El día en que las marcas se conviertieron en Clones. Las marcas deben desarrollar su difrenciación o de lo contrario estan muertas.
Young & Rubicam and BrandAsset Consulting
The document discusses the concept of a "brand bubble" where business speculation and market valuations of brands far exceed how consumers actually perceive and value brands. The author cites research from their BrandAsset Valuator surveys of over 35,000 brands that shows brand awareness, quality, and trust have significantly declined in recent years despite rising brand values in the market. If this disconnect continues, it could represent over $4 trillion in overstated brand values and assets, potentially bursting another economic bubble larger than the housing or tech bubbles.
Brands at an inflection point: do you live or die? The questions to ask, the ...Drthomasbrand Limited
The factors that will drive the growth or the demise of brands in the next twenty years. A critical view of how brands will evolve and devolve & what to do
This document summarizes a case study on revitalizing declining and dead brands. It begins by looking at examples of Ford's Taurus and Harley-Davidson, which both nearly died but were revived. It then discusses reasons why brands decline, such as poor management, changes in the market environment, and competitive actions. Signs of impending decline are identified as decreasing brand differentiation, awareness, and customer response. Approaches to strengthening brands include rebuilding quality, resisting price cuts, and clearly defining the target market. The case of Cadillac's successful repositioning in the late 20th century is provided as an example of effective brand revitalization.
This document discusses approaches to revitalizing declining or dead brands. It analyzes case studies of Ford's Taurus and Harley-Davidson, both of which saw declines but were later revived. Brands can decline due to bad management, changes in the market environment, or competitive actions. Signs of impending decline include losing brand differentiation, decreasing brand awareness, and damage to brand image. The document provides frameworks for understanding the generative, selective, and mediative forces that affect a brand's success or decline over time.
The document provides an overview of the BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands report for 2011. Some key points:
- Apple became the most valuable brand, increasing 84% in value to $153 billion. Overall, the top 100 brands grew 17% in value to $2.4 trillion.
- Technology and telecom brands continued to rise as a portion of the top 100, now comprising a third versus a quarter in 2006.
- Changes in consumer behavior and shopping influenced brands, such as a shift to considered consumption and empowerment through digital technology.
- Brands communicated new messages around individuality, health/wellness, environment, and product provenance. Digital media allowed
BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2013Kantar
The BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands report found that overall brand value increased 7% to $2.6 trillion. Several key themes emerged:
1) Recovery - Economies continued to improve in many markets, allowing brands to regain value lost during the recession.
2) Refinement - Rather than major innovations, brands focused on incremental improvements to encourage cautious consumer spending.
3) Relevance - Brands sought to offer personal relevance to more reflective consumers.
Financial, consumer, and technology brands saw mixed results, with financial brands improving the most at 20% as profits rebounded. Strong brands continued to outperform the stock market, growing 58% over eight years versus 23%
1. The document discusses how to measure and create financial value through strong brands.
2. It introduces metrics like brand power, premium, and potential to quantify a brand's equity and how that drives returns.
3. Strong brands provide customers with meaningful experiences that are different and salient, building predisposition to choose the brand and pay a premium. Amplifying these brand strengths grows financial value.
The document discusses the concept of a "brand bubble" where business speculation and market valuations of brands far exceed how consumers actually perceive and value brands. The author cites research from their BrandAsset Valuator surveys of over 35,000 brands that shows brand awareness, quality, and trust have significantly declined in recent years despite rising brand values in the market. If this disconnect continues, it could represent over $4 trillion in overstated brand values and assets, potentially bursting another economic bubble larger than the housing or tech bubbles.
Brands at an inflection point: do you live or die? The questions to ask, the ...Drthomasbrand Limited
The factors that will drive the growth or the demise of brands in the next twenty years. A critical view of how brands will evolve and devolve & what to do
This document summarizes a case study on revitalizing declining and dead brands. It begins by looking at examples of Ford's Taurus and Harley-Davidson, which both nearly died but were revived. It then discusses reasons why brands decline, such as poor management, changes in the market environment, and competitive actions. Signs of impending decline are identified as decreasing brand differentiation, awareness, and customer response. Approaches to strengthening brands include rebuilding quality, resisting price cuts, and clearly defining the target market. The case of Cadillac's successful repositioning in the late 20th century is provided as an example of effective brand revitalization.
This document discusses approaches to revitalizing declining or dead brands. It analyzes case studies of Ford's Taurus and Harley-Davidson, both of which saw declines but were later revived. Brands can decline due to bad management, changes in the market environment, or competitive actions. Signs of impending decline include losing brand differentiation, decreasing brand awareness, and damage to brand image. The document provides frameworks for understanding the generative, selective, and mediative forces that affect a brand's success or decline over time.
The document provides an overview of the BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands report for 2011. Some key points:
- Apple became the most valuable brand, increasing 84% in value to $153 billion. Overall, the top 100 brands grew 17% in value to $2.4 trillion.
- Technology and telecom brands continued to rise as a portion of the top 100, now comprising a third versus a quarter in 2006.
- Changes in consumer behavior and shopping influenced brands, such as a shift to considered consumption and empowerment through digital technology.
- Brands communicated new messages around individuality, health/wellness, environment, and product provenance. Digital media allowed
BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2013Kantar
The BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands report found that overall brand value increased 7% to $2.6 trillion. Several key themes emerged:
1) Recovery - Economies continued to improve in many markets, allowing brands to regain value lost during the recession.
2) Refinement - Rather than major innovations, brands focused on incremental improvements to encourage cautious consumer spending.
