Our first-ever Global Relevance Review reveals what drives relevance for brands in 13 markets across the globe. In partnership with the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Journalism and Communications, we studied 13,000 people in 13 markets on four continents. The research covers several communications macro trends and includes a deeper look at three categories that touch billions of lives every day: automotive, personal banking and social media. But we know that big data only tells part of the story. So we paired our global study with some small-town intelligence. We focused on two small towns that took everyone by surprise with populist movements in America and England: Seymour, Indiana (the crossroads of America and hometown of John Mellencamp), and Preston, U.K., more than 200 miles northwest of London This ethnographic approach is how we study cultural phenomena – and it’s a qualitative, deep dive into the lives of people who represent it.

1. RELEVANCE
REVIEW
2 0 1 7
GLOBAL

2. WHY RELEVANCE IS OUR OBSESSION: As brand marketers, we
should all be obsessed with relevance. Lots of people use it as a
buzzword, or a single metric buried in a long study. But it should be our
primary focus.
WHY DOES RELEVANCE MATTER? If no one is paying attention to
what you have to say, it’s impossible to build engagement, reputation,
love, trust or any other traditional measure of brand strength. If people
are not paying attention to what you have to say, then they are actively
ignoring you, rendering your messaging, placement and marketing and
communications dollars moot.
WHAT DO WE MEAN BY BRAND RELEVANCE? Relevance is what
attracts and keeps people paying attention to what brands have to say
and moves them to act. It’s a two-part principle: willing to listen and
willing to act.
MARKETING IS A CONTEST FOR
PEOPLE’S ATTENTION.
- SETH GODIN
WHY
RELEVANCE
“

3. IN THE 2017
BATTLE FOR
RELEVANCE,
TRUTH IS
HAVING ITS
MOMENT OF
TRUTH.
Have people been so let down by brands,
companies, categories and institutions that they
are moving on from truth?
This is part of a major shift. Having lost faith
in brands and institutions, people are looking
to each other, to their trusted tribes – friends,
family, advocates and influencers – for validation
in the choices they are making. Capturing and
sustaining talkability means putting a premium
on the people who will vouch for, and recommend,
your brand.
Golin’s first-ever Global Relevance
Review reveals what drives
relevance for categories and
brands across the globe. In
partnership with the University of
Southern California Annenberg
School for Communication and
Journalism, Golin studied 13,000
people in 13 markets on four
continents. Markets included
Brazil, Canada, China, France,
Germany, Hong Kong, India, Japan,
Mexico, Taiwan, UAE, UK and
the U.S. The survey population
included Millennials, GenX-ers and
Baby Boomers, touched on several
communications macro trends
and focused on three categories:
Automotive, Retail Banking and
Social Media.
* Following are Golin’s macro
and category findings. Specific
research results can be made
available upon request.
IN THE 2017 BATTLE FOR RELEVANCE, TRUTH IS
HAVING ITS MOMENT OF TRUTH.
WHAT
WE FOUND
2017 GLOBAL
RELEVANCE REVIEW
WHAT
DOES
IT
MEAN
People around the world think that their ideal brand would be
trustworthy: ethical, moral, honest and truthful. The reality is that 0%
of the most relevant brands studied met the ideal when it came to being
trustworthy. The ideal, as it turns out, is not the reality when it comes
to brand relevance. In the absence of truth, people are placing value on
other drivers of relevance. And the one common dimension that we see
driving relevance around the world is popularity: being talked about and
recommended by others. 91% of the most relevant brands studied exceed
the expectation when it came to being popular.
In a post-truth, post-U.S. election, post-Brexit world,
talkability trumps truth.
TALKABILITY TRUMPS TRUTH.

4. SOCIAL MEDIA
PLATFORMS
People don’t need truth;
they just want to be
entertained. The most
relevant of the three
categories, leading brands
are not seen as trustworthy
or transparent, but
entertaining and popular.
RETAIL BANKS
People prefer local banks
to global banks. And in 11
out of 12 markets, all banks
under-deliver on the top
three ideal dimensions:
trustworthy, transparent
and effective. In the
absence of those, unique
relevance drivers have
emerged in each market.
AUTOMOTIVE
For all its marketing and
communications efforts,
the automotive category
struggles to have a
breakout relevance brand
leader. The world’s leading
car companies are generally
seen as relevant for the
same reasons, at generally
the same levels, including
not delivering against the
trust dimension.
CATEGORY
FINDINGS
THE CURRENCY OF THE
NEW ECONOMY WON’T BE
MONEY, BUT ATTENTION.
– MICHAEL H. GOLDHABER, WIRED
SCREENS WIN OUT
OVER PEOPLE
(when it comes to sources
of information)
Social media (59%) and
television (57%) consistently
ranked first and second above
“word of mouth from friends
and family” (45%) as the most
relevant sources of news
and information
GLOBAL MACRO
TREND FINDINGS
WORD OF MOUTH SEES
GENDER DIFFERENCES
Word of mouth from friends
and family is more relevant to
women (50%) than men (39%)
PEOPLE ARE DRAWN TO
PRAGMATIC & FUNNY
The top characteristics of
information people found
relevant were useful/practical
(54%), informative (53%),
and funny (35%), beating
out others like inspiring,
shocking & exciting
“

