Disruption fatigue is real. Now what?

Opinion

Brands need to stop fighting to be noticed and start fighting to be remembered. Disruptive work rents eyeballs, but legendary brands earn real estate in people’s minds, says JOAN London’s executive creative director.

Has any word in marketing become more confused than “disruption”?

Every brand now wants to be seen as a disruptor. Small brands are trying to cut through, big brands are trying to look exciting, and in the social media age, this usually means chasing attention-grabbing moments on platforms like TikTok.

Disruption has become the new ‘viral’: shorthand for noise rather than change. And frankly, it’s exhausting. Consumers are tired of being shouted at under the guise of boldness. They’re sick of brands competing for attention around things they don’t really care about. Ad folk are equally worn out by briefs demanding we “break the internet” (when let’s face it, the internet broke itself years ago).

The big question is: what does any of it actually achieve for brands?

The problem with short-term disruption

It’s hard out there – I get it. We used to be able to buy attention through linear TV and enforced ad breaks; now there are endless channels, brands and creators, and an infinite amount of content. We’re all fighting to be seen by people who just aren’t bothered.

To be relevant, you have to be noticed, and sometimes that means being loud. At the right moment, it can work. But the problem is that it usually only works in the short term.

Noisy disruption doesn’t necessarily equal memorability, and brands need to be remembered. That’s increasingly being forgotten as we chase these short-term spikes that look impressive, but rarely translate into sustained business results. 

Disruption is a behaviour, not a campaign

A big part of the problem is brands mistaking disruption for an output: a one-off campaign or a moment. Real disruption should happen upstream, in the product, the business model, the way value is delivered or the way a brand behaves over time. Think back a decade to the first disruptors, like Uber, Netflix and Monzo – they were born to transform how their categories worked.

Disruption should always be grounded in innovation and difference, not shouting the loudest. It should be rooted in an understanding of the consumer, the category and the brand itself.

When brands forget that, their work becomes performative, and consumers can usually see straight through it. Ideas become loud but hollow, eye-catching but forgettable. Instead of building distinctiveness, the brand creates confusion or backlash because that credibility piece just isn’t there.

 What disruption should look like today?

To be a truly disruptive brand, you have to behave like one.

You can be a heritage business or a start-up, but you must continually innovate in what you offer or how you deliver. This is not a one–and–done; disruption needs to operate as a strategy, not a campaign.

Liquid Death, for example, is disruptive at its core: canned water designed to look like beer. Everything it does reinforces that difference, and that consistency is what makes it work.

Next, brands need to stop fighting to be noticed and start fighting to be remembered. Disruptive work rents eyeballs, but legendary brands earn real estate in people’s minds.

Think of memorability like compound interest. It isn’t created with a single big stunt, but with a series of moments that build attention over time. A drumbeat of ideas that build unfair talkability and, eventually, memory.

If Jacquemus had stopped after its faux-OOH video of oversized bags driving through Paris went viral, the world might have forgotten it. But the brand consistently builds on its playful, creative DNA, expressing it in different ways. Against the backdrop of a relatively homogeneous luxury sector, that personality cuts through.

Finally, understand how your brand fits within the culture. Don’t try to disrupt every cultural moment just for the sake of it – it’s perfectly okay to be silent when that moment has nothing to do with your brand.

It’s about the long game

Maybe the real issue is the word itself. Think about it: how many of us want to feel ‘disrupted’ in our lives? It shouldn’t be about shouting for attention, regardless of whether it’s welcome. It should be rooted in what your audience cares about and what you have a right to talk about consistently, and it doesn’t always need to be loud.

What matters is the long-term effect, not the short-term spikes. So if you want to be a disruptive brand, focus on being remembered, not just noticed. Build a point of view and let interest compound, rather than chasing trends or copying other brands.

And most importantly, ask why you want to disrupt at all. Is it driven by strategy, or by ego? 

Because only one of those builds memory. The other just adds to the noise.

Kirsty Hathaway is executive creative director at JOAN London