Google is the top performing brand in the Information Technology and Communications (ITC) category according to an analysis of brand equity. The analysis evaluates perceived importance and performance of brands across marketplace, collective, and personal outcomes. While Google performs strongly in most areas, there is opportunity to improve performance on some collective dimensions and emotional/social personal attributes. The analysis provides insights on how Google and other top brands like Honda deliver meaningful contributions and relationships with consumers.

1. An Essential Guide to Enhancing Brand and
Consumer Relationships in Human Terms
Trends and Insights, January 2013

2. The world as we know it is a very Against all of this, the relationship between
different place. people and brands has changed and, in
many cases, suffered.
Only 20% of brands have a notable positive
The power balance impact on our sense of wellbeing and quality of
between regional life
economies and
Most people would not care if 70% of brands
institutions has
ceased to exist
shifted
All over the world
people’s expectations of
There’s a huge opportunity for Brands that
life have adjusted to fit a
can relate people in a more meaningful way.
new set of norms
We need to change the way we define and
Technology has measure brand value so that fully
changed the way understand how to build their contribution
and speed at which to our quality of life and wellbeing.
we communicate
Meaningful Brands is our new vision and
framework that enables companies to
respond to these changes, and help people
improve their lives to become part of the
next generation of brands.
2

3. Umair Haque, Director Havas Media Labs and For the first time we are able to connect brands
member of the thinkers50, with our quality of life and wellbeing. We do this
by measuring the perceived impact of brands on
“If the majority of people don’t care if 70 our personal wellbeing - their influence on factors
percent of brands disappear tomorrow, and if such as our health, fitness, happiness, values,
just 20 percent of brands have a notable social relationships, financial security, lifestyles and
positive impact on people human lives, despite habits - and our collective wellbeing, that is, how
the billions poured into trying to connect with brands help to improve communities, societies and
them by C-suites across the globe, we have to the environment.
fasten our seat belts: communications as we
know it is going to have to take a quantum o Meaningful brands enhance the wellbeing of people,
communities and the environment
leap. As the global economy is changing,
marketing must stay several steps ahead of the o Meaningful brands help us to improve ourselves, our
transformation curve. families, our communities and our planet
o Meaningful brands are sustainable
If you want to earn the love, trust, devotion and
attachment of people you’re going to have to o Meaningful brands form partnerships with people that
undertake the challenge. We need to focus on help us adopt better habits and lifestyles
making a difference to people, communities and
society that endures, resonates and multiplies.” o Meaningful brands make new relationships with people
that are deeper and more human
3

4. Every year we speak to 50,000 people in 14
countries about how brands fit into their lives.
Top 20 most meaningful global brands
It is clear from our analysis that we need to take according to our Havas Media’s Meaningful
a new look at the relationship between brands Brand Index (MBi):
and consumers. Nowadays we want so much
more from brands than just promises or stories.
Brands that manage to create better 1. IKEA 11. LG
relationships dominate the marketplace. 2. Google 12. Philips
3. Nestlé 13. Apple
Meaningful Brands helps us to develop this type 4. Danone 14. P&G
of relationship by understanding exactly what 5. Leroy Merlin 15. Mars
people expect from brands. It also helps us 6. Samsung 16. Volkswagen
track how successful companies are 7. Microsoft
responding to these needs by understanding 17. L’Oréal
how these companies are contributing to our 8. Sony 18. Walmart
wellbeing, both as citizens and individuals, and 9. Unilever 19. Carrefour
how they communicate these values to us. 10. Bimbo 20. Coca-Cola
It also shows us that there's a big business
opportunity for brands that are able to satisfy NB – global brands are those explored across
consumers by creating wellbeing in the context two or more markets from different regions.
of their new values, expectations and local
market realities.
4

5. Global Trends
FMCG brands, retailers, IT and consumer People living in fast-growing economies
electronic brands are performing better than have a healthier relationship with brands.
most categories in helping to improve our
personal quality of life. Energy, oil, financial Our measurement, with its simple definition of
and telecommunication services are more “Meaningfulness” – the brand attachment coupled with
prone to underachieve, according to our the contribution to the quality of our lives, shows us that
respondents. consumers care about more than 50% of brands in
Latam countries such as Brazil, Mexico, Argentina,
Chile and Colombia. These high levels of
Despite this, some brands have been able to break free meaningfulness are also recorded in China and India
from these industry limitations. There are brands with where people tend to feel many brands are having a
exceptionally high MBi scores in lower scoring significant impact in their lives. This is compared to
categories who are learning to reconnect with significantly lower levels in Europe where people are
consumers. This is the case for Fidelity Investments in much more sceptical of brands.
the USA, energy brands Petrobras in Brazil and EDF in
France and telco brands 02 in the UK and Free in
France. In emerging and fast-growing countries, the progress of
their economies and societies and the companies are
dependent on the progress of their people. Addressing
We are seeing an upward trend on brand collective big social challenges, such as access to basic
wellbeing contributions - communities/ societies/ affordable products and services, means exploring the
environment. This is especially the case with the basic needs of their communities. Half of the top brands
automotive sector, which has seen rankings driven with higher MBi scores come from these regions. For
upwards by greater environmental and product example, Tetra Pak and Bimbo in Mexico, Colgate-
innovation, such as the hybrid and electric cars and Palmolive and the oil company Petrobras in Brazil, food
energy efficiency. Compared to last year, brands such brands Colún in Chile and Nacional de Chocolates in
as Volkswagen, BMW, Toyota and Peugeot have, Colombia, La Serenisima and Sancor in Argentina,
according to consumers, improved the most in this
Unilever in India and Ikea in China.
area.
5

