Disruptive marketing. What is it?
The concept of disruptive marketing can be challenging to define.
In essence, though, disruptive marketing aims to deliver innovations that cut through the outdated, stagnant strategies employed by current industry leaders – the way we’ve always done things.
The goal? To rise above existing market monopolies and transform traditional, tried-and-true methods into new and exciting opportunities.
How? While you don’t have to complete a Master of Public Policy to influence business change, you should be identifying gaps in the market and airing out novel concepts that haven’t yet been tested – experimenting with never-before-seen marketing tactics to engage, tantalise, and captivate new audiences.
All of this admittedly sounds like a lot to achieve, but, there are multiple shining examples of brands that have indeed succeeded in disrupting the market with their innovative, ingenious, and groundbreaking strategies.
Here are just some examples.
Disruptive Brand # 1: Apple
When Apple released their very first iPhone in 2007, the concept of mobile telephone communication was, in a sense, reinvented.
Touted as ‘revolutionary’, the iPhone was the first of its kind – more of a computer than a phone, to be fair. Before the iPhone, mobile phones were chunky, clunky, and conceptually basic. The iPhone’s functionality had never been seen or integrated into a mobile telecommunication device before. Essentially a mini iPad, the iPhone took the best elements of desktop computing, and the internet, and made them portable.
Fast forward to today, and we all – quite literally – have the entire World Wide Web in the palm of our hands. With the knowledge of the world at our literal fingertips, we can access basically anything with just a tap of our touchscreen: entertainment, music, education, news – we can download it all, in an instant, wherever and whenever we want.
Disruptive Brand # 2: Facebook
Facebook is another brand that has dramatically disrupted the way we communicate. The social media platform was, too, revolutionary for its time. Its main competitor? The now-defunct Myspace, whose fall from grace has now rendered it nothing more than an archaic millennial memory, a relic of simpler times – times we didn’t quite know how to use digital communication to its peak potential.
Today, Facebook is tied up with almost everything we do online – from logging in to websites to downloading and accessing apps and programs, and of course, communicating digitally – across the world. But there’s more: Facebook – and its overarching umbrella company, Meta – now has the monopoly of the social media space, with control over the majority of other social media platforms – including Instagram and Twitter (which is now simply known as ‘X’).
Disruptive Brand # 3: Netflix
Netflix has totally transformed the way we consume media today. We no longer need to queue up at Blockbuster to rent our weekly videos or even head to the local cinema to see the latest movies on the big screen.
No, Netflix has prompted entertainment consumers worldwide to pivot to content streaming. As a more convenient, more cost-effective way of accessing our favourite shows, the concept of ‘Netflix and Chill’ has become synonymous with popular culture. Admittedly though, one could argue this has given rise to a generation of couch potatoes – especially when coupled with the convenience of food delivery services such as Menulog, Deliveroo and Uber Eats.
Disruptive Brand # 4: Uber Eats
When it comes to food delivery, Uber Eats has and continues to both monopolise and disrupt the marketplace.
I’m yet to come across someone who hasn’t caved into using Uber Eats on a night they don’t feel like cooking. With Uber Eats, you’re just one click away from delicious Ramen, tangy curry, or cheesy Pizza being dropped right on your doorstep. Why wouldn’t you?
Disruptive Brand # 5: Google
And finally, where would we be without Google? The search engine giant has quite literally taken over the internet, and for good reason.
Want to look something up, and fast? Just “Google it”. Hankering to peruse a restaurant’s menu before you dine there on the weekend? We’ve almost all been guilty of quick Google to pre-select our favourite dish before we go out to eat.
With all of the world’s information centrally located on the popular search engine, it’s made finding the details we need easier than ever before.
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