3) Relevance - Brands sought to offer personal relevance to more reflective consumers.
Financial, consumer, and technology brands saw mixed results, with financial brands improving the most at 20% as profits rebounded. Strong brands continued to outperform the stock market, growing 58% over eight years versus 23%
1. The document discusses how to measure and create financial value through strong brands.
2. It introduces metrics like brand power, premium, and potential to quantify a brand's equity and how that drives returns.
3. Strong brands provide customers with meaningful experiences that are different and salient, building predisposition to choose the brand and pay a premium. Amplifying these brand strengths grows financial value.
The document discusses Peet's Coffee & Tea's efforts to help poor coffee farmers in East Africa by developing a special blend of their coffees to sell and generate more income for the farmers. This will help the farmers but also strengthen Peet's brand by appealing to customers who want to support socially responsible causes. However, the plan faces challenges in working with farmers in unstable regions with poor infrastructure and getting the coffee to market internationally.
The value of the BrandZTM Global Top 100 brands increased 12% in 2014 to $2.9 trillion, marking a shift from economic recovery to growth. All categories rose in brand value led by Apparel with a 29% increase. Only 18 brands lost value compared to an average of 31 in previous years since the financial crisis. Growth was driven by resurgent North American and European economies while BRIC markets slowed. Google surpassed Apple as the top brand. Tencent and Facebook were the fastest risers. Technology dominated with nearly a third of total value.
BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands study 2014 - Millward BrownVikrant Mudaliar
The BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands study, commissioned by WPP and conducted by Millward Brown Optimor, is now in its ninth year. It is the only ranking that uses the views of potential and current buyers of a brand, alongside financial data, to calculate brand value.
The combined value of the Top 100 has nearly doubled since the first ranking was produced in 2006. The Top 100 today are worth $2.9 trillion, an increase of 49% compared with the 2008 valuation, which marked the start of the banking and currency crisis.
This document summarizes the findings of a research paper about growing a company's core business. The research found that growing the core accounted for 74% of companies' growth in the past 2-3 years. While marketing directors saw growing the core as the best path to sustainable growth, senior management and sales teams were less convinced. Companies often neglect the core due to perceptions that innovation is sexier. The top drivers for growing the core are distinctive branding, expanding distribution, and then product extensions. The conclusion recommends focusing on the core by using inspiring examples to engage others and harnessing growth drivers in sequence.
Analysis of the corporate reputation of the companyGeorgeDolezal
1) In 2001, Walmart had the third best corporate reputation according to a survey of the public, likely due to providing affordable products. However, over the next 13 years Walmart's reputation declined dramatically due to criticism over issues like labor practices, environmental impact, and lack of social responsibility.
2) By 2013, Walmart no longer ranked in the top 100 most reputable companies. The document analyzes Walmart's reputation using six dimensions and rates them poorly on emotional appeal, workplace environment, and social responsibility due to scandals and perceived mistreatment of employees.
3) While Walmart still performs well financially and in products/services, the document warns that without changes to improve reputation, Walmart's
This document discusses 10 truths that are reshaping the corporate world according to a study by Havas Worldwide. It focuses on the first truth, which is that companies are expected to be transparent in their operations as consumers want to know what happens behind closed doors. The public and media now scrutinize companies' labor practices, sourcing, and environmental impact. Transparency has become imperative for businesses to earn trust and loyalty. Consumers have various tools to research companies' social and environmental records.
The document is a report on The CoreBrand Top 100 BrandPower Rankings for 2012. It provides an executive summary of key trends in brand strength over the past year and 5 years. Specifically, it notes that brand strength on average has declined over the past 5 years, driven mainly by decreased favorability. However, the top 100 brands have fared better than average, and technology companies saw some of the biggest gains in brand power.
The document discusses the origins and nature of brands. It argues that brands were not invented by companies or marketers, but rather are constructs that form in people's minds based on their experiences and perceptions. Brands are built by consumers through countless interactions and impressions, not by companies directly. While companies can influence brand perceptions to some degree, many factors influencing brands are outside of their control. The true role of marketers is to help guide how consumers build brands in their minds.
Creating meaning in the way we satisfy consumer needs and engage with themDrthomasbrand Limited
This document discusses the changing landscape for brands, with an informed and engaged consumer who is difficult to reach through traditional media. It emphasizes that brands must offer real consumer value and differentiation through deep consumer insights and engagement. Brands will need to move from product categories to concepts that span categories and are defined by their meaning to consumers. Authenticity, quality, and delivering on brand promises through all consumer touchpoints will be important in this new era that values substance over puffery in branding and marketing.
Brandz most valuable global brands 2017Jean Allary
The value of the top 100 global brands increased 8% in 2017 to $3.6 trillion despite a turbulent geopolitical year, with surprises like Brexit and the US election. Seven categories rose moderately while two, retail and technology, increased by double digits. The fastest growing brand was Adidas, up 58%, while retail was the fastest growing category at 14%. Some brands addressed social issues in response to consumer expectations around brand purpose.
If you’re repositioning a brand, or if you’re curious about where to take your brand after you launch it, this tool will help you understand how and when to renew your zag as it moves through the three stages of the “competition cycle.”
This document discusses how brands can fail and provides strategies to prevent failure. It identifies common reasons for brand failure such as overestimating the market size, ineffective promotion, and pricing issues. The document also discusses the concept of branding and defines a brand as a person's gut feeling about a product. It emphasizes the importance of understanding customers and differentiating the brand. Additionally, the document outlines four disciplines of brand building: differentiation, collaboration, innovation, and cultivation.
