How to Eat the Big Fish: 3 Trends Every Challenger Brand Needs to Know for 2022

Updated on October 15, 2024
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Challenger brands might be the little fish in a big pond, but their key advantage comes from embracing risk and innovation to stand out from all the rest. This bold desire to resist conforming with the status quo set by other brand giants extends to how these brands approach their marketing planning and strategy.

In our article “Three Trends Challenger Brands Need To Know” co-written with ClickZ, we address the top three trends challenger brands can take advantage of now to drive more value for their 2022 marketing strategy.

Here’s a sneak peak of what should be top of mind for these bold innovators:

Trend #1: Media Effectiveness

Unlike the big fish–who can use its size and strength to survive–the little fish has to be more creative and precise with its survival strategy.

The same goes with the much leaner budgets challenger brands are working with compared to the category giants they’re up against. So what does it take to make very dollar count?

Yasso’s CMO Andy Judd explains striking the right balance starts with a triangulation approach:

“Our dollars are disproportionately smaller. We have to be really thoughtful about where we spend and the creative we use…Yasso invests heavily and ‘ahead of the curve’ on people.”

Judd and his team then guide their most strategic decision-making in a collaborative effort with Yasso’s internal experts, support from their media partners and the future-focused modeling capability offered by Keen’s predictive marketing solution.

“We run a much more high-touch ecosystem of analytics and creative than I would run for larger budgets and brands,” Judd explains, “Because every dollar is so important, there tends to be an even deeper belief that every dollar has to be working, when in reality, a little higher non-working spend, especially when it comes to analytics or creative mix, will net better results.”

To discover the other two trends that should be top of mind for today’s challenger brands, check out our article with ClickZ here.

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