Relentlessly Relevant Brands And Building Positive Customer Sentiment

Coinciding with the release of Millward Brown's BrandZ Ranking of the “100 Most Valuable Global Brands”, Peter Walshe, Global BrandZ Director, explains why a ruthless attention to relevance will boost a brand's strength.

Brands that build positive customer sentiment by being 'meaningfully different' from the competition are able to capture five times more volume, command a 13% price premium, and are four times more likely to grow their value share than those that don't, according to research from Millward Brown.

Being meaningfully different is what gives a brand its relevance in the eyes of consumers. It involves delivering a brand promise that meets their expectations and needs, being unique in a positive way, and staying ahead of the curve in setting trends. Brands that can do this are more appealing, and generate the greatest contribution to driving current and future sales.

Such ruthless attention to becoming - and staying - relevant to consumers is evident in the results of some of the Most Valuable Global Brands in this year's BrandZ Top100 ranking.

Apple is still the number one brand, despite a big drop in share price and rumours that it isn't innovating fast enough, which slowed its value growth to 1%. Brand is Apple's secret weapon. It remains deeply relevant to its fan base, and the 'love' that this California-based technology giant generates keeps it in the top spot with a strong brand contribution.

Even when the financial performance of a company takes a deep dive, if it has, like Apple, a high brand contribution- the proportion of value generated by the brand's ability to create loyalty - the business can still boom. Based on the opinions of existing and potential customers, brand contribution is less volatile than investor sentiment: Apple's brand contribution, for example, is still 18% greater than that of its nearest rival in the smartphone market, Samsung, which grew its brand value by 51% on the previous year.

Luxury brands Gucci and Burberry also both showed an increase in brand contribution, having comprehensively met the needs of consumers who are ready to spend on luxuries again, but spend wisely by investing in classic pieces.

Gucci has revamped outlets to enhance the consumer experience, while, recognising that consumers are often researching online before they buy, also building a strong online presence. It also announced its first mobile app, further increasing the brand's accessibility. Gucci increased in value by 48%. Burberry excels at emphasising its heritage and developing compelling and authentic brand stories. It has also made a huge investment in building its brand over the last year, expanding into new products, categories and territories, and merging in-store and digital retail capabilities.

Strong, relevant brands also help companies bounce back from reputational damage. Toyota has overtaken BMW to become the world's most valuable car brand once again, increasing its value by 12%, after its brand helped it recover from a number of product recall crises. The Toyota brand is very clearly defined from a consumer perspective - people believe it offers them something that other car brands don't. It is incredibly trusted, and considered to provide excellent value. A positive consumer experience has built a core of loyal customers who recommend the brand to others; this is what helps brands maintain their strength in the face of adversity.

Brands need to continually renew themselves to remain in contention over a number of years. The enduring success of IBM, which is the most valuable B2B brand in the world, is testament to a leadership philosophy that has always been based on being meaningfully different. The brand has enjoyed many golden moments - from developing artificial intelligence in 1956, to creating the industry standard for personal computing in the eighties - but it has never stood still. It continually reinvents itself to stay relevant to the needs of the day, and its 'Smarter Planet' positioning is in perfect harmony with the spirit of the time. IBM achieved an 80% revenue increase in 2012 from its SmartCloud solution, which combines the trend for cloud computing with the need of its business clients to innovate as well as cut costs.

Google, which has leapfrogged IBM to become the second most valuable brand in the world across all categories, keeps diversifying its platforms - extending its brand into new services and products to increase its relevance to consumers. It has grown from just a search engine to become an integrated provider of news, social media (Google+) and communications (Gmail).

A deeply relevant brand is a strong brand - and a strong brand is a valuable asset to a business, as a source of sustainable competitive advantage and value growth. It's no coincidence that the brands which rose furthest up the BrandZ Top 100 ranking this year, including Prada (63% value increase), Zara (60%), Gucci (48%) and Amazon (34%), all scored higher than average on the attributes of 'meaningful' and 'different'. They all strive to understand consumers' needs, and constantly refocus and reinvent themselves to stay relevant and set themselves apart from the competition.

Article by Peter Walshe, Global BrandZ Director, Millward Brown
Access the full report here

♔ 'Brand as Badge' – The Scion Art Case Study

Increasingly consumers are defining themselves by what and whom they associate with. To wit, what your brand represents is an integral part of peoples identity by association.  This brand ‘shorthand’ is a testament to ones beliefs and values. It’s a badge and by definition, is a characteristic mark, device (or token) especially of membership in a society or group.  It's also an imperative element to creating an aspirational identity that’s relevant to the consumer (and coincidentally the key in getting people to want to be associated with your brand.)

