. Warby Parker: A Millenials’ favorite, taking on Luxottica
15. Chipotle: Healthy fast food
16. 72andSunny: Sizzling hot ad agency
17. SoulCycle: Robust workout for the body and wallet
18. Rent the Runway: The Netflix of designer dresses
19. Houzz: The DIY interior design site
20. Waze: The largest community-based navigation app
21. DraftKings: One-day fantasy sports league
22. Coke: The real thing in name-based packaging
23. Eataly: Spacious food bazaar
24. Birchbox: Beauty gifts for a price
25. Virgin America: Perfecting customer experience
Disruption is the new normal.
Disruptive brands understand consumer trends before they become trends and capitalize on them better than their competitors. Many of these brands understand the shift to a sharing economy and have designed their business model accordingly. For example, understanding that people avoid interruptive messaging, for the overwhelming majority of these brands traditional advertising is not a major component of their business model.
Business competition has never been fiercer. Those who have been known to disrupt are watching their backs because they know the business world is a cyclical one, and they know that their cycle will some day give in to younger, nimbler, leaner, more creative and more innovative companies.
It is interesting to see how many legacy brands and companies have surrendered the mantle of innovation and disruption. Companies like Procter & Gamble, McDonald’s or Yahoo! have stopped being thought leaders and now take their inspiration from new, smaller competitors.
NOTE CREDIT: http://www.forbes.com/sites/avidan/2015/11/29/the-25-most-disruptive-brands-of-2015/?utm_campaign=Forbes&utm_source=TWITTER&utm_medium=social&linkId=19214917