6. Sara de Dios, Global Head of Meaningful
Brands at Havas Media:
“We believe that it’s likely that the next generation
of brands will flourish in emerging economies - Branding and communication strategies must
they can, from the onset, create a context that be adapted and customized to suit geography
promotes the growth of meaningful brands. or market clusters. Being adaptive and
Companies and brands operating in emerging responsive to each market’s needs and
economies can become active in transforming expectations is crucial. Companies must
their roles; they are creating new lifestyles for address which specific outcomes are more
millions of people and their communities while meaningful to people in each market. And for
contributing to the overall progress of their global companies with multiple brands, different
societies. This will continue in the future with a but consistent approaches are needed across
growing middle class emerging within these brand and market clusters.
markets.
Not only do people expect brands to contribute
By contrast, the situation in developed economies to their lives and the lives of others, they also
is the opposite. Brands in these regions are no expect a different type of connection through
longer seen to improve people’s quality of life. more tailored and relevant interactions.
There is an aging and increasingly poorer middle
class who are demanding that brands help them
to lead and create new lifestyles that fit into their
new expectations and values. In order to survive,
these brands must re-evaluate their definitions of
success and take up the challenge to make
meaningful contributions to these people’s lives.”
6

7. US Retail Insights
The retail category matrix shows us which OUTPUT/PRODUCTS(4Ps)
COLLECTIVE OUTCOMES
outcomes people believe are important to PERSONAL OUTCOMES
drive brand equity and how people believe
the category is performing in realizing these
outcomes. 1.
2.
1. Marketplace outcomes - output/ products (4Ps) - are
naturally important and are high performers, in particular
listening to customers, providing quality and useful
products. 3.
Being ethical, transparent and being a good place to
work are top Collective equity drivers.
Treating consumers with respect, helping learning and to
make life easier are key Personal outcomes to leverage.
2. Opportunity areas to enhance performance are largely
in Personal emotional and organizational territories, in
making consumers happier, helping to enhance life
satisfaction, promoting positive company interactions
and supporting good consumer habits.
3. And as Collective outcomes continue to increase in Connecting and delivering on these territories in
importance over time, we recommend reinforcing actions a human, tangible and consistent way, through
taken in providing fair working conditions for supplier
employees, charity support and efforts which provide
all brand interactions, leads to greater
jobs to fuel the economy. attachment and loyalty.
7

8. Whole Foods outperforms Whole Foods’ is strong in the core category marketplace
category expectations in most outputs, offering safe, healthy and innovative products, and in
outcomes which propels the listening to consumers.
brand to the most meaningful
Retail brand in our study. Whole Food’s core values underpin a strong range of Collective
outcomes, which support Community, Environment, Government & Ethics
and Workplace dimensions.
…Whole Foods stores are are green and energy efficient, offering
sustainable, natural and organic food, having banned plastic grocery bags,
offsetting of 100% of energy use with wind energy credits.
…Whole Foods cares for local communities, seeing themselves as ‘active
neighbors’. For example, the Whole Planet Foundation initiative aids in the fight
against poverty, domestically and in developing countries around the world
through the sales of certain products and in helping to create local jobs.
Whole Foods excels in delivering upon Personal outcomes Physical,
Emotional, Intellectual, Social and Natural dimensions.
…Health Starts Here educates and empowers consumers, providing health
and recipe information and guides, online and in-store at the Health Starts
Department.
…Whole Kids Foundation promotes health, learning and connecting,
seeking to improve children’s nutrition and wellness, through bringing salad
bars to schools and creating school and community gardens.
We see an opportunity for Whole Foods to further increase
brand equity by incorporating and realizing key Organizational
attributes.
8