A brand fails when people's gut feelings about the product or service become negative due to issues like brand memory loss, ego, deception, fatigue, paranoia, or irrelevance. Common reasons for failure include an inappropriate high-level push, overestimating demand, poor positioning, ineffective promotion, misunderstanding the target market, wrong pricing, high costs, underestimating competition, poor timing, misleading research, ignoring research findings, lack of partner involvement, and low margins. Brands can prevent failure by differentiating themselves, collaborating, innovating without predictability, and cultivating character through consistency between strategy and creativity.
This document summarizes research on the power of brand properties. The research found:
1) Marketing directors see distinctive brand properties as extremely important for creating strong brands by standing out and triggering brand meaning.
2) Common brand properties like logos and colors are widely used, but opportunities exist to leverage properties like shapes, slogans, and sonic branding more.
3) Measuring and managing brand properties needs improvement, as less than half of companies properly track properties quantitatively and most make changes based on non-strategic reasons rather than data.
4) A case study on ice cream brands found Magnum's most iconic asset is its distinctive product shape, while properties like slogans and celebrity
The marketing and advertising arms race to create emotional appeal, generate buzz and move up brand valuation league tables, is creating a widening gap between brand strategy and business strategy. In this environment some of the once coolest and iconic brands are faltering at a game they once dominated. The key question for businesses today, is how to expose such strategic blind spots and remain relevant in the face of an evolving marketplace? This article explores one methodology and framework into just how that can be done.
This document discusses the importance of corporate reputation and purpose for building brand value and trust with consumers. Some key points:
- Consumers increasingly seek brands that share their values and reward purpose-driven companies with loyalty. Trust is now a critical driver of brand differentiation.
- Corporate responsibility has evolved from communications to conversations, requiring transparency and participation. Brands must align their values with societal expectations.
- Research shows customers are three times more likely to choose, feel loyal to, and recommend brands that demonstrate social purpose over those that do not. Having a clear purpose beyond profits enhances brand reputation and drives business results.
A brand is forever! A framework for revitalizing declining and dead brands114iiminternship
This document discusses causes and strategies for revitalizing declining brands. It identifies common causes of brand decline as poor managerial actions like compromising on quality, frequent price increases without added value, price cuts out of desperation, neglecting the brand, and failing to stay with the target market as it evolves. Environmental changes and competitive actions can also contribute to decline. The document recommends rebuilding quality, resisting the temptation to exploit brand recognition through lower quality products, and pursuing a carefully defined target market as strategies to revitalize a declining brand. It argues that most brands can be revived if they still have residual value in brand equity dimensions like differential effect, brand knowledge and customer response.
This document discusses how brands can create financial value through meaningful differentiation and resonance with consumers. It outlines five facets - findability, credibility, vitality, affordability, and extendability - that strong brands use to amplify their differentiation and drive financial growth. Examples are given of how brands like IKEA, Natura, Audi, Dove, and Tropicana have leveraged these facets. The document also summarizes the evolution of BrandDynamics' brand valuation methodology over time.
The document discusses Peet's Coffee & Tea's efforts to help poor coffee farmers in East Africa by developing a special blend of their coffees to sell and generate more income for the farmers. This will help the farmers but also strengthen Peet's brand by appealing to customers who want to support socially responsible causes. However, the plan faces challenges in working with farmers in unstable regions with poor infrastructure and getting the coffee to market internationally.
The value of the BrandZTM Global Top 100 brands increased 12% in 2014 to $2.9 trillion, marking a shift from economic recovery to growth. All categories rose in brand value led by Apparel with a 29% increase. Only 18 brands lost value compared to an average of 31 in previous years since the financial crisis. Growth was driven by resurgent North American and European economies while BRIC markets slowed. Google surpassed Apple as the top brand. Tencent and Facebook were the fastest risers. Technology dominated with nearly a third of total value.
BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands study 2014 - Millward BrownVikrant Mudaliar
The BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands study, commissioned by WPP and conducted by Millward Brown Optimor, is now in its ninth year. It is the only ranking that uses the views of potential and current buyers of a brand, alongside financial data, to calculate brand value.
The combined value of the Top 100 has nearly doubled since the first ranking was produced in 2006. The Top 100 today are worth $2.9 trillion, an increase of 49% compared with the 2008 valuation, which marked the start of the banking and currency crisis.
This document summarizes the findings of a research paper about growing a company's core business. The research found that growing the core accounted for 74% of companies' growth in the past 2-3 years. While marketing directors saw growing the core as the best path to sustainable growth, senior management and sales teams were less convinced. Companies often neglect the core due to perceptions that innovation is sexier. The top drivers for growing the core are distinctive branding, expanding distribution, and then product extensions. The conclusion recommends focusing on the core by using inspiring examples to engage others and harnessing growth drivers in sequence.
Analysis of the corporate reputation of the companyGeorgeDolezal
1) In 2001, Walmart had the third best corporate reputation according to a survey of the public, likely due to providing affordable products. However, over the next 13 years Walmart's reputation declined dramatically due to criticism over issues like labor practices, environmental impact, and lack of social responsibility.
2) By 2013, Walmart no longer ranked in the top 100 most reputable companies. The document analyzes Walmart's reputation using six dimensions and rates them poorly on emotional appeal, workplace environment, and social responsibility due to scandals and perceived mistreatment of employees.
