For years, challenger brands were treated like scrappy underdogs – clever, but not yet seen as serious contenders in a space dominated by distribution muscle and legacy budgets.

But that’s changed.

Today, it’s not the household giants setting the pace of innovation in CPG. It’s the mid-market brands. They’re faster, bolder, and closer to the customer, and they’re not just playing catch-up anymore. They’re leading.

Brands like Olipop aren’t watching Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola is watching Olipop.

Why speed is the new scale

Mid-market CPG brands operate with a different mindset. Their teams are lean, decisions happen faster, and they’re more willing to experiment and pivot.

Where a legacy brand might spend months aligning on a single campaign update, challenger brands are already on version three. They’re optimizing creative in real time, efficiently adjusting to inventory gaps, and responding to performance hour by hour.

This agility isn't just a nice-to-have. It's become a competitive advantage, especially as marketing shifts toward immediacy and personalization.

See how popular pet food brand, Jinx, streamlined retailer integrations, automated purchase paths for their shoppable campaigns, and sped up their overall time-to-market with the right shoppability partner.

Omnichannel, done right

The most effective mid-market brands don’t treat omnichannel as a handoff between teams. They don’t draw hard lines between digital and in-store, or DTC and retail. It’s all one consumer journey, starting with awareness and ending at the shelf (or the doorstep).

These brands build campaigns and shopper journeys that reflect how people actually buy  – maybe it starts with a TikTok video on Tuesday, ends with a Target run on Thursday, and never misses a chance to convert along the way.

Siete Foods is a great example of this mentality. Their storytelling, shopper experience, and retail strategy feel unified – not siloed. And it’s paid off, both in brand loyalty and acquisition.

Better measurement = smarter marketing

Mid-market brands don’t have the luxury of vague metrics. They need to know what’s working – and what isn’t.

They ask sharper questions:

• Did this campaign actually drive in-store traffic?
• Which retailer links are converting?
• Are we building retargetable audiences or just spending on impressions?
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This level of visibility used to be reserved for DTC. Now, mid-market brands are bringing it to retail too.

Culture over convention

Innovation doesn’t just come from budget. It comes from brand.

Many mid-market teams are founder-led, mission-driven, and deeply connected to their communities. They build brands that resonate on a cultural level, not just a commercial one.

From Liquid Death’s unapologetic brand voice to Mike’s Hot Honey’s DTC meets retail playbook, mid-market CPGs are building new movements as much as they’re creating new products. That level of cultural connection fuels discovery, new trials, and long-term brand loyalty.

The best challenger brands know who they are, and they invite consumers into that identity in ways legacy brands often can’t. 

Big brands are watching

Enterprise CPGs aren’t just admiring the mid-market playbook. They’re trying to adopt it.

Some are acquiring or partnering with these brands, like Keurig Dr. Pepper’s Ghost acquisition and Jack Link’s partnership with Mr. Beast. Others, like Nestlé, are standing up innovation teams to move faster and think differently. The message is clear: innovation doesn’t depend on headcount or who has the biggest budget. It depends on efficiency, flexibility, and a clear connection to the shopper.

The most exciting growth in CPG today is coming from brands that were once considered challengers. Now, they’re defining categories, shifting expectations, and shaping what comes next.

The road ahead

Mid-market CPGs continue to prove that you don’t need enterprise resources to break the mold and drive meaningful growth. What it takes is a (healthy) obsession with the shopper, creative courage backed by measurable outcomes, and the right tools to act quickly and confidently.

Pear helps make that agility possible. With real-time visibility into shopper behavior and performance signals – from which retailers are converting, to what media is driving results, to where products are actually in stock – marketers can respond with speed and precision.

Across every touchpoint, from paid social and influencer content to brand.com experiences, Pear makes the path to purchase both shoppable and measurable, with integrations across 165,000+ retailers. For CPG brands leading with bold creative or launching new products, Pear helps scale that vision without compromising brand integrity. We build tools that support authenticity while driving omnichannel performance – connecting creativity, culture, and customers to commerce.

See how Pear can help your brand build a smarter, faster marketing engine →