9. US ITC Insights
In combination with our matrix diagnostic we Important
dimensions
to
drive
brand
equity
use spider charts to evaluate comparative
category and brand perceived importance and Collective Personal
performance at a dimension and attribute level, Outcomes PHYSICAL
Outcomes
across Marketplace, Collective and Personal GOV & ETHICS
145
FINANCIAL
outcomes.
125
ENVIRONMENT ORGANIZATIONAL
When it comes to the Information Technology
105
Communications category all Marketplace attributes such
as providing quality, useful and innovative products/
85
services are core. Being ethical and transparent are also
ECONOMY INTELLECTUAL
important Collective Outcomes which drive brand equity in
in the category. These are areas to nurture and enhance 65
performance.
COMMUNITY SOCIAL
Personal Organizational and Intellectual attributes, helping
to make life easier and save time, and enabling learning,
are important drivers where the category performs well.
Social and Emotional dimensions are areas where the WORKPLACE EMOTIONAL
category can seek to enhance, such as, bringing happiness
and enabling greater life satisfaction, treating consumers MARKETPLACE NATURAL
with respect, making company interactions easy.
ITC Performance Index ITC Importance Index
100=Average
9

10. Google ranks #3 in our US brands and is the category ITC
leader. People would care if the brand disappeared.
Google is comparatively strong to other consumer electronic, technology
and telecommunication brands in the US on nearly every Collective
outcome but has room to improve on Marketplace outcomes. Interestingly,
when we compare performance at a global level and across all categories,
we see further opportunities to strengthen the brand in the Collective
dimensions.
Google excels on most Personal attributes, but there is naturally room to
enhance performance in Emotional and Social attributes.
Some of the ways in which we see Google delivering include:
…Google makes life easier through its core products and services, from
simple search via Chrome web browser, to Android mobile OS, to gmail.
Reinforced through the Google mission to provide users with the best
possible experience.
…Google is recognized as a good place to work, ranked #1 by CNN in
2012, among others.
…Google is socially committed, in the heart of Silicon Valley, through
Citizen School initiatives and R&D support e.g. Lunar X competition.
…Google invests in renewable energy and the environment. Solar
panels are used to power 30% of their buildings energy consumption.
380,000 gallons of waste water is treated and reused. Millions are invested
in renewable energy innovation projects, which also help make people’s
lives easier.
10

11. US Auto Insights
Across categories we tend to see OUTPUT/PRODUCTS(4Ps)
COLLECTIVE OUTCOMES
the greatest difference in PERSONAL OUTCOMES
comparative importance and
performance in Personal outcomes.
In the Auto category, Emotional,
Natural and Organizational
dimensions are most important.
The category opportunity to enhance
performance is predominantly in Emotional
attributes, such as making consumers
happier, promoting life satisfaction, enabling
self-expression and treating consumers with
respect, coupled with helping to make
consumers’ lives easier.
In order to grow brand equity and attachment
we recommend prioritizing delivering upon
key attributes which are relevant for your
category.
11

12. Honda is our top performing Auto brand which
outperforms the category on nearly all Collective
outcomes and Personal dimensions of Natural,
Physical, Intellectual and Social.
As with the category, there is the opportunity to enhance
Marketplace outputs, along with Emotional and
Organizational Personal dimensions.
We see Honda’s meaningful success in:
…Honda’s “Greenest Vehicles” accolade, where the fuel
efficiency of the 100% electric Honda Fit, plus five other
hybrid or electric vehicles, resulted in Honda being among
the top brands awarded.
…Honda’s Blue Skies initiative for our children, which
aims to help future generations experience the freedom of
mobility with an aggressive 2020 emissions reduction
mission.
…Honda’s community outreach, such as the California
Coastal Cleanup, which brought LA volunteers together to
clean over 750 sites in 2011, Madrona Marsh Habitat
Restoration initiative and Ohio educational student events.
…Honda’s “practice what you preach” approach, where
solar panels are utilized on all Honda facilities around the
world.
12

13. You have seen how Meaningful Brands For you numbers people, the snapshot below
pays in human terms, “me, us, the world”.
Personal Outcomes shows how our Meaningful KPIs of Contribution
to Quality of Life and Attachment compare with
traditional brand measures.
Naturally, the highest performing Meaningful Brands
Physical Financial Organizational Intellectual
also perform best in traditional brand measures.
Emotional Social Natural
Workplace Community Environment
Gov & Ethics Economy
13

14. And Meaningful Brands pays in business terms.
To learn more, please visit:
www.havasmedia.com
@HavasMedia
http://www.youtube.com/
havasmediachannel
If you too are excited and intrigued about our cartography approach to
identifying key brand equity drivers, linking Marketplace, Collective and
Personal outcomes and using our framework to help realize sustainable
business results, do please contact us.
Sara de Dios, Global +34.914.569.090 sara.dios@havasmedia.com
Kate Cox, UK +44.207.393.9000 kate.cox@havasmedia.com
Amy du Pon, US +1.646.587.517 amy.dupon@havasmedia.com
14

15. Thank You!

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