3) While Walmart still performs well financially and in products/services, the document warns that without changes to improve reputation, Walmart's
This document discusses 10 truths that are reshaping the corporate world according to a study by Havas Worldwide. It focuses on the first truth, which is that companies are expected to be transparent in their operations as consumers want to know what happens behind closed doors. The public and media now scrutinize companies' labor practices, sourcing, and environmental impact. Transparency has become imperative for businesses to earn trust and loyalty. Consumers have various tools to research companies' social and environmental records.
The document is a report on The CoreBrand Top 100 BrandPower Rankings for 2012. It provides an executive summary of key trends in brand strength over the past year and 5 years. Specifically, it notes that brand strength on average has declined over the past 5 years, driven mainly by decreased favorability. However, the top 100 brands have fared better than average, and technology companies saw some of the biggest gains in brand power.
The document discusses the origins and nature of brands. It argues that brands were not invented by companies or marketers, but rather are constructs that form in people's minds based on their experiences and perceptions. Brands are built by consumers through countless interactions and impressions, not by companies directly. While companies can influence brand perceptions to some degree, many factors influencing brands are outside of their control. The true role of marketers is to help guide how consumers build brands in their minds.
Creating meaning in the way we satisfy consumer needs and engage with themDrthomasbrand Limited
This document discusses the changing landscape for brands, with an informed and engaged consumer who is difficult to reach through traditional media. It emphasizes that brands must offer real consumer value and differentiation through deep consumer insights and engagement. Brands will need to move from product categories to concepts that span categories and are defined by their meaning to consumers. Authenticity, quality, and delivering on brand promises through all consumer touchpoints will be important in this new era that values substance over puffery in branding and marketing.
Brandz most valuable global brands 2017Jean Allary
The value of the top 100 global brands increased 8% in 2017 to $3.6 trillion despite a turbulent geopolitical year, with surprises like Brexit and the US election. Seven categories rose moderately while two, retail and technology, increased by double digits. The fastest growing brand was Adidas, up 58%, while retail was the fastest growing category at 14%. Some brands addressed social issues in response to consumer expectations around brand purpose.
If you’re repositioning a brand, or if you’re curious about where to take your brand after you launch it, this tool will help you understand how and when to renew your zag as it moves through the three stages of the “competition cycle.”
This document discusses how brands can fail and provides strategies to prevent failure. It identifies common reasons for brand failure such as overestimating the market size, ineffective promotion, and pricing issues. The document also discusses the concept of branding and defines a brand as a person's gut feeling about a product. It emphasizes the importance of understanding customers and differentiating the brand. Additionally, the document outlines four disciplines of brand building: differentiation, collaboration, innovation, and cultivation.
A brand fails when people's gut feelings about the product or service become negative due to issues like brand memory loss, ego, deception, fatigue, paranoia, or irrelevance. Common reasons for failure include an inappropriate high-level push, overestimating demand, poor positioning, ineffective promotion, misunderstanding the target market, wrong pricing, high costs, underestimating competition, poor timing, misleading research, ignoring research findings, lack of partner involvement, and low margins. Brands can prevent failure by differentiating themselves, collaborating, innovating without predictability, and cultivating character through consistency between strategy and creativity.
This document summarizes research on the power of brand properties. The research found:
1) Marketing directors see distinctive brand properties as extremely important for creating strong brands by standing out and triggering brand meaning.
2) Common brand properties like logos and colors are widely used, but opportunities exist to leverage properties like shapes, slogans, and sonic branding more.
3) Measuring and managing brand properties needs improvement, as less than half of companies properly track properties quantitatively and most make changes based on non-strategic reasons rather than data.
4) A case study on ice cream brands found Magnum's most iconic asset is its distinctive product shape, while properties like slogans and celebrity
The marketing and advertising arms race to create emotional appeal, generate buzz and move up brand valuation league tables, is creating a widening gap between brand strategy and business strategy. In this environment some of the once coolest and iconic brands are faltering at a game they once dominated. The key question for businesses today, is how to expose such strategic blind spots and remain relevant in the face of an evolving marketplace? This article explores one methodology and framework into just how that can be done.
This document discusses the importance of corporate reputation and purpose for building brand value and trust with consumers. Some key points:
- Consumers increasingly seek brands that share their values and reward purpose-driven companies with loyalty. Trust is now a critical driver of brand differentiation.
- Corporate responsibility has evolved from communications to conversations, requiring transparency and participation. Brands must align their values with societal expectations.
- Research shows customers are three times more likely to choose, feel loyal to, and recommend brands that demonstrate social purpose over those that do not. Having a clear purpose beyond profits enhances brand reputation and drives business results.
A brand is forever! A framework for revitalizing declining and dead brands114iiminternship
This document discusses causes and strategies for revitalizing declining brands. It identifies common causes of brand decline as poor managerial actions like compromising on quality, frequent price increases without added value, price cuts out of desperation, neglecting the brand, and failing to stay with the target market as it evolves. Environmental changes and competitive actions can also contribute to decline. The document recommends rebuilding quality, resisting the temptation to exploit brand recognition through lower quality products, and pursuing a carefully defined target market as strategies to revitalize a declining brand. It argues that most brands can be revived if they still have residual value in brand equity dimensions like differential effect, brand knowledge and customer response.
This document discusses how brands can create financial value through meaningful differentiation and resonance with consumers. It outlines five facets - findability, credibility, vitality, affordability, and extendability - that strong brands use to amplify their differentiation and drive financial growth. Examples are given of how brands like IKEA, Natura, Audi, Dove, and Tropicana have leveraged these facets. The document also summarizes the evolution of BrandDynamics' brand valuation methodology over time.
