At a time when budgets are stretched, all brands are striving to get the most out of their marketing. 

Being a ‘challenger’ means going against category norms, doing things differently and embracing new ways of thinking. While we might have come a long way from a ‘move fast and break things’ era of innovation, more than ever, the challenger brand mentality is resonating far and wide.

At the Gerety Awards Grand jury insights event, Maria Lashari, Founder and Creative Director at 1000WORLDS, shared, “work that the world can’t ignore will always win.” Earned media, impact in culture and doing more with less is unlocking creative excellence. 

We asked the industry: Is it time to redefine what it means to be a challenger brand?

It's absolutely time to redefine what it means to be a challenger brand. Because frankly, too many brands have mistaken noise for nerve.

Once upon a time, being a challenger meant going toe-to-toe with the category leader. But today, that David-and-Goliath narrative is a bit tired; and in my view, a bit narrow. Challenger thinking shouldn’t just be for second place brands or startups. Nor should it be about contrarianism for its own sake.

It’s not always about ‘punching up’ like Burger King, or even sideways like Oatly. Sometimes it’s about reclaiming overlooked value - like Hellmann’s tackling food waste or Liquid Death reinventing water. Or championing a new ritual, as Seedlip did for the sober-curious.

True challengers don’t just disrupt conventions, they reframe them. Be they market leader or not, they challenge the unspoken assumptions baked into their business, their category, their culture, and even their model. That takes intellectual, aesthetic and commercial bravery, not just bold comms. Just ask Airbnb.

So, let’s stop seeing challenger brands as second-place scrappers. A true challenger mindset runs deeper than marketing; it challenges the way a brand thinks, behaves and creates value. The best don’t just fight for share; they fight for change.

If you’re asking if it’s time to redefine what it means to be a challenger brand, you’re late to the game. Brands are already doing it.

Challengers don’t build from the C-suite down. They build from the community, up. 

When the e.l.f. community asked for bigger sizes of Power Grip Primer, e.l.f. released a tube that was three times larger and a dispenser that was 50 times larger than the original. And gave the new sizes community-inspired names like Gripzilla and Sticky Bitch.

Challengers don’t run from the chaos. They curate it.

In 2025, it can be easy to try to avoid the storm. The world is trying to kill you, best to ignore it. Instead, Columbia decided to harness the hell out of it, turning it into a perspective on the great outdoors that felt raw, real, and somehow simultaneously flippant and serious.

Challengers don’t stick to their category. They jump it.

Liquid Death sells water. But they don’t sell some mountain glacier like Evian. They sell water like it’s a beer brand. What they’re actually in the business of, though, is entertainment. They’re an entertainment brand that happens to sell great tasting, sustainably-packaged water.

'Challenger brand' has become a lazy articulation for any business with a challenger model, of which there are an infinite number. In 2024 alone, there were 82,000 new e-commerce brand launches. Are they challenger brands or just challenger business ideas and models?

In truth for every challenger business out there, there are a tiny number of true challenger brands in each market. True challenger brands understand how to act in a way that focuses on delivering disproportionate 'brand pricing power' in their marketing investments, behaviours and actions, far exceeding conventional resources. And they are brave enough to not obsess solely about short term ROIs.

So perhaps the question is no longer, "Are you a challenger brand?" but rather, "Are you a challenger power brand?" If you are, great - you have the chance to rise above the thousands of other businesses that will never truly make it. But if you’re not really honest with yourself about that, the sad truth is you’ll never really be worth more than you sales book. 

It’s not just time to redefine the term 'challenger brand', it’s time to burn the old definition down. Challenger used to mean small budgets, underdog mentality, guerrilla tactics. But in today’s landscape, true challenger energy has nothing to do with size. It’s about mindset. Amazon can be a challenger. So can a two-person start-up. The difference is posture. Are you questioning the rules or playing by them?

The next generation of challengers aren’t just disrupting categories, they’re dismantling them. They’re rewriting what it means to belong, to sell, to be useful. They don’t ask, “How do we beat the leader?” They ask, “Why does the category exist like this at all?”

In a world of rinse and repeat marketing, the real challengers are the ones who see boredom as the enemy, not budget. They zig where everyone else scrolls. They combine creativity with commercial ruthlessness. They build movements, not just brands.

So yes, we need a new definition. Challenger brands aren’t behind. They’re just brave enough to build what’s next.

It's time to move past the image of a scrappy startup fighting a Goliath and focus on what's truly being challenged: the way we work.

In an industry (I’m going to say it) that’s overwhelmed by metrics, stakeholder sign-offs, and decisions by committee, the new challengers are the brands that trust their people. They've realised that instead of fighting external competitors, they're fighting internal paralysis. So they challenge their own processes, stripping away bureaucracy to give creative teams the freedom to do their best work. This isn't about ignoring data; it's about re-evaluating its role entirely. Harnessing both data and tech, and combining it with creativity to deliver real results. Instead of watering down the work with endless rounds of testing and iteration, these brands are brave enough to let their people follow an idea - even if it leads to a dead end. 

After all, if you’re not getting some duds, you’re not trying enough.

This is the new, more pointed definition of a challenger. It's about having the courage to do less, but doing it with more conviction. By putting faith in their people and their agencies, the new breed of challenger brands bypass the generic work that comes from having to please everyone. This isn’t a label you adopt - it's a culture you build.