The Guardian's study on the most influential brands.

1. 1
Influential Brands

2. 2
The UK’s most influential brands
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5

3. 3
Why is understanding influence
so important right now?
Lack of control of
brand narrative
Scarcity of premium
brand environments
Scarcity of
attention

4. 4
What do we mean when we talk about influence?
A [Newsbrand’s] main
product is not news or
information, but influence:
societal influence and
commercial influence.
Philip Meyer, Academic and Author

5. 5
What do we mean when we talk about influence?
Commercial Societal
Is the brand used, and are
the users loyal to it?
Does the brand inspire
people to live better lives,
does it change the way the
user thinks?
Audience
Does the user listen to
brand communications, do
they pass on these
messages?

6. 6
The Guardian’s influence
Audience
influence
Societal
influence
Commercial
influence
More brand
converstations
per reader per
week, vs other QP
readers
Source: Keller Fay May 2015

7. 7
Our aims
Consumer
centric…
Identify drivers
of influence
Brand
Index
…and InternationalAdvice for brands
on how to boost
their influence
Broad range of
brands & categories

8. 8
How we did it
2,000 nat rep sample per market (UK, US and Australia)
Generating approx 15,000 brand rankings across key categories
N.B. Charity category not included in the US – education/government
Alcoholic drinks
Travel
Tech
Social media
Charity
FMCG (other)
Finance & utilities
Motors
Fashion & Beauty
Retail
Telecoms

9. 9
How we did it
12 influence identifier statements
e.g. I choose Tesco above all other similar brands
Respondents answered about brands they were familiar with
20 brand attributes applied to the personality of each brand
e.g. Do you think that the Tesco is trustworthy?
N.B. Charity category not included in the US – education/government
2,000 nat rep sample per market (UK, US and Australia)
Generating approx 15,000 brand rankings across key categories

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What did we find out?

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Brand influence is made up of four distinct pillars
Commercial Societal Audience
Inward
Audience
Outward
Influence
Score
The impact
a brand has
on consumer’s
purchasing
habits
The impact
a brand has
on society and
its industry
as a whole
The impact
of a brand’s
comms
The impact
a brand has
on other
people
A weighted
blend of the
four influence
pillars
Drivers of influence

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Key drivers feeding into the pillars (UK)
1. Positive
2. Inspirational
3. Trustworthy
4.Unique
5.Interesting
things to say
Overall
Influence
Score
20 drivers tested in total

13. 13
The UK’s most influential brands
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
#10
58.3
54.7
53.9
53.1
50.2
49.9
49.1
49.4
46.8
46.7
Ranking and influence score (out of 100), by brand

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0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0
The benefit of influence: loyalty
Overall influence score
Brandloyalty

15. 15
#4 53.1 #4 66.9 #4 52.2
#2 54.7 #2 68.4 #2 55.8
Surveys in three markets
#1 58.3 #1 75.0 #1 61.5
#3 53.9 #3 66.9 #3 55.2
#5 50.2 #5 65.2 #5 50.9

16. 16
01
Understand that influence is made up of different pillars
02
Demonstrating that you are positive, trustworthy &
inspirational has a particularly strong impact on influence
03
Understand which influence drivers are key to their category,
and how they perform against them
Three rules for brands
To be influential, brands should…