The document discusses Walmart's struggles with declining sales and negative customer traffic at its U.S. stores for seven consecutive quarters. It also mentions that brand equity loss and customer attrition are connected, and lists some drivers of customer attrition such as threats to workers. Another section discusses whether rebranding alone is enough to address problems, highlighting some expensive rebranding failures by companies like BP, Gap, and Pepsi.
This document provides guidelines for revitalizing declining or dead brands. It discusses causes of brand decline such as managerial actions, environmental factors, and competitive actions. The three key elements of brand equity that decline are brand knowledge, the brand's differential effect, and customer responses. Managers must carefully assess if residual brand equity exists to make revival feasible. Successful revivals involve repositioning the brand, investing in it, educating the market, and correcting past mismanagement. Taking a long-term perspective is important, as is focusing on a defined target market.
This magazine issue contains articles on branding, creativity, and pitching. It discusses how maintaining branding efforts during recessions can help brands perform better long-term. It recommends following the "7Ps of Branding" - Profit, Persistence, Planning, Performance, Positioning, People, and Principles. It argues against agencies pitching creative work for free, as ideas are their intellectual capital. Free pitching undermines agencies' credibility and ownership of ideas. Creativity is best achieved through a partnership where the goal is meaningful work, not just lowest cost.
[Project] Retail Management Report Brands Versus Private Labels- Fighting to WinBiswadeep Ghosh Hazra
INTRODUCTION-
Private label brands are on the rise right now everywhere in the world and command a higher unit share than the strongest of national brands in 77 out of 250 product supermarket categories which is an astonishing 31% and even in 100 of those categories, Private Label comes a close second or third position. However, manufacturers do not realize that sales of private labels sales vary with the economic conditions of the country they are operating in. Their share goes up when the economy is suffering and tanks in stronger growth periods.
The proof of this claim is evident from the following fact- During the last 20 years, Private Label share of markets has averaged out at a decent 14% of the U.S dollar supermarket sales. This share was 17% during 1981-82 at the peak of the recession and in the year 1994, this share dropped to 14.8% despite receiving media adulation. Private labels have managed to pressurize strong national and international brands but brands must also assess the threats that are possible from private labels and whether they will decline or mature in the future.
European Markets have seen quite success with Private Label Brands and compared to USA supermarkets which has only 15% of their sales come from Private Label Brands, European supermarkets has 54% of their sales from PLBs. This is because in Europe, the television markets are highly regulated and hence advertising is limited. Also, grocery chains dominate the entire European landscape and hence retailers hold more power in relation to manufacturers than in the United States of America.
The 360 Degree Advantage How Whole Brands Dominate by BarkleyBarkley
This is the first of many examples of how whole brands
will dominate markets to come, giving marketing
leaders for brands and their C-suite counterparts
proof of the impact of 360-degree thinking and how a
collective, systematic approach to brand building can
change the trajectory and future of brands.
May the most whole brands win!
More at wholebrandproject.com.
Young & Rubicam Article - Brand Energized DifferentiationJeremy Kravetz
Most consumer brands are not creating value for consumers according to extensive research of 40,000 brands across 44 countries. Consumer attitudes toward brands have declined significantly in key measures like awareness, trust, and admiration. However, financial markets continue to attribute high value to brands, creating a mismatch. The article argues this mismatch poses problems for companies and could lead to a "brand bubble". Successful brands exhibit "energized differentiation" through excitement, dynamism and creativity. The article suggests three major problems contributing to declining brand perceptions: excess brand capacity, lack of brand creativity, and loss of consumer trust in brands.
The document discusses brand valuation methodology used by BrandZ. It notes that BrandZ's methodology is unique in that it uses extensive consumer research and data from over 2.2 million consumers in more than 30 countries to establish each brand's contribution and value. This consumer-facing approach combines consumer insights with financial analysis. The document also provides insights into trends seen in Latin American brand valuations compared to other regions.
BrandZ Top 50 Most Valuable Latin American Brands 2014Kantar
The BrandZTM Top 50 Most Valuable Latin American Brands 2014 analyses and determines the value of brands from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Mexico. Together, these nations represent around US$5 trillion in GDP, the equivalent of the world’s third largest economy ahead of Japan. It is the only ranking that takes into account the views of potential and current buyers of a brand, alongside financial data, to calculate its value.
This document provides an introduction to the BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2009 ranking. It explains that the ranking is based on proprietary consumer research and market/financial data to determine the monetary brand value. The ranking considers thousands of brands across over 30 countries and 17 brand categories. It aims to provide the most comprehensive, and useful assessment of brand value available by quantifying the contribution of brand equity to market value.
The BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands report found that overall brand value increased 7% to $2.6 trillion. Key highlights include:
- Financial brands such as global banks and regional banks saw strong growth of 23% and 15% respectively, recovering value lost during the recession.
- Consumer categories like apparel, retail, and personal care rebounded with growth rates of 21%, 17%, and 11%.
- The technology category was flat as brands focused on incremental improvements rather than major innovations.
- Commodity categories like oil and gas declined, with the category decreasing 4% in value.
- Fast growing markets still contributed brands but the number declined to 17 from
BAVLAB es una consultora de marca global con experiencia local. Nuestra aproximación estratégica está soportada en el análisis profundo de LAS marcas. Aprovechando los datos y la filosofía del BrandAsset® Valuator (BAV®), la base de datos de percepción de marcas más grande del mundo, ayudamos a nuestros clientes a tomar sus decisiones de marketing de manera más informada.
El BAV® monitorea los datos más relevantes alrededor de las marcas, entendiendo cómo ÉSTAS crean impulso y llevan a apasionar a los consumidores. Al entender y explorar las fortalezas y desafíos de una marca frente a la dinámica de su categoría, el BAV ofrece una visión única acerca de la importancia de las marcas en el desarrollo del mercado cultural.
