KEY TAKEAWAY: The same changes are showing up across very different categories. The moment matters more than the customer type, younger consumers are moving first, and brands win by being easy to find when it counts. Our new Category Signals series explores each shift and what it means for growth.
Why do small shifts in the data matter?
Big changes in how people choose brands rarely arrive as headlines. They show up first as small movements in the data: a few points of switching intent, a new discovery channel that grows faster than anyone planned for, a gap between two age groups that widens quarter after quarter. By the time those movements reach market share, the brands that read them early have already acted.
That’s the idea behind Category Signals. Each article looks at one category, identifies the signal in Kantar data that matters most for its growth, and sets out what CMOs should do about it.
What is a category signal?
A category signal is an early, measurable shift in how consumers choose within a category that points to where brand growth will come from next. Signals can show up in needs, in how people discover brands, in which brands come to mind, or in how willing people are to switch. The signal itself is rarely the largest number in a dataset. Its value lies in the direction it moves and in what it means for the brands that act on it first.
Which signals repeat across categories?
The occasion is beating the customer label
Marketers have long segmented by who the customer is. The data increasingly shows that why and when they are buying predicts choice better. Timing is key, with Kantar data showing campaigns are seven times more impactful among a receptive audience. Consumers who do not buy a category often want the same things from it as those who do, just with less intensity. Growth comes from designing for the occasion and removing the barriers that stop a familiar need from turning into a purchase.
Younger consumers are moving first
Younger adults are often more engaged with a category than older consumers, more likely to discover new reasons to use it and quicker to adopt new ways of finding brands. The next generation of high-value customers is forming its preferences now, often in channels and moments that historical strategies were not built for.
Being chosen depends on being found at the moment
Familiarity is losing some of its power to predict choice. Brands can be known by fewer people and still come to mind more easily for the ones who matter, while AI assistants are changing where that first impression happens. Marketers are moving fast: Kantar research shows a net 75% plan to increase investment in AI assistants in 2027, yet only 23% of consumers trust the recommendations they get from them. That gap leaves real work to do in the channel where budgets are heading. Growth goes to the brand that is present, clear and trusted at the moment of decision.
What does this mean for brand growth?
The common thread is that the old shortcuts are losing their predictive power. Demographic segments, broad awareness and fixed channel plans still matter, and each is a less reliable guide to who will choose a brand next quarter. Kantar tracks these shifts continuously, across categories and quarter by quarter, so marketers can see them while there is still time to act. It reflects a simple belief behind Kantar’s work as a brand intelligence company: the earlier a brand understands how choice is changing, the more of the resulting growth it can claim.
Want to spot the next signal in your category before competitors do? Take a self-guided tour here.
