The Next Big Thing: Exploring the EDGE for High Growth Opportunities

Where do breakthrough innovations come from?

The most significant and disruptive market opportunities are not found in the mainstream but at the fringes of society. Many multibillion-dollar industries have emerged from niche beginnings, with enthusiastic clusters of pioneers addressing problems the wider world has yet to encounter. 

The doula industry, now worth $16B, emerged from a fringe group of women seeking alternatives to traditional hospital birth experiences. Meanwhile, plant-based milk, initially fulfilling a niche need for those with dairy allergies, has gradually become a mainstream product and the industry is now estimated to exceed $22B in 2025.

These journeys from fringe to mainstream demonstrate how outlier ideas can overcome obstacles to become trends.

But not all niche ideas result in success. Some fizzle, others are considered an “idea before its time”, still more take off years too late. How can we identify which niche ideas have the best probability of success?

By investigating what we call the EDGE – Extreme behaviours, Divergences from norms, Gaps and workarounds, and Eccentric quirks – we can wager on where to focus and how to allocate resources with increased confidence.  

Download The Next Big Thing to discover:

• How the EDGE method tackles three challenges of innovation: finding viable opportunities, mitigating risks, and perfecting timing.
• Why combining Agentic AI with deep human listening is essential for innovation.
• A three-step process to distinguish between long-term disruptive trends and short-term fads.
• How to translate EDGE behaviour into actionable concepts that drive category and brand success.