As investors continue to ratchet up growth expectations in the coming years, the winning brands, big or small, will be those with a robust plan for growth.

We are about to enter a market stage where there will be two distinct winners: The elephants and the mice. The elephants are the first and second brands in their category. The mice represent the small new brands that the elephants can become afraid of at times. The last two years have brought the acceleration of many long-term consumer mega-trends: health and wellbeing, convenience, and digital adoption have all experienced five years’ worth of growth in just two.

For our elephants and mice, how will 2022 play out? During my conversations with a diverse range of leaders in the sector from marketing, transformation, and investment backgrounds, we agreed that there are three key factors influencing their performance: consumer mindset, playing both fast and slow, and managing scale.