Brand strategy in volatile markets: players ‘try anything’; winners hold strong.

In volatile markets, the brands that win are not the ones that react fastest, but the ones with the discipline to stick to a clear strategy and keep showing up when others flinch.

In highly volatile markets, the temptation to pivot, pause, or abandon the plan can be overwhelming for many brands. Whether it's a new disruptor shaking up your space, a global crisis derailing supply chains, or economic uncertainty impacting investor confidences, your brand has to face down the pressure to act—fast. But in these turbulent environments, the most reactive brands are not those that succeed in the long-haul. It’s the ones that stay the course.

As Michael Porter famously said, “The company without a strategy is willing to try anything.” That principle holds truest in times of turbulence. Brands without strategic clarity often fall first. Even worse, as the instinct is often to flinch rather than focus, many brands suffer unnecessary long-term and self-inflicted damage due to ‘knee-jerk’ reactions. Instead of staying grounded, such brands shift to short-term survival tactics that ultimately weaken their long-term market position.

Yes, adaptability has its place. But when the fundamentals are upended, when rules change overnight and markets seek certainty, consistency becomes a competitive advantage. The strongest brands don't just survive; they anchor the market. They remain calm, committed, and clear in what they stand for. Volatility, after all, is change you didn’t choose. And chosen or imposed, it opens the same gap between what you are and what the market believes, and someone will fill it.

Yet when instability strikes, many brands cut the very things that offer long-term value: their marketing, communications, and brand storytelling. They pause campaigns. They drop positioning work. They lose momentum. It’s an understandable reflex—but one that often causes more harm than good.

The evidence says the same. Kantar’s BrandZ analysis found that strong brands recovered nine times faster than the S&P 500 average after the 2008 financial crash. And research by Peter Field and Karen Nelson-Field on the Advertising Council of Australia’s effectiveness database found that brands investing in extra share of voice, spending above their market share while competitors cut back, achieved 4.5 times the annual market share growth of those that didn’t. A downturn is the cheapest moment to hold your ground: media costs fall, competitors go dark, and the share you take is expensive for them to buy back when the market improves. 

A strong brand strategy exists to prevent exactly that kind of drift. It should serve as both a guide for short-term action and a compass pointing toward your ideal future position in the market. When built well, it doesn’t just weather the storm, it gives your business the conviction to walk through it with purpose. It is the approach that worked for Envana when shifting emissions regulation transformed what its customers needed to hear: authority rather than volume, and 364 qualified leads over ten months.

The response is the same as for change you did choose: decide what you stand for, claim it, and hold it while the market looks for certainty. Our free 12-page guide, Own the Space, covers exactly that: positioning and narrative control when the ground is moving.