This is precisely why many savvy brands are focusing on social good today.  A brand’s 'badge' is largely based on the identity and imagery that consumers freely and naturally associate with it.  It serves as a means of social identity to represent one’s place in the world. Consumers adopt your brand today as a badge because of a shared mission or purpose - something that by proxy makes them both look and feel good about themselves.

As we’ve stated in previous posts, what’s also become clear today is that this ‘connected collective’ build modern brands.  Tribes of like-minded people aligned by something other then (and bigger then) the brand itself.  A unifying, overarching idea or movement facilitated by the brand.  From billionaires to bands and from consumers to brands, people and organisations are reordering their priorities and causing global change across a range of interconnected spaces from honesty and fair employment practices to communal, social and environmental responsibility and simply being nice. The marketing community, from individual advertising figures to new agencies and business structures, is helping drive this ethical movement.

Whether BMW’s ‘Activate the Future’ Initiative (building community around the future of mobility), Pepsi’s Refresh Project (giving away millions each month to fund refreshing ideas that change the world), MINI’s Space initiative  (building community around creative use of space), or other great examples – what’s become clear is that the connected collective is driving an ethical, moral and responsible advertising revolution. Brands are reordering their priorities and causing global change across a range of interconnected spaces - from honesty and fair employment practices to communal, social and environmental responsibility.  Other brand examples include GE's Ecomagination, Tom's Shoes' 'Buy-one, give-one' model, and Benetton's Africa Works microfinance scheme.  Admittedly, some are more altruistic than others but all examples of the brand as incubator, steward and shepherd. 

SCION ART

Scion Art champions and supports independent artistic expression with a permanent gallery in Los Angeles, an annual art tour across the U.S., monthly gallery sponsorships, custom artist created cars, and other activities that reinforce the brands core values and defines it’s constituents.

The Scion Collection Art Tour extends the brand via facilitated events across the U.S. to meet their constituents via art, music, fashion and culture. Artists featured included graffiti artists, mural artists, painters, and sculpture artists. To further amplify Scion added professional action sports athletes to the mix.  Scion stepped up and championed underground culture and this community (coincidentally Scion’s target demographic) was given a badge.  Scion garnered real street-cred by supporting those who had real street cred. Other examples of this are Red Bull’s King of the Ring and their own history in street art.  All messaging and media aligned with the brand’s unique consumer “role” and naturally this movement was supported online via website, Scion.com, Facebook, Twitter, Vimeo, YouTube, Tumblr, Flickr and MySpace. 

The bottom line is that to succeed today you need to translate your brand attributes into nothing less then a social movement. Find your constituents and given them a badge via inspiration, distruption and value. Find a shared mission or purpose that stem from the essence of an idea that people feel passionate about.  Something shared, credible, valuable and contagious that resonates with your target consumers (and by proxy ensures an emotional link and organic connection with your brand.)  Kudos to Scion - for making ‘less about the moment and more about the movement’.  Extending one powerful unifying, overarching idea (facilitated by the brand) that seeks to aggregate and align like-minded people by extending something other then (and bigger then) the brand itself. Very impressive indeed.

NOTE:  For more articles and posts from the last week please visit us on Twitter@goodbuzz.  If you have info, articles, case studies, or other examples of (TTL) participatory marketing bliss - please feel free to either post via Facebook or send via e-mail and we’ll take care of it for you. ;)  Please identify if you find a dead link (as they were all live at the time of this posting).

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♔ BRANDS AS SOCIAL MOVEMENTS - THE MINI SPACE STORY

Traditional institutions are breaking down around us on a daily basis and therefore it’s natural for us to feel impotent and uncertain in these times - as self-trust is undermined.  With so much change and uncertainty around us today, people are increasingly defining themselves by what and whom they associate with.  That’s not always a bad thing. 

A mental alignment with others who share similar beliefs can offer a sense of community, make us feel connected, open boundaries and bring new energy and newness into our lives.  It can be democratizing.  Psychologically, this sense of community is also one of the major tenants of self-definition, as being part of a group gives meaning, emotional safety, and identification. The influence is also bi-directional and reinforcing.  Fueled by increasingly powerful technology, we are increasingly realizing the power and wisdom of the connected collective.  This is our modern paradigm.

What’s also become clear today is that this ‘connected collective’ build modern brands.  Tribes of like-minded people aligned by something other then (and bigger then) the brand itself.  A unifying, overarching idea or movement facilitated by the brand.  Indeed this is the era of the brand as incubator, steward and shepherd. 