5. To complement the global research, Golin also embarked on an
ethnographic study of residents in two small towns that were part of
the populist movements whose impact took America and England by
surprise: Seymour, Indiana (the crossroads of America and hometown
of John Mellencamp), and Preston, U.K., more than 200 miles northwest
of London. Golin wanted to study this cultural phenomenon up close by
listening to, and spending an extended period of time with, the people
who represent it.
Golin used ‘Ask Seymour’ and ‘Ask Preston’ to connect with people in
small towns that have largely felt ignored. While the rest of the world
was prospering, they felt forgotten by their government and by media.
But how do they feel about companies and brands? Golin wanted to know
what makes the people of small towns tick, get their take on the three
categories (social media platforms, retail banks, and cars), and uncover
what the implications of the last year were for brands and companies.
* To view Golin’s full ethnographies, go to golin.com.
SMALL TOWN
INTELLIGENCE
1. Small town residents often get the feeling that someone is trying to get one
over on them.
2. They make no distinction between big government, big cities, mainstream
media, corporate America, and big companies – they feel that all are
ignoring small-town people equally. All of them are part of the "The
System,” "The Man,“ "The Elites,” etc.
3. Small-town stereotypes need to be broken: residents are tech and social
media savvy – and they expect the latest innovations – but they do not want
to lose a personal connection as a result.
4. Global brands can be as relevant as local brands as long as there is a
demonstration of understanding local needs.
5. There’s nothing quite as powerful as small-town brand loyalty. It can last
for generations. The good news is a little goes a long way when it comes to
engendering goodwill. Just the simple courtesy of taking the time to listen,
engage, show up, and walk a few miles in their shoes would be greatly
appreciated.
KEY FINDINGS

6. Relevance theory is not new, but it re-emerged in our field with Seth
Godin’s philosophy of Permission Marketing, where we “recognize the
new power of the best consumers to ignore marketing.” If we’re deemed
relevant, we have been given permission to occupy space in someone’s
mind. It’s about giving or paying attention. And we are asking people to
give or pay with something that they have less of, but is growing in
value: time.
We spend our careers developing ideas that will make (or keep) a brand
relevant to its audiences. What’s a relevant brand? Look no further than
the James Bond franchise as the holy grail of relevance. For more than
60 years, the franchise’s DNA has remained consistent: women, cars,
martinis, cool gadgets and catching bad guys. It also stays relevant for
the times through whom they cast and how they film.
GOLIN’S APPROACH
TO RELEVANCE
THE JAMES BOND FRANCHISE IS
THE EPITOME OF WHAT A MASS
CONSUMER BRAND SHOULD
ASPIRE TO BE IN TODAY’S SOCIETY.
ETERNALLY RELEVANT, POPULIST
AND WITH A NOD AND A WINK OF
HUMOR. FOR IF YOU’RE NOT
RELEVANT, YOU’RE BEING
IGNORED. DOES ANYONE
REMEMBER NAPOLEON SOLO?
– MATT NEALE, CO-CEO, GOLIN
There are three questions we should be asking ourselves:
1. What does being “relevant” actually mean to communicators?
2. Is my brand relevant, relative to my competition?
3. Is there a scientific baseline or methodology for how to create,
measure and grow relevance?
“
We are all besieged by data and
information. Bombarded with 9,000
messages every day. We also blink about
18,000 times a day. So by the time you’ve
blinked twice, you’ve been asked to absorb
something new.
In our age of distraction, many of us get
paid to communicate information on behalf
of our clients, with the goal of inspiring
someone to act. It might be a relatively
small act: watch, smile or click. Maybe it’s
a more involved act: share, search or talk
about something. Perhaps it’s a deeper
and more personal act: reach out and
connect, change an opinion, advocate or
spend money.
To inspire someone to act, you first need to
be relevant.

