Pushing the Boundaries: How Challengers achieve their bold ambitions
By Tara Henderson
A key trait of any Challenger brand is that they have ambitions that outweigh their resources. They are consistently punching above their weight. Because their ambition surpasses their category, they look beyond their competitive set. They aren’t striving to just be the best amongst their peers, they are fighting to take up more real estate beyond the bounds of their category. This forces Challengers to think and show up differently, to not adhere to typical category norms, which is often the reason why they create such outsized impact.
Bold Bean Co doesn’t just want to be the biggest bean brand, they want beans to be the star of the plate. But it isn’t just their brand they champion – to do this they aspire to elevate beans as an entire category. They think beans have been neglected for far too long and deserve more recognition. So, they don’t see their competitive set as beans. Instead, they see meat or even a meal like avocado on toast as their competition.
This big ambition has driven Bold Bean Co to think differently about their product, their audience and their brand. They understand that to deliver on their ambition, they need to raise their entire category’s profile – for beans to be seen as the go-to choice for every meal and not as a last resort from the back of the cupboard.
As CEO and Founder Amelia Christie-Miller told us, Bold Bean Co are obsessed with beans and on a mission to make everyone else obsessed too. What’s their secret recipe? Well not only do they pour time and effort into sourcing and making the finest quality beans, but they see themselves as a food media company too. On their website and socials, they share recipes and food content, all of which puts beans at the heart of every meal, showing off their versatility (they’re not just for chilli con carne by the way!). Crucially, they are creating content that champions not just their products but all beans. Already reaping the rewards, they have created a community for foodies and the bean obsessed who have become brand advocates. In fact, 20% of their consumers heard about them through word-of-mouth, which is frankly unheard of for a store cupboard ingredient.
Raising their ambition is not only serving them well now, but it has also made them fit for the future. Wanting to be a part of every mealtime, their most recent product range of baked beans is taking on the ready meal. Only brands who raise their ambitions like Bold Bean Co can see opportunities like this more clearly and have greater permission to launch new products to answer consumer needs.