The bottom line is that to succeed today you need to translate your brand attributes into nothing less then a social movement.  An informal grouping of individuals focused on a specific political or social issue, in other words, on carrying out, resisting or undoing a social change.  It’s much, much bigger then your brand. It’s a shared mission or purpose and has to stem from the essence of an idea that people feel passionate about.  Something shared, credible, valuable and contagious that resonates with consumers and by proxy ensures an emotional link and organic connection with your brand. Therefore, you can see it’s far more about what your brand extends the tribe (and how it validates and elevates its members) by association. It’s the most important reason your brand matters to consumers.  To further demonstrate this point, we’d suggest watching Simon Sinek's and Seth Godin’s inspiring TED Talks. 

The MINI Space Story

BMW’s Mini brand clearly understands this. They created MINI Space; an “urban initiative born of a dream to provide the online creative community with an inspiring framework for making "Creative Use of Space," in the original spirit of MINI design.”  The MINI Space mission is to “dedicate ourselves to the motto "Creative Use of Space" and provide a hub for connecting creative people, events and competitions.”  Twitter and Facebook further extend a “hub for connecting.”

Whether New Testament, Torah, or Koran, all major religions are movements built upon a heft of history and stories.  MINI Space is no different, explaining to its tribe that, “way back in 1959, the MINI was designed to make maximum use of minimum space. Not only was it a highly functional, exciting, new kind of car, its compact form also addressed urgent contemporary issues like declining energy resources: the original and ultimate creative use of space. As creative people living in an urban landscape, we are constantly thinking of new ways to explore or re-imagine the spaces around us in more functional, beautiful, and accessible ways."

To MINI, that means creating a forum for meeting people who share a passion for creativity; fostering unique competitions like the MINI Space Product Design Competition in Association with Fatboy; keeping up with events like the annual Life Ball AIDS benefit; getting updates about new creative initiatives and trends worldwide on their blog; and even more. As part of this commitment to creativity and innovation, MINI Space puts a high priority on staying on top of trends, and growing and changing with the times.

Kudos to MINI, as they’ve not created yet another fleeting brand moment. They’ve created a movement. All around the:

One powerful unifying, overarching idea (facilitated by the brand) that seeks to aggregate and align like-minded people by extending something other then (and bigger then) the brand itself.  Very impressive indeed. Check it out the website, Facebook, and Twitter. 

BMW USES MOBILE VIDEO ADVERTISING TO GENERATE TEST DRIVES

Bavarian Motor Works (BMW) ran a personalized mobile video advertising campaign to promote its X1 Series to a younger demographic in China. The BMW brand believes it empowers people to express their individuality and personality - and the carmaker wanted its X1 marketing message to do the same.  The personalized videos, or technically advertisements, were designed to have an impact so that viewers would show and share with their friends and create a viral buzz around the campaign (with the idea of BMW qualifying and sending the user a personalized holiday greeting.)

Why Mobile?  In this case, the mobile device is the primary Internet access tool in China and it is the most relevant medium for the demographic target. There are roughly 165 million high-speed, 3G mobile broadband subscribers in China and these are extremely active mobile Internet users.  In fact, 58 percent of Chinese mobile Web users post Web 2.0 content via their handsets, compared with 41 percent of those in the United States, according to Phonevalley. 

Personalizaton is key

The messages, distributed Dec. 21-24 in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou, targeted individual customers with a holiday greeting that was uniquely tailored to each recipient.  For the campaign Clip in Touch, whose platform provides a means of sending advertising campaigns via MMS, enabled a targeted campaign with sight, sound and motion that BMW’s audience can personalize and make their very own.  The technology for the campaign’s targeting and personalization was provided by Israel-based, Clip in Touch.  Initial response to the campaign has been very positive, generating more test-drives in a three-day period than at any time this year. The uniqueness comes in allowing users to personalize, edit and add their own voice, video and text to any advertising campaign.

BMW GETS mobile
In Germany this past April, a BMW launched a mobile campaign specifically to sell more winter tires - and is said to have achieved a 30 percent conversion rate.  BMW Germany wanted to remind its customers that snow tires are more of a necessity, rather than a luxury, especially during the winters in Germany. The luxury carmaker targeted owners of BMWs, urging them to visit a local dealership and buy a set of tires (see story). 

BMW Z4 Roadster Launch

BMW turned to mobile to launch its new BMW Z4 Roadster as well. The German company introduced the Z4 Roadster to auto enthusiasts with a new application for the iPhone. The car was launched a few days ago at the Geneva Auto Show (see story).

The carmaker also ran a mobile campaign on the Nokia Media Network to promote some of its popular luxury vehicles to consumers in Spain (see story).

Also, BMW's mobile advertising campaign for the new BMW 1 Series Coupe resulted in a 67 percent increase in traffic to the brand's WAP site for Britain (see story).

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