BAVLAB Combina datos únicos con el expertise de la planeación estratégica para ayudarles a nuestros clientes a entender mejor sus marcas. Contamos Con un respaldo de 20 años de datos de marca e insights. inspiramos ideas motivadoras, tácticas, alianzas y plataformas de mercadeo que conducen al momentum de marca, y a que se produzcan resultados tangibles.
En este resumen se comparan las marcas de lácteos La Serenísima de Argentina y Soprole de Chile usando datos del estudio BrandAsset Valuator. La Serenísima superó a Soprole en la mayoría de métricas como diferenciación, relevancia, estima y familiaridad. El puntaje final fue 7-1 a favor de La Serenísima, coronándola como la marca de lácteos más fuerte entre los dos países.
Y&R y BrandAsset Consulting, crearon su propio torneo de marcas, conocida como LIFE BRANDS Copa América, en donde se enfrentan las marcas más significativas de algunas categorías de los países que se enfrentan. todo esto patrocinado por el BrandAseet Valuator (BAV), nuestras poderosas herramientas y las metodologías propias de BrandAsset Consulting. BrandAsset Valuator (BAV), el estudio cuantitativo sobre marcas mas grande del mundo, midiendo activamente 50,000 marcas, en cientos de categorías, alrededor de 51 países.
El documento compara las marcas de cerveza premium Cusqueña de Perú y Club Colombia de Colombia usando datos del estudio BrandAsset Valuator. Los resultados muestran que ambas marcas tienen fuertes atributos de imagen y están muy arraigadas culturalmente en sus respectivos países, con un empate final en las métricas comparadas.
Y&R y BrandAsset Consulting, crearon su propio torneo de marcas, conocida como LIFE BRANDS Copa América, en donde se enfrentan las marcas más significativas de algunas categorías de los países que se enfrentan. todo esto patrocinado por el BrandAseet Valuator (BAV), nuestras poderosas herramientas y las metodologías propias de BrandAsset Consulting. BrandAsset Valuator (BAV), el estudio cuantitativo sobre marcas mas grande del mundo, midiendo activamente 50,000 marcas, en cientos de categorías, alrededor de 51 países.
Los ases bajo la manga de Plazavea Perú (Diferenciación, familiaridad y uso regular) no le bastaron para vencer a los pentacampeones.
Extra Brasil por su parte dominó el partido de principio a fin. Al minuto 70 anotó el gol de la Preferencia que desempató el partido y les dio la tranquilidad para lograr el triunfo.
Dos marcas fuertes han dejado todo en la cancha. Han demostrado que sus hinchas las valoran lo suficiente para dar la pelea a nivel internacional.
Y&R y BrandAsset Consulting, crearon su propio torneo de marcas, conocida como LIFE BRANDS Copa América, en donde se enfrentan las marcas más significativas de algunas categorías de los países que se enfrentan. todo esto patrocinado por el BrandAseet Valuator (BAV), nuestras poderosas herramientas y las metodologías propias de BrandAsset Consulting. BrandAsset Valuator (BAV), el estudio cuantitativo sobre marcas mas grande del mundo, midiendo activamente 50,000 marcas, en cientos de categorías, alrededor de 51 países.
Los Australes impusieron su condición de local. Ya se auguraba un buen resultado a partir de la alineación donde los atributos de Copec superaban a los Aztecas.
Irse adelante en el primer tiempo, con cuatro tantos en los primeros minutos, les dio la tranquilidad a los australes para salir a jugar una segunda mitad sin contratiempos.
Aunque al final, el país del tequila recuperó fuerzas y logró 3 tantos, no le alcanzó para alcanzar a los locales.
Dos marcas fuertes han dejado todo en la cancha. Han demostrado que sus hinchas las valoran lo suficiente como para competir internacionalmente.
En este documento se presenta un análisis comparativo entre las marcas Colombiana de Colombia y Guarana de Brasil con datos del estudio BAV, con motivo de la Copa América. El análisis muestra que ambas marcas tienen un puntaje similar en variables como diferenciación, relevancia, estima y familiaridad. En indicadores de uso regular, preferencia y compromiso de comportamiento también empatan. Por lo tanto, el resultado final es un empate 4-4 entre estas dos reconocidas marcas de las categorías de bebidas no alcohólicas de sus respectivos países.
Este documento resume la Copa América de fútbol de 2015, incluyendo los doce equipos participantes y las marcas patrocinadoras. También describe cómo BrandAsset Consulting creó su propia "Copa de marcas" comparando las conversaciones en redes sociales sobre marcas patrocinadoras versus no patrocinadoras. Finalmente, analiza cuáles equipos y marcas generan más conversación.
Capstone Project: Luxury Handloom Saree Brand
As part of my college project, I applied my learning in brand strategy to create a comprehensive project for a luxury handloom saree brand. Key aspects of this project included:
- *Competitor Analysis:* Conducted in-depth competitor analysis to identify market position and differentiation opportunities.
- *Target Audience:* Defined and segmented the target audience to tailor brand messages effectively.
- *Brand Strategy:* Developed a detailed brand strategy to enhance market presence and appeal.
- *Brand Perception:* Analyzed and shaped the brand perception to align with luxury and heritage values.
- *Brand Ladder:* Created a brand ladder to outline the brand's core values, benefits, and attributes.
- *Brand Architecture:* Established a cohesive brand architecture to ensure consistency across all brand touchpoints.
