Debunking disruption.

Hear the word "disruption" and you probably imagine something negative. After all, the term was once used to describe a particularly gory method of execution. These days, it's often business-speak to downplay disappointments such as a drastically delayed flight or a lapse in phone service. But Jean-Marie Dru, CEO of TBWA, is on a mission to give "disruption" a new, more positive connotation. In his view, the strictest definition of the word--"the act of creating a rupture"--is about "changing the status quo, refusing given wisdom and finding unexpected solutions."

Companies that successfully practice disruption can leapfrog past competitors, completely overhaul a market, and even change the way people think--about, for example, a word like disruption. That concept was introduced in 1996 with Dru's best seller, Disruption: Overturning Conventions and Shaking Up the Marketplace, which demonstrated the value of challenging assumptions to create change. A second book detailing the concept in practice, Beyond Disruption: Changing the Rules in the Marketplace, followed in short order. In it, Dru details how the principles of "Disruption" helped transform iconic brands like Apple, Absolute, Sony, Nissan, Mars and Nivea.

"Disruption is about finding new futures, new ways of looking at brands, and what you can do with them," says Dru, whose memorable "think different" campaign for Apple's multicolored iMac was one of many marketing success stories for TBWA. "Disruption is our core methodology as a company."

In fact, Dru and TBWA are invested enough in the concept to have registered Disruption as a trademark in France, Italy, Spain, China--and virtually every other country where that's possible, according to Dru. In the last five years, TBWA has held more than 1,000 "Disruption Days," where between 40 and 50 ad agency and company representatives gather for a full day of dissecting the brand and market and brainstorming about its future. While the day itself is an intensely creative experience, its success is largely in the preparation. "Preparing for a Disruption Day is a full-time job for six weeks," says Dru, who notes that the investment is worthwhile for both the client company and TBWA. "You often emerge with an alignment between the company and the agency--and more importantly, within the company, because they often haven't talked about all these issues."

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Ideally, the day results in a seismic change for the company, which, in turn, will bring a seismic change to its industry. At Mars, for example, a series of Disruption Days spurred the pet food company to pioneer a "for the love of dogs" company mantra. The change, which became known as "Dogma," did include an ad campaign celebrating dog lovers' relationships with their pets, but went far beyond that to include changes in the company's work environments. Among the changes were developing an adoption drive for dogs without homes, offering pet insurance to employees, and redesigning offices to accommodate employees' dogs.

In fact, Mars even went so far as to move its offices out of a Tokyo building where dogs weren't allowed. The result? "It's been enormously successful," says Dru. "We came up with a different view of the brand long term and that reinformed all the action plans for the future."

While Dru concedes that the results from a Disruption Day are not always so dramatic, responses are almost always positive. "The main goal for us is to try to redefine what a brand can be," says Dru, noting that TBWA has held Disruption Days for brands as diverse as Pedigree (Mars), Whiskas, Skittles, Snickers and Uncle Ben's. "Sometimes we find a big thing--something that can be the vision for the next five years. We don't always find that, obviously. But 99 percent of the people who've participated--some 20,000 individuals--in our Disruption Days would tell you it was a positive experience for them."