‘Unprecedented’ may well go down as the most overused word in recent history, but marketing leaders would forgive themselves for feeling transformation fatigue in the face of a volatile economic and emotional climate.

Yet even in the midst of the sharp edges of our increasingly polarised media climate, the opportunity to do things differently is clear. While the majority of industry headlines on AI have focused on efficiency and job cuts, beyond the fear lies the possibility of a tool for creative democratisation. 

At a time of such universal challenge, it is no surprise that many brands, regardless of scale, size or heritage, are actively seeking out ways to challenge category norms. A new era of challenger marketing is upon us, where having clarity on what you are challenging and why has never been more vital to success. 

We have come a long way from the ‘move fast and break things’ era of tech innovation, but is there still further to go to redefine what it means to be a challenger brand? At a time when established brands are seeking to embrace a ‘challenger mindset’, we asked industry leaders if now is the time to reset what it means to be a challenger brand. 

Traditionally, being a challenger was about making as much noise as possible to steal attention from the big players. That worked in an era when consumers were less overwhelmed by messages and had less control over what they saw. But the marketing model has flipped from paid to earned - we can’t just talk at people and expect them to notice. Attention has to be earned. In a world of abundant content, ad blockers and increasing discernment about what brands we let into our lives, simply being disruptive for disruption’s sake is no longer enough. In fact, it often backfires.

The new wave of challenger brands will be defined not by how loudly they demand attention, but by how meaningfully they insert themselves into culture. The most effective challengers aren’t chasing headlines - they’re making themselves known by creating ideas and experiences that feel relevant, useful and valuable to consumers. They’re finding ways to connect with people by offering solutions to genuine consumer needs and problems in ways that elevate rather than interrupt culture.

In short, it’s no longer about ‘challenging the category’ by shouting louder. It’s about ‘challenging culture’ in ways that spark genuine relevance and connection - the brands that do that will be the ones that win.

Being a challenger brand used to mean gleefully taking on the big guns in your industry by rattling their cages and daring to be a bit different. Possibly whilst using the word ‘punk’. That’s no longer enough. The playing field for every brand is fragmented and fast. Your chance to connect is fleeting. And you’re not just up against your competitors. You’re up against transformative shifts in culture and media. You’re up against an Enniskillen pub who can make an ad on a phone that gets 15 million views. You’re up against algorithms. And influencers. And diminishing attention spans. And, please God let’s have one article that doesn’t talk about AI, but you know, there’s THAT. So right now every brand should be a challenger. Challenging the status quo because 94% of what we do doesn’t get noticed. Challenging themselves (and their agencies) to be more creative, more bold, more agile. Bobbing along on the sea of sameness isn’t good enough. Standing out with distinction is more vital than ever. We recently helped our client take on the might of Kellogg’s, with a 7ft unicorn and some unashamed Dad jokes. And reached 4.5 million consumers. Challenging times need challenger thinking.

You are not what you say you are. You are what you do.

At Good Kids, we’ve worked with brands that call themselves challengers but behave like copycats. You are not what you say you are. You are what you do.

Challenger status isn’t granted by market share. It is earned by mindset.

The old playbook of being louder or attacking the leader feels dated. In today’s attention economy, the strongest challengers don’t pick fights. They reframe the category. Olive Oil in a cute squeeze bottle made Grazie a household name, Spring water in a tall can with comedy based ads made Liquid Death zig when the entire category was “health obsessed”

Challenger brands win by fixing a problem or making life better. Anything else is noise.

For CMOs, three rules apply. First, define your enemy. Not always the market leader, but the stale behaviour, poor design, or tired assumption you want to overturn. Second, weaponize speed. Big brands drown in meetings. Use agility as your unfair advantage. Third, obsess over narrative. Challenger brands are not selling products, they are selling a belief system that turns customers into evangelists.

It's not time to redefine the term. It’s time to limit who we categorise as a challenger. The only job of a challenger is to fix something broken or create a better way forward. Contrarian branding does not matter as much as you think. Audience conviction does.

Traditionally, challenger brands were Davids. Smaller brands (a la Avis) trying to steal share from the giants. Market leaders maintained their positions playing defense alone. Today, if you’re not playing offense, you’re losing. 

Market leaders don’t just need to fend off category competitors; they’re wrestling with creators, celebrities, disruptors, nimble DTC entrants, and the guy who trainspots… in the gauntlet for attention.

What makes a challenger today isn’t command of market share. It’s a way of seeing the world. It’s knowing that if you’re ignorable, you die. It’s having such fear of being inconsequential, you’re unafraid to ruffle feathers.

It’s an attitude you can adopt whether you’re David or Goliath. 

In the mid-80s, when Reebok was the #1 athletics brand*, Nike took fines for Michael Jordan’s Air Jordans, just to get noticed. Then in 2018, when Nike was far and away market leader in athletics, they stood by Colin Kaepernick in an advert that caused haters to burn their trainers. Nike is as “challenger” today as it was when Phil Knight sold trainers out of a car boot. 

Ultimately, those who earn the right to our precious attention (and wallets), are those who refuse to rest on any laurels. 

Absolutely. Today the real power isn’t to challenge, but to recode: to rewrite the rules of what a category is, how its value is measured, and what influence looks like. The brands that win won’t be focused on fighting bigger incumbents on their turf, but instead how they reframe the whole pitch. Oatly turned a grocery item into a cultural statement and Monzo made banking feel like a desirable lifestyle choice, while also creating entirely new customer expectations, turning communities into engines of influence, and blurring the lines between product, media, and experience. The next generation of revered brands won’t be challengers, and I doubt they’ll like being called that either—they’ll be rule-makers, shaping not just market share, but culture far beyond their categories.

Adam Morgan’s original challenger principles still hold true. But they have been misinterpreted and misapplied over time. 

‘Challenger’ has become a vague term, often now translating into a ‘personality play’: brands simply embracing the superficiality of a ‘lighthouse identity’. Salience and strength of personality matter, of course, but that’s hygiene in the modern communications landscape. 

At its heart, ‘being a challenger’ is a strategic business decision, not simply a superficial behaviour.

Challengers’ substance lies in disrupting whole markets, which challenges leaders’ supremacy by default. 

True challengers embrace ‘intelligent naivety’: innovation at their heart, seeing categories in a whole new light. Such wholesale change isn’t necessarily attractive for risk-averse business leaders.

Classic challenger Virgin Atlantic took on British Airways with a market-changing customer experience. Airbnb rethought what a hotel could be. Huel crossed the boundaries between food and supplements.  

These are challengers with substance. They have rethought categories to undermine the leader’s dominance.

But do we need to challenge market leaders or challenge bigger societal problems nowadays?

The new wave of ‘Change brands’ like Who Gives A Crap, Ecosia and Tony’s are doing the challenging that really matters: disrupting entire supply chains and changing sectors for the greater good. 

‘Change’ is a clearer, stronger ambition. And one I think we should all get behind.