Being a dominant brand today is a good predictor of still being dominant five years later – but no guarantee.

Today we look at the performance of leading brands between 2016 and 2021, but also at the likelihood of non-leading brands to climb to one of the Top positions in the category.

4% of #1 Brands in 2021 were not even in the Top 10 five years earlier, 5% of #1 Brands in 2016 dropped out of the Top 10

1 in 20 Personal Care, but only 1 in 50 Beverage category leaders came out of the blue (i.e. not in the Top 10 five years earlier). Dropping out of the Top 10 as a category leader is also more likely in Personal Care than in Beverages.

3 in 4 leading brands defend their Top position and 9 in 10 remain in the Top 3

Irrespective of the category type in which you compete, 3 out of 4 category leaders are still the #1 Brand five years later. 9 out of 10 are still among the Top 3 with Beverage categories showing the lowest dynamics in terms of brand movement: 95% of leaders are still in the top 3 five years later.

Smaller brands can manage to crack the Top 3 but it’s much more likely they drop out of the Top 10

4 out of 10 smallish brands (#4 to #10 in a category) in 2016 have dropped out of the Top 10 in their category by 2021. 8% have cracked the Top 3 – a number which is very similar across different category types.