The Relevance Gap Starts In The Corner Office

The Relevance Gap™ is a term I coined to illustrate the disconnect that happens between brands and customer choice.

And while Relevance is a function of many external forces (from cultural shifts, macro trends, category dynamics, and most of all, changes in consumer tastes, values, etc. the problems rarely starts in the market. It starts in leadership.

Categories shift. Customers evolve. Culture moves.

But many CMOs are still operating with a 2018 playbook and a corporate survival identity.

That doesn’t work in 2026.

Because you can’t build a relevant brand with an outdated identity.

I am talking about the self-image and identity of leaders. Our identities are formed by the beliefs we have about yourselves, how we define ourselves. And these beliefs and definitions can either create or destroy. Or simply lead to drift.

The world is recoding meaning every 90 days. Value systems are evolving. Generations are reinventing themselves. Categories are fragmenting faster than companies can build decks. Attention windows are shrinking. Relevance windows are collapsing.

And yet inside most organizations? Slides. Meetings. Consensus. Caution. Tempo from another era.

"I'm so busy now, how is next month?" That crucial meeting gets postponed as if the world waited. But no, the world moves on, despite our calendars. It doesn't care.

This is how drift compounds. This is how category leaders become wallpaper. This is how brands lose choice — quietly, slowly, then all at once.

Relevance isn’t a marketing function. It’s a leadership discipline.

The biggest threat to your brand in 2026 is not competitors. It’s the gap between how fast the world is moving and how fast you can align your brand to what matters now.

This requires a different identity: bold, fast, culturally fluent, operationally brave.

CMOs who win in 2026 are the ones who:

• move faster than their category

• sense drift before dashboards show it

• read cultural signals, not committee summaries

• build meaning, not messaging

• push past consensus and drive clarity

• act while others are still aligning slides

• choose relevance over routine

This isn’t about doing more. It’s about becoming someone different.

Your brand won’t change until you do...

Tobias

If you want a clear view of where your brand is drifting — and how to close the Relevance Gap™ before it closes in on you — DM or reply “Score".

(For brand leaders and CMO's only)