Big brands fall as small community and social brands rise

As the world’s love affair with big brands dwindles and the billion dollar global brands of Proctor and Gamble and Unilever loose their sparkle, we are seeing the rise of more tribal, community market driven brands. Local produce is flourishing, as are amateur brands, both blooming against the decline of the big brands.

Today almost everyone knows an m-commerce entrepreneur, my neighbor developed picster a knock out app, while a colleague of mine said her mate developed the ubiquitous www.beattheQ.com, a way to order and pay ahead for your coffee. BeattheQ is an app so devastingly simple it is hard to believe it wasn’t invented years ago. Grass roots, kitchen table innovation is revolutionizing the mobile platform, with one man operations with a great idea cracking the market big time. Pffft, to the economic advantage of scale.

Brands and products are becoming more social in nature. The values of artisan, the fresh designs of an innovator, the feelings of human connectedness embodied in a product, yes these are the very drivers that are toppling the iconic billion dollar brands.

Even big brands are acting small, Carmen’s museli, which started at a revenue of $80,000 in 1991, turning over $50 million today, still presents like a kitchen table start up. Tapping into the big acting small trend, Coles commissioned Victoria’s south-west, Warrnambool Cheese & Butter, to produce the Great Ocean Road range of products for Coles. Keeping it authentically local, at the end of 5 years Warrnambool, will retain ownership of the brand. Yet another example of big business acting small, joining the community and fostering community based brands.

So brands are taking a dive back into the community, becoming more grass roots, social, local, mobile and cultural. Barriers of entry have dissolved and small players take their time in the sun.

Big business has comeback strategy though, it’s the power of big data. Stay tuned for our next post on big data and the future of internet powered intelligent machines.

Louise Kelly

Managing Director Hearts and Minds

www.heartsandminds.com.au

Founder Thought Leaders Circle

http://www.thoughtleaderscircle.com

A plug for my neighbour’s picster app

New York: http://picster.me/a/BGQ2W6

Paris: http://picster.me/a/79SDX8

Hong Kong: http://picster.me/a/7RZ8H2

Mexico: http://picster.me/a/KQDH2Y

Tokyo: http://picster.me/a/WU23XS

Max: http://picster.me/a/PNARQE