Your brand's identity clashes with industry trends. How will you navigate this challenging situation?

Don't Chase Every Trend - But Be Ready to Pivot When your brand identity clashes with industry trends, assess if it's a passing fad or a fundamental shift in consumer behavior. For communication trends, minor adjustments can align your brand while maintaining core identity. But if the trend signals your product is becoming obsolete, it's time for bold action and innovation. In that case, forget saving the brand identity. Pivot hard and fast. Reinvent your offering to meet new market demands. Your brand's survival matters more than consistency. Adapting to real shifts in consumer needs isn't "selling out" - it's smart business. Don't let brand identity sabotage your company's future.

I would lean harder into your brand identity (if you know exactly who you are and what you stand for). Who cares if it clashes with a trend? Trends come and go. Stay true to you.

Clashing with the market trend means two things: either the market is changing direction and you haven't noticed, or a new innovation is entering the market and making your product outdated. Either way, it's not a good place to be. In this case, there are a few things you can do. One option is to acquire a brand that is on trend. Another is to introduce a new product that complements your current offering and aligns with the current market trend.

Trends can be big or deep on the positive side and narrow and momentary on the negative side. Either could have a big impact on your business or none whatsoever. Identify those which are long term and with a big impact on your business and ride it.

Your customers are your most valuable asset when your brand identity clashes with industry trends. Engage with them to gain insights into what they value about your brand. This can be done through surveys, social media engagement, or focus groups. Understanding your customers' perspectives can help you refine your brand strategy to emphasize the unique aspects they love, which might be absent in the current trends. This customer-centric approach ensures that any strategic adjustments you make will resonate with your audience and strengthen their loyalty. Apple maintained its design philosophy despite industry trends, listening to its customers and fostering strong brand loyalty.

When your brand identity conflicts with industry trends, it is likely because you did not undertake the most fundamental and crucial step before launching your brand: conducting consumer research. This research is essential to understand the needs of your target segments and to identify the triggers and barriers within your product category. Without this step, you risk developing a brand identity that is irrelevant to your target audience, leading to such conflicts. Conducting thorough consumer research is a vital initial step in building any brand. It significantly increases the likelihood of success by ensuring that you understand and meet the expectations of your target segments.

Be focus on strategic positioning involves highlighting what makes your brand unique while ensuring it remains relevant. Adapt certain elements of current trends that are compatible with your brand, or find innovative ways to showcase your unique qualities. Clearly communicates about brand distinctiveness.

UGC! If you think your brand’s product is good enough and the industry trend won’t stay long, try getting as authentic as possible. UGC would do wonders. If the industry trend is well crafted to change the sector significantly, upgrading an existing product towards the market expectations should be a go-to before completely diving into creating a new product. This would do two things: 1. Provide context and targeted data to understand the audiences’ reaction to the trend. 2. Buy time to create a new product (if at all required)

Someways to get started: 1. Invest in Research and Development (R&D): Allocate resources to R&D to foster a culture of innovation. 2. Embrace Technology: Utilize the latest technologies to improve your offerings and customer experience. 3. Encourage a Culture of Innovation: Foster an environment where creativity and new ideas are encouraged. 4. Collaborate and Partner: Work with other companies, or research institutions to co-create innovative solutions. 5. Customer Feedback: Actively seek and incorporate customer feedback into your innovation process. 6. Agility and Adaptability: Be prepared to pivot and adapt your strategies based on market feedback and changing conditions.

As a challenger brand, you NEED a distinctive identity. If you are a me too product, say in fmcg category, you need to assess thoroughly consumer acceptance. If you are a premium brand, or a value added brand, you may need a new identity, as long as your prospects are not misaligned. If you are a disruptor in the new age categories like say Blinkit in India, in ecomm, go for it. A guarded, research based, test market approach may be sensible in most cases.