This project helped me gain practical experience in brand strategy, from research and analysis to strategic planning and implementation.
Mastering Local SEO for Service Businesses in the AI Era is tailored specifically for local service providers like plumbers, dentists, and others seeking to dominate their local search landscape. This session delves into leveraging AI advancements to enhance your online visibility and search rankings through the Content Factory model, designed for creating high-impact, SEO-driven content. Discover the Dollar-a-Day advertising strategy, a cost-effective approach to boost your local SEO efforts and attract more customers with minimal investment. Gain practical insights on optimizing your online presence to meet the specific needs of local service seekers, ensuring your business not only appears but stands out in local searches. This concise, action-oriented workshop is your roadmap to navigating the complexities of digital marketing in the AI age, driving more leads, conversions, and ultimately, success for your local service business.
Key Takeaways:
Embrace AI for Local SEO: Learn to harness the power of AI technologies to optimize your website and content for local search. Understand the pivotal role AI plays in analyzing search trends and consumer behavior, enabling you to tailor your SEO strategies to meet the specific demands of your target local audience. Leverage the Content Factory Model: Discover the step-by-step process of creating SEO-optimized content at scale. This approach ensures a steady stream of high-quality content that engages local customers and boosts your search rankings. Get an action guide on implementing this model, complete with templates and scheduling strategies to maintain a consistent online presence. Maximize ROI with Dollar-a-Day Advertising: Dive into the cost-effective Dollar-a-Day advertising strategy that amplifies your visibility in local searches without breaking the bank. Learn how to strategically allocate your budget across platforms to target potential local customers effectively. The session includes an action guide on setting up, monitoring, and optimizing your ad campaigns to ensure maximum impact with minimal investment.
In this humorous and data-heavy session, join us in a joyous celebration of life honoring the long list of SEO tactics and concepts we lost this year. Remember fondly the beautiful time you shared with defunct ideas like link building, keyword cannibalization, search volume as a value indicator, and even our most cherished of friends: the funnel. Make peace with their loss as you embrace a new paradigm for organic content: Pillar-Based Marketing. Along the way, discover that the results that old SEO and all its trappings brought you weren’t really very good at all, actually.
In this respectful and life-affirming service—erm, session—join Ryan Brock (Chief Solution Officer at DemandJump and author of Pillar-Based Marketing: A Data-Driven Methodology for SEO and Content that Actually Works) and leave with:
• Clear and compelling evidence that most legacy SEO metrics and tactics have slim to no impact on SEO outcomes
• A major mindset shift that eliminates most of the metrics and tactics associated with SEO in favor of a single metric that defines and drives organic ranking success
• Practical, step-by-step methodology for choosing SEO pillar topics and publishing content quickly that ranks fast
In this dynamic session titled "Future-Proof Like Beyoncé: Syncing Email and Social Media for Iconic Brand Longevity," Carlos Gil, U.S. Brand Evangelist for GetResponse, unveils how to safeguard and elevate your digital marketing strategy. Explore how integrating email marketing with social media can not only increase your brand's reach but also secure its future in the ever-changing digital landscape. Carlos will share invaluable insights on developing a robust email list, leveraging data integration for targeted campaigns, and implementing AI tools to enhance cross-platform engagement. Attendees will learn how to maintain a consistent brand voice across all channels and adapt to platform changes proactively. This session is essential for marketers aiming to diversify their online presence and minimize dependence on any single platform. Join Carlos to discover how to turn social media followers into loyal email subscribers and ultimately, drive sustainable growth and revenue for your brand. By harnessing the best practices and innovative strategies discussed, you will be equipped to navigate the challenges of the digital age, ensuring your brand remains relevant and resonant with your audience, no matter the platform. Don’t miss this opportunity to transform your approach and achieve iconic brand longevity akin to Beyoncé's enduring influence in the entertainment industry.
Key Takeaways:
Integration of Email and Social Media: Understanding how to seamlessly integrate email marketing with social media efforts to expand reach and reinforce brand presence. Building a Robust Email List: Strategies for developing a strong email list that provides a direct line of communication to your audience, independent of social media algorithms. Data Integration for Targeted Campaigns: Leveraging combined data from email and social media to create personalized, targeted marketing campaigns that resonate with the audience. Utilization of AI Tools: Implementing AI and automation tools to enhance efficiency and effectiveness across marketing channels. Consistent Brand Voice Across Platforms: Maintaining a unified brand voice and message across all digital platforms to strengthen brand identity and user trust. Proactive Adaptation to Platform Changes: Staying ahead of social media platform changes and algorithm updates to keep engagement high and interactions meaningful. Conversion of Social Followers to Email Subscribers: Techniques to encourage social media followers to subscribe to email, ensuring a direct and consistent connection. Sustainable Growth and Minimized Platform Dependence: Strategies to diversify digital presence and reduce reliance on any single social media platform, thereby mitigating risks associated with platform volatility.
Lily Ray - Optimize the Forest, Not the Trees: Move Beyond SEO Checklist - Mo...Amsive
Lily Ray, Vice President of SEO Strategy & Research at Amsive, explores optimizing strategies for sustainable growth and explores the impact of AI on the SEO landscape.
Did you know that while 50% of content on the internet is in English, English only makes up 26% of the world’s spoken language? And yet 87% of customers won’t buy from an English only website.
Uncover the immense potential of communicating with customers in their own language and learn how translation holds the key to unlocking global growth. Join Smartling CEO, Bryan Murphy, as he reveals how translation software can streamline the translation process and seamlessly integrate into your martech stack for optimal efficiency. And that's not all – he’ll also share some inspiring success stories and practical tips that will turbocharge your multilingual marketing efforts!
