3 Questions to Ask Before You Plan for 2027

It’s planning season for brands, but how do you plan amidst the chaos? Consumers these days are eating and drinking in fast-evolving, often unrecognizable ways – dayparts, meals, food formats are all getting thrown out and redefined. Add in geopolitics, inflation and technology, and it can feel overwhelming.

How, then, do you build for 2027?

At times like these – when multiple factors are in upheaval – the most important thing you can do is pause and reconfirm the assumptions underlying your business. Unlike in previous years, the surprising data in your H1 performance review may not just be an anomaly; it may be pointing towards where growth is shifting.

Right now, I believe there are 3 questions every founder needs to answer before committing to plans for 2027. The answers will affect your ambition and how you go after it.

1. What category are you in?

Consider the ways in which category boundaries are blurring: Ice cream popsicles sit in the produce section. Breakfast now is a bowl of cereal or a protein-packed powder. Consumers eat breakfast for dinner and dinner for breakfast, even as meals turn into snacks and snacks throw into question the whole existence of meals.

In this overlapping, messy consumer picture, where does your brand sit in the retail store? Is this still the right category for you?

Here’s why this requires a close review. In the store, your consumer may be looking for you somewhere other than where you're shelved. This means every dollar you're budgeting for sampling and social campaigns could be driving awareness for a product people can't find. The key driver for growth next year may not be more advertising budget, but rather ensuring consumers can find you where they expect to see you. This means a different kind of conversation with your retail partner.

The category you find yourself in is not always in your control; the retailer often decides for you. This is a discussion worth having with your retail partner, however, with the right data and shopper understanding to press home the point. The payoff — or cost — is significant for both the brand and the retailer.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Pulse check: talk to 5 consumers about how they're using your brand. If you get different answers, it's worth taking a closer look at which category you should be playing in.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Scattered answers don’t mean merchandising tweaks. They point to a decision about which category you're actually fighting for in next year's line review.

2. Who are you competing with?

This is another assumption experiencing unprecedented upheaval. You might be competing with players beyond the typical set that you see from retail data providers for your category.

The best way to figure this out is to consider what your consumer does when you're not available. It's no longer reasonable to assume they’ll grab the next thing on the shelf. A kombucha drinker might reach for kefir, which sits in an entirely different section of the store, because both share the probiotic benefit even if not the format. Or, they’ll opt for iced tea — for a shared afternoon, low-caffeine occasion, even if not a functional swap.

To be sure, substitutes have always existed; the difference now is that a wider set of possibilities has become available, and the consumer is more willing to break boundaries and codes to fulfil their needs. Committing to what you stand for — and what you don't — is more important, and more difficult, than ever.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Pulse check: ask 5 consumers what they buy when you aren't on the shelf. If the answers are far flung, it's a signal that you need to choose where you want to claim your stake and how you will fortify it.

__________________________________________________________________________________

The strategic implication is whether you're specializing in a niche or aiming for broader occasions. Different budgets, partners, and initiatives follow from each.

3. Are you speaking with one voice?

The humble 4Ps (product, price, placement/distribution and promotion/communication) cause the most chaos when they're misaligned. Premium positioning in your marketing, undercut by deep or frequent discounts at checkout. A product with no story about heritage or ingredients, asking a premium price anyway. These misalignments aren’t designed; they creep in over time. I’ve seen this up close and know how costly they can be.

Consumers are intentional about nearly every purchase now. As covered in previous posts (on LinkedIn), they are eager to spend, but not mindlessly. They’re putting every choice through scrutiny to justify it and this will only continue in the near future. A coherent, consistent brand presence gives consumers the permission they seek.

Brand reviews often cover the different elements but they don’t always put the puzzle together. Line up the 4 Ps and see what picture emerges. This might point to some strategic cross-wires between Finance, Marketing, Sales, and Operations that dilute the whole proposition for the end consumer.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Pulse check: put your last piece of marketing copy next to your last invoice and your pack. Do they tell the same story?

__________________________________________________________________________________

If the story doesn't match, that's not a design fix. Rather, it's a signal your Finance, Marketing, and Sales teams are planning for different brands.

These questions are simple, but seeing simple things is often the hardest part. That’s because assumptions feel like facts and the way you see the world doesn’t get revised easily.

As you consider your H1 performance through the lens of the 3 questions above, have someone outside do the same. Their fresh eyes and distance will reveal things that didn’t feel so obvious but that will set you up for a stronger 2027.