The “Promiscuous” Consumer… disrupting legacy brands faster than ever!!

 

 

I have commented over the years in this forum about the “fickleness” of consumers.  Many years ago, I wrote an essay (https://fylegacy.blogspot.com/2014/11/brand-loyalty-dangerous-and-outmoded.html) expounding on the idea that the “brand loyalty” and the “brand adoption model” were dangerous and outmoded ideas.  Writing this in early 2026, I am convinced that those musings were not only true, but the dynamic of “promiscuous consumers” disrupting legacy brands is actually accelerating.

This idea/concept first hit my radar in the late 1980’s.  In those years, before I found my way to Coke, I was the brand manager for Breyers Ice Cream, in those years owned by Kraft Foods.  In 1988, Phillip Morris (the tobacco giant) which owned General Foods acquired Kraft and combined the operations into a large food conglomerate name KGF.  As part of the integration process, I went to meetings in General Foods HQ (White Plains NY) to meet their marketing teams and work on integration plans.  On one of those trips, I just happened to “sit in” on a meeting being held by the V.P. of Marketing for Maxwell House Coffee, one of General Food’s historic and iconic brands.  The team was discussing an upstart “coffee shop” brand emerging from Seattle with an odd name….. yes, Starbucks.  They laughed at the “burnt taste” of the dark roasted coffee, the fact you could only buy it at a Starbucks store ( it wasn’t until 1998 that Starbucks coffee became available in grocery stores) and that there was a whopping 50+/- Starbucks locations in the entire U.S. at that time!  The final “mockery” was the V.P. prognosticating that NO ONE in America would ever pay $1.00 for a cup of coffee.  The team laughed, dropped that topic and moved onto what seemed to them the bigger challenges of the day.

I think back to that moment today, with 16k+ Starbucks locations in the U.S., 40k+ across the world, and reflect on Starbucks as the legacy brand today that is being disrupted from every angle.  This cycle/dynamic is accelerating in the food and beverage space and indeed is true across a wide array of consumer facing categories.  The consumers that I described as “promiscuous” are doing the logical thing… assessing their current choices of food, beverages, restaurants, cars, technology, clothing, and even lawn and garden brands and are wondering ( or doing live AI driven research) looking for “better” options.  We will dig deeper into this “better” definition in a future essay, but for today think about “(Q+C)/$” or Quality and Convenience delivered, divided by price.

Consideration for Disruptor Brands:  The headline hear is “go for it!”  I deeply believe that there are NO legacy brands that are invulnerable… regardless of category.  Now many legacy brands have incredible “moats” and can play defense or counterattack very well, with lots of resources so disruptor brands shouldn’t be naïve about the fights ahead.  Remember the “Differentiation Formula” that I shared years about the D/P/A model: “Distinctive” in the market/category you are competing, “Preferred” by core consumers/users, “Advantaged” vs competition.  If your disruptor offering hits the D/P/A model well, play hard and play fast… most legacy brands are slow to respond.

Consideration for Legacy Brands: The headline here is accelerate your work and your market awareness and always operate with a “pebble in the shoe”.  Be paranoid and imagine that you are surrounded by a myriad of brands that wont to destroy your brand and source their volume from YOUR business.  Don’t assume ANY competitor is too small, too niche, too obscure, or too expensive (remember those $1 cups of coffee.)  Work the D/P/A model hard on your side of things… and keep building/strengthening the competitive “moats” that will help you defend…. but you can’t stay purely reactive and defensive!  EVERY brand and business always needs to be “re-recruiting” its consumer base and be sure you are clear why a “promiscuous” consumer who has never tried your brand should try it tomorrow!