Interbrand Launches 2020 Breakthrough Brands US Report: The 30 Challenger Brands Set to Disrupt Their Markets

Silicon Valley de-throned as center of start-up innovation

3x more likely to have a woman or a person of color as CEO than Fortune 500 companies

Sustainability and community powering innovative growth

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Jul 16, 2020, 00:01 ET

NEW YORK, July 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Interbrand – the world's leading brand consultancy – today launched its 2020 Breakthrough Brands report, unveiling the 30 brands set to revolutionize their markets.

From sleek, high-end digital home gyms (Mirror) and alt-meat plant foods (Impossible Foods) to bio-engineers (Ginkgo) and AI-driven lawyers (Legalist), Interbrand predicts these challenger brands have got what it takes to become household names.

Interbrand’s 2020 Breakthrough Brands - the 30 challenger brands set to disrupt their markets

This year's Breakthrough Brands cohort follows in the footsteps of the likes of Deliveroo, Peloton and Glossier (2016) and Slack, TaskRabbit, and Flipkart (2017) tipped for success in Interbrand's two previous reports.

Since the first report in 2016, innovation has shifted from the tech start-up epicenter of Silicon Valley and has moved away from massive software and marketplace enterprises that simply connected buyers to sellers via a digital platform.

There is also a significant shift in leadership – within the 30 Breakthrough Brands 27% have a CEO who is a person of color and 30% have a CEO who is a woman, compared with only a 10% CEO representation for either demographics in Fortune 500 companies.

Five themes of innovation emerge from the 2020 Breakthrough Brands:

Powered by community: serving thriving subcultures (StockX for sneakerheads) or nurturing community through built-in interactive options like Mirror – the sleek interactive home gym that looks like a mirror when not in use.

Sustainable consumerism: tackling complex infrastructure solutions for corporations that are too entrenched to reimagine entire components of their business – such as Loop, the recyclable and reusable packaging company.

Values as status symbols: catering for the shift from overt consumption of expensive items to nonvisible, highly expensive goods and services. Brands such as dosist – the stylish cannabis vape and delivery company.

Digital first health: helping people control their mental, emotional, and physical well-being outside the confines of traditional healthcare – as seen with the wearable tech of the Elvie breast pump or Maven, offering a holistic approach to fertility, pregnancy and postpartum care.

Playful brands: Self-expression, creativity and rule-breaking design and marketing are hallmarks of many of the 30 Breakthrough Brands. From alt-meat company Impossible Foods through to millennial beauty brand Milk Makeup.

Daniel Binns, CEO, Interbrand New York, said: "We're delighted to celebrate the 30 brands awarded Breakthrough status in North America.

"These brands are at a critical point in their journey – the stakes are high but the opportunities even greater. We're eager to see how these brands adapt to today's challenges and the emerging trends of tomorrow – turning just surviving into wildly thriving."

Rachel Konrad, Chief Communications Officer at Impossible Foods, said: "Impossible Foods' unprecedented mission is to eliminate the need for climate change-inducing animal agriculture by making plant-based foods more delicious, nutritious and convenient.

"Given the magnitude and urgency of the mission, Impossible Foods' communications team doesn't merely promote the company's products or brand; we are catalyzing a mainstream, mass-market consumer movement to accelerate the inevitable switch to a sustainable food system.

"No one has ever done this before—so we reject nearly all aspects of the classical communications and marketing playbook. It's hard work! And the recognition from no less than Interbrand Breakthrough Brand is a tremendous recognition that this unconventional approach is the right one for us."

Interbrand Breakthrough Brands report is compiled via qualitative and quantitative research tools including social listening and financial data analysis. Interbrand has selected the 30 companies that best exemplify brand growth from a list of over 200.

Brands were selected against three core criteria – the ability to understand human truths (brands that meet and exceed the needs and desires of customers), creating exceptional brand experiences and delivering superior business results. Additionally, brands have been evaluated on their perceived potential to adapt and emerge from the COVID-19 crisis successfully.

The full report can be downloaded, here: https://interbrand.com/breakthrough-brands-2020

Interbrand's Breakthrough Brands 2020

A24: Indie studio darling
Cadre: Digital stock market for alternative assets
Canva: The Adobe disrupter
Chime: Biggest digital bank
Devoted: Individualized health plans
Dosist: Innovative marijuana pen
Elvie: Women's wellness for 21^st Century
Flexport: Logistics disruptor
Ginkgo: Biology programmers
Impossible Foods: Meat-alts for everyone
Legalist: Tech-savvy small business advocate
Loop: Sustainable circular service model
Maven: Holistic care throughout every stage of the family journey
Milk Makeup: Gen Z's cult makeup brand
Mirror: Sleek solution for at-home fitness
MSCHF: Postmodernist hype art brand
Neon: Risk-takers and tastemakers in film
Oatly: Mainstreaming oat milk
Rivian: True utility all-electric vehicles
Seedlip: First distilled non-alcoholic spirit
Snowflake: Cloud data superhero
StockX: The sneaker stock market
Teachers Pay Teachers: Teacher knowledge exchange
Teladoc: Pioneering telemedicine services
The Action Network: Digital-native sports betting
The Citizenry: Home goods for the responsible global citizens
The Information: Exclusive Silicon Valley content
The RealReal: Seamless, chic thrifting
ThirdLove: Lingerie for every woman
Turo: User-to-user car rentals

Notes to editors

The full Breakthrough Brands 2020 methodology is available here.

About Interbrand

Interbrand has been the world's leading brand consultancy, for over 40 years - having pioneered iconic work and forged many of the brand building tools that are now commonplace.

We know that in an age of unprecedented abundance of choice and speed of innovation, customers' expectations are moving faster than businesses. While incremental change is still essential, it's no longer sufficient. It takes bold moves to leap ahead of customers and competitors. We call them Iconic Moves.

In collaboration with many of the world's leading brands, our global team of thinkers and makers are pioneering the future of brand building. By turning customers into active participants, we help our clients strengthen their brands on an ongoing basis – our approach gives them the confidence to make Iconic Moves that spark desire and create utility, driving extraordinary results.

Interbrand is part of The Brand Consulting Group of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC). For more information, please visit www.interbrand.com.

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SOURCE Interbrand