7. WHY SHOULD WE CARE?
TWO KEY REASONS:
a. Relevance isn’t the only important brand measure, but it’s the first.
Relevance is the proverbial tip of the spear. If we’re relevant, we break
through the mental spam filters we’ve all developed to manage the
deluge of messages we are bombarded with every day. If we’re irrelevant,
then we don’t penetrate those spam filters. Are we relevant or irrelevant?
It’s one or the other.
As communicators, that’s a really big deal. Imagine competitive brands A
and B decide to spend $10 million dollars each on marketing
communications campaigns. They’re targeting the same people and are
using the same channels. If brand A is irrelevant, they’ve completely
wasted $10 million dollars. People are not willing to listen to an
irrelevant brand. They keep scrolling, swiping left, flipping the
channel or blocking them out entirely. It doesn’t matter how much
Brand A spends, where they spend or what they say. The message has
been lost. No one is listening. It’s being ignored.
b. Great brands are relevant for decades.
Relevance + Time = $$$. There are some who have done the
impossible. In an ever-changing world, they have stayed relevant for
decades. As mentioned earlier, James Bond is one of these success
stories. But others that have gotten it right include The Rolling Stones,
Apple (mostly), Maya Angelou, Barclays, The Simpsons, Coca-Cola,
Tiffany & Co. and Cambridge University.
Some haven’t: Kodak, Blockbuster, Tower Records, travel agents,
Blackberry, Menudo, Atari and HMV. From on top of the world to buried.
Some were victims of circumstance. Some rested on their laurels. Many
had a good run, but they didn’t stand the test of time.
2. IS MY BRAND RELEVANT, RELATIVE TO MY COMPETITION?
While we can learn from relevant brands outside our category, it’s not
critical to our business. What’s crucial to understand is where you are
relative to your competitors, because that is who you are stealing share
from every day. If you’re selling brownies, it’s critical that you’re more
relevant than other brownie makers, not that you’re more relevant
than Apple.
1. WHAT DOES BEING “RELEVANT” ACTUALLY MEAN
(AND WHY SHOULD I CARE)?
At first glance, being “Relevant” sounds ephemeral. Like being “hot”
or “famous.”
But great brands and people stay relevant for a long time. And they
work at it every day, which is why it’s the single most important brand
measurement there is.
Relevance is what attracts and keeps people paying attention to what
brands have to say, and moves them to act.
It’s a two-part principle. Willingness to listen. Willingness to act. And
it lives in that sweet spot between what a brand wants to say, and what
people are interested in.

8. 3. IS THERE A SCIENTIFIC BASELINE OR METHODOLOGY FOR
HOW TO CREATE, MEASURE AND GROW RELEVANCE?
Relevance is not a simple concept. It’s multi-dimensional, it’s regional,
it’s category-specific and it can differ by cohort. While many have
studied what creates permission, what compels people to pay attention
and what inspires action, there hasn’t been a study that rigorously
examines the building blocks of brand relevance.
Until now.
RELEVANCE
LANDSCAPE
ENTHUSIASM-df
DEPTHOFPASSION/CONNECTIONWITHTHEBRAND
By applying our algorithm, we can plot the relevance landscape of a
category: where brands that compete against one another sit relative to
each other.
Golin has been studying relevance for several years. Through primary
and secondary research, including a partnership with USC’s Annenberg
School for Communications and Journalism, we are now able to examine
relevance in two ways.

9. We have tested and confirmed the 15 dimensions that consistently drive
brand relevance. These 15 ‘DNA building blocks’ of relevance combine
in different ways, and to different degrees, to create unique “Relevance
Fingerprints” for every brand and category. (We arrived at these 15
dimensions through our global factor analysis research with USC).
FINGERPRINT DIMENSIONS
AUTHENTIC is genuine, true to itself, and an original
CONTEMPORARY is up to date, modern, and reflects the present time
DISTINCTIVE is unique, different, and stands apart from others
EFFECTIVE is useful, practical, and reliable
ENTERTAINING is fun, amusing, charming, and provides enjoyment
ESSENTIAL is absolutely necessary or extremely important to daily life
INFLUENTIAL is admired, respected and can affect the behavior of others
INNOVATIVE is pioneering, and introduces new, creative and original ideas
POPULAR is talked about or recommended by others
PRESTIGIOUS is premium, high status, and sophisticated
PROVOCATIVE is intriguing, exciting, controversial, and fascinating
PURPOSEFUL is philanthropic, gives back or contributes in a humanitarian way
TRANSPARENT is clear in how it operates, and is easy to understand
TRUSTWORTHY is ethical, moral, honest, and truthful
WELCOMING is warm, relatable, approachable and inviting
We can dive into the 15 dimensions of each brand. We can compare
brand fingerprints and look for clues, white space, crowding…we can see
if we’re happy with what dimensions our clients are getting credit for and
where our deficits are. And we can match a brand’s DNA with dimensions
that we want to grow.
RELEVANCE
FINGERPRINT

10. We can also examine both the Relevance Landscape and the
Relevance Fingerprint by specific target audiences, demographics and
psychographics.
Understanding a category’s Relevance Landscape and Fingerprint,
especially which brands are delivering on which dimensions, are the keys
that unlock successful engagement strategies.
The interpretation of the data, the strategic direction we take, and the
creative expression of those dimensions, is the art of relevance.
Our challenge as marketers is to stand out among the 9,000 messages,
ads, warnings and bits and pieces of information each day. To connect
despite our daily decision fatigue. We used to create ideas based on
profound insights without really attacking what makes an insight
profound. With our Relevance Fingerprint methodology, our insights are
now grounded in driving relevance. As marketers, that’s something we
can all get excited about.
“WHAT’S MOST GALVANIZING
FOR ME IS THE OPPORTUNITY
TO BE TOPICAL AND RELEVANT
AND ENTERTAINING. THAT’S
THE HOLY GRAIL.”
– DIRECTOR KATHRYN BIGELOW

11. Find out more at golin.com.