Why Challenger FMCG Brands Need to Stop Copying the Category Playbook

Challenger FMCG brands don’t just have a product to sell — they have something to prove. They’re fighting for awareness, distribution, shopper attention and credibility, all while competing against household names with deeper pockets and decades of brand equity.

And yet, when it comes to media and marketing, many challengers fall into the same trap: they copy what big brands do.

Broad digital buys. Generic outdoor. Templated social. A few price-led promos. It’s the “cookie-cutter” approach — the default media plan the category has relied on for years.

But here’s the truth: what works for an established brand rarely works for a challenger. Big brands win through scale, saturation and familiarity.

Challengers need something very different: identity, positioning and distinctiveness.

The Problem With “Cookie-Cutter” Media

Most off-the-shelf FMCG media plans are built for brands that are already known.TV, broad digital display, catch-all social, retailer banners — these formats reinforce brands that consumers already recognise. They work because the memory structures exist.

Challenger brands don’t have that luxury.

So when they copy those plans, three things typically happen:

1. They create noise, not meaning

A templated media mix often produces campaigns that feel interchangeable. If your creative, targeting and formats look like everything else in the aisle, shoppers have no reason to stop, notice or remember you.

Awareness alone isn’t enough — it has to mean something.

2. They waste budget on reach instead of relevance

Big brands can afford inefficient reach because their sheer presence makes it worthwhile. Challengers need every pound to work harder — and that means focusing on impressions that convert, not impressions that exist.

3. They dilute the thing that actually gives them power: difference

Challengers win on identity, personality, values, mission, flavour, or founder story.None of that survives a cookie-cutter plan. It gets sanded down into something safe, broad, and forgettable.

And forgettable is fatal when you’re small.

What Challenger Brands Must Do Instead

The brands that break through aren’t the ones shouting the loudest — they’re the ones that signal who they are, with intent and clarity, at moments that matter.

Here’s what a challenger-focused media mindset looks like:

Start with distinctiveness, not media channels

What makes you different? Clean ingredients? A cultural viewpoint? A flavour no one else dares to make? A rebellious tone? Start there. That is the engine of your media, not the channel plan.

Lean into precision over broadcasting

Challengers win by getting in front of the right people, not more people. Think about formats that allow depth of engagement: sampling, immersive digital content, partnerships, influencers who actually believe in the product, retailer activation that makes someone stop the trolley.

Invest in brand, not just performance

Performance campaigns alone won’t build long-term preference. Challengers with strong identity — bold visuals, a recognisable tone, a viewpoint all build mental availability faster because the brand "sticks" in the consumer’s mind.

Identity is cheap to scale. Performance is expensive to scale and smart brands balance both.

Be comfortable breaking category rules

Categories become homogenous over time. Challengers are expected — almost required — to break the pattern.

If every kombucha brand uses soft pastel tones, maybe yours goes bold and graphic. If every craft snack brand does rustic brown paper, maybe yours goes neon. If every beverage brand plays safe on social, maybe you speak like a human, not a press release.

Challengers that win don't blend in — they challenge the aesthetic, the tone and the norms.