Tackling ‘muscle memory’: Brands in new categories on disrupting norms to grow
Brands in emerging categories often have to be disruptive in how they approach product, price and place to create value in unchartered territory.
Brands in new categories don’t have an established playbook they can simply adapt to fit their goals and product. They are faced with a consumer unfamiliar with their product, where to find it and how much it costs.
Marketers leading brands in nascent categories must work out how to forge their own path to drive growth. In these instances, marketers must effectively optimise product, price and place to cement both their brands and their categories in the minds of consumers.
A giant entering a nascent category
There are two types of brands in a nascent category; those which establish the category and other brands that launch into the growing area.
The Richmond brand has been going since 1889, but it was only in 2019 the company launched into the then-rapidly growing meat alternative category with its meat-free sausages. The decision to enter a new category was made when the brand was looking for new paths to grow.
