The Secret To Brand Relevance: Disruptive Innovation

Relevance is what keeps brands strong, healthy, and better prepared to win in the future. Here’s a look at brands that get high marks from consumers—as well as some advice for boosting your own brand relevance.

If “disruption” has become simply an over-used buzzword to you, and you’ve lost sight of why it matters so much to companies, then take a quick look at the winners in the latest Prophet Brand Relevance Index.

We asked consumers (the people who ultimately matter most) a series of questions designed to discover which brands mean the most to them, the brands people simply can’t imagine living without. Seven of the top 10 brands on the list provide a lesson on the value of disruption.

Apple, Amazon, Android, Netflix, Google, Nike, and Pinterest all offer experiences so fundamentally modern that even their recent past feels like ancient history. It’s hard to remember when Netflix was an envelope in our mailbox or Amazon simply a website that sold stuff. These are brands committed to wowing customers not once or even twice, but constantly. And in doing so, they’ve made perpetual change a part of their personality. Their disruption has made them relentlessly relevant to consumers.

The Brand Relevance Index ranks more than 300 brands, based on four main dimensions of relevance: pragmatism, inspiration, customer obsession, and innovation. Many brands outperformed their competitors because they focused on innovating new ways to make consumers’ lives better. But the brands that top the list—those that outperform all others—harness the unparalleled powers of disruptive innovation. They are constantly working to reinvent not only themselves, but their categories as well.

Our data shows that disruption happens quickly. Being well-known and large does not necessarily equal being loved. A brand that can come in and disrupt through innovation can quickly change the industry dynamic.

Disruption Versus A Better Mousetrap

Consumers are inclined to appreciate boldness. Amazon, perhaps the most disruptive brand ever, is the poster child for relentless relevance. We never knew we needed Amazon Prime until we had it; we never imagined that Amazon would produce shows that win Emmys and advance diversity—or that it would give millions a household assistant named Alexa.

Tesla is another excellent example of disruption. It zooms past such long-revered brands as Audi, Lexus, and Subaru. It’s astonishing when you think how few people have likely ever sat in a Tesla, let alone driven one. But as its reputation for innovation spreads, it’s a brand on the cusp of moving from “I think this brand is cool” to “I have to have one.” Based on its scores in our survey, we’re not surprised to see that Tesla recently turned its first profit, or that some 373,000 eager consumers have ponied up $35,000 to get one of the first Model 3s.

Others that score high on the Brand Relevance Index are innovators, if not true disruptors, and they do perpetually reinvent themselves. Southwest Airlines hasn’t fundamentally changed air travel the way Uber changed transit, for instance. But it’s an example of a company that’s gained exceptional growth by steadily disrupting itself, and in doing so, changed the game. By obsessively listening to its customers, it’s working hard to be the best version of itself, with bags that fly free, innovative rewards, and new appeal for business travelers. Passengers feel that commitment and reward it.

Virgin, on the other hand, is a brand many people admire for its brash swagger. But they don’t find it nearly as meaningful. It ranks lowest of all the airlines we studied.

Adobe is another brand people find highly relevant. The decision to recast itself as the Creative Cloud company, one that speaks to a whole class of people who now see it as more than just the maker of single products like Photoshop, makes sense to consumers. It creates a connection with them, which makes it a more relevant brand. (Note: Adobe is CMO.com’s parent company.)

An important ingredient here is relentlessness because without it, even the most successful innovation can quickly be commoditized and even taken for granted. Costco fell from No. 14 to No. 30 in our survey, for instance, and Spotify dropped from No. 8 to No. 51. Are they any less wonderful than they were in the prior year? Probably not. They’re just not innovating fast enough to keep up with their customers’ expectations.

Starbucks offers an even more compelling example. It has done such an exceptional job of turning coffee into an everyday American ritual that it’s tumbled to No. 132 this year, from No. 41 last year. Why isn’t the name of a company that sells 4 billion cups of coffee a year on everyone’s lips? We think it is because it’s slacked off on relentless innovation, and customers sense it.

Given the fact that disruption and innovation is such an important dimension of building a relevant brand, it’s important to build it into your DNA. But where to begin?

Here are three things you can do today:

1. Take smart risks: Disruptive innovation only happens when organizational leaders summon the courage to do something in a new way.

You’ve got to handicap the potential downside of any gamble you take, and there’s no such thing as perfect information. But when committed leaders develop a vision and work with great talent to make it a reality, great things often result and consumers open their wallets.

2. Know what you stand for: Amazon is the best logistics operator in the world, and everything it’s doing to grow is based on this world-class competency. Southwest has a knack for retaining some of the most agile and customer-focused employees in the industry, so no matter what the company brings to market, its people can deliver it. And Tesla believes it will fundamentally change the world in ways we can only imagine, and it will stop at nothing to bring the future here tomorrow.

Being absolutely clear on your core competencies, values, and ambitions will help you put the right energies behind your disruption efforts.

3. Listen to your consumers—and your employees: Be completely obsessed with knowing what more you can do for your customers before someone else figures it out. Front-line employees, whether they’re standing on store floors or sitting in call centers, have their pulse on customer needs, pain points, and opportunities.

Make sure you have listening mechanisms built into your company’s processes and culture to be able to hear the perspectives of your people. The next great idea could be one of theirs.

No brand can afford to lose relevance. We’ve found it to be a chief driver of growth. The top 50 brands in our previous index outperformed the S&P 500 in revenue growth by an average of 6% in the last decade.

Relevance is what keeps brands strong, healthy, and better prepared to win in the future. And to stay relevant, brands must embrace disruptive, relentless innovation.