History is written by the victors; so too in marketing, where large, category-leading brands provide much of the empirical evidence for how brands grow. In many cases, it is impossible for smaller brands to replicate this recipe for success, but by defying category norms and media strategies, challenger brands can achieve growth.

Finding a ‘Relative Advantage’

To understand how challenger brands can grow, Bountiful Cow analysed over 200 cases from the IPA Databank from 2010 to 2022. It found that smaller advertisers used at least one of seven behaviours to “outsmart”, rather than outspend, the competition.

1. Targeting an audience...