Key takeaways:
1. The growth potential of reaching customers in their native language
2. Tips to streamline translation with software and integrations to your tech stack
3. Success stories from companies that have increased lead generation, doubled revenue, and more with translation
The Secret to Engaging Modern Consumers: Journey Mapping and Personalization
In today's digital landscape, understanding the customer's journey and delivering personalized experiences are paramount. This masterclass delves into the art of consumer journey mapping, a powerful technique that visualizes the entire customer experience across touchpoints. Attendees will learn how to create detailed journey maps, identify pain points, and uncover opportunities for optimization. The presentation also explores personalization strategies that leverage data and technology to tailor content, products, and experiences to individual customers. From real-time personalization to predictive analytics, attendees will gain insights into cutting-edge approaches that drive engagement and loyalty.
Key Takeaways:
Current consumer landscape; Steps to mapping an effective consumer journey; Understanding the value of personalization; Integrating mapping and personalization for success; Brands that are getting It right!; Best Practices; Future Trends
The digital marketing industry is changing faster than ever and those who don’t adapt with the times are losing market share. Where should marketers be focusing their efforts? What strategies are the experts seeing get the best results? Get up-to-speed with the latest industry insights, trends and predictions for the future in this panel discussion with some leading digital marketing experts.
The Forgotten Secret Weapon of Digital Marketing: Email
Digital marketing is a rapidly changing, ever evolving industry--Influencers, Threads, X, AI, etc. But one of the most effective digital marketing tools is also one of the oldest: Email. Find out from two Houston-based digital experts how to maximize your results from email.
Key Takeaways:
Email has the best ROI of any digital tactic
It can be used at any stage of the customer journey
It is increasingly important as the cookie-less future gets closer and closer
Yes, It's Your Fault Book Launch WebinarDemandbase
From Blame to Gain: Achieving Sales and Marketing Alignment to Drive B2B Growth.
Tired of the perpetual tug-of-war between your sales and marketing teams? Come hear Demandbase Chief Marketing Officer, Kelly Hopping and Chief Sales Officer, John Eitel discuss key insights from their new book, “Yes, It’s Your Fault! From Blame to Gain: Achieving Sales and Marketing Alignment to Drive B2B Growth.”
They’ll share their no-nonsense approach to bridging the sales and marketing divide to drive true collaboration — once and for all.
In this webinar, you’ll discover:
The underlying dynamics fueling sales and marketing misalignment
How to implement practical solutions without disrupting day-to-day operations
How to cultivate a culture of collaboration and unity for long-term success
How to align on metrics that matter
Why it’s essential to break down technology and data silos
How ABM can be a powerful unifier
We will explore the transformative journey of American Bath Group as they transitioned from a traditional monolithic CMS to a dynamic, composable martech framework using Kontent.ai. Discover the strategic decisions, challenges, and key benefits realized through adopting a headless CMS approach. Learn how composable business models empower marketers with flexibility, speed, and integration capabilities, ultimately enhancing digital experiences and operational efficiency. This session is essential for marketers looking to understand the practical impacts and advantages of composable technology in today's digital landscape. Join us to gain valuable insights and actionable takeaways from a real-world implementation that redefines the boundaries of marketing technology.
In today's digital world, customers are just a click away. "Grow Your Business Online: Introduction to Digital Marketing" dives into the exciting world of digital marketing, equipping you with the tools and strategies to reach new audiences, expand your reach, and ultimately grow your business.
website = https://digitaldiscovery.institute/
address = C 210 A Industrial Area, Phase 8B, Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar, Punjab 140308
In the digital age, businesses are inundated with tools promising to streamline operations, enhance creativity, and boost productivity. Yet, the true key to digital transformation lies not in the accumulation of tools but in strategically integrating the right AI solutions to revolutionize workflows. Join Jordache, an experienced entrepreneur, tech strategist and AI consultant, as he explores essential AI tools across three critical categories—Ideation, Creation, and Operations—that can reshape the way your business creates, operates, and scales.This talk will guide you through the practicalities of selecting and effectively using AI tools that go beyond the basics of today’s popular tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Midjourney, or Dall-E. For each category of tools, Jordache will address three crucial questions: What is each tool? Why is each one valuable to you as a business leader? How can you start using it in your workflow? This approach will not only clarify the role of these tools but also highlight their strategic value, making it perfect for business leaders ready to make informed decisions about integrating AI into their workflows.
Key Takeaways:
>> Strategic Selection and Integration: Understand how to select AI tools that align with your business goals and how to conceptually integrate them into your workflows to enhance efficiency and innovation.
>> Understanding AI Tool Categories: Gain a deeper understanding of how AI tools can be leveraged in the areas of ideation, creation, and operation—transforming each aspect of your business.
>> Practical Starting Points: Learn how you can start using these tools in your business with practical tips on initial steps and integration ideas.
>> Future-Proofing Your Business: Discover how staying informed about and utilizing the latest AI tools and strategies can keep your business competitive in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.
What’s “In” and “Out” for ABM in 2024: Plays That Help You Grow and Ones to L...Demandbase
Delve into essential ABM ‘plays' that propel success while identifying and leaving behind tactics that no longer yield results. Led by ABM Experts, Jon Barcellos, Head of Solutions at Postal and Tom Keefe, Principal GTM Expert at Demandbase.
As 2023 proved, the next few years may be shaped by market volatility and artificial intelligence services such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and Perplexity.ai. Your brand will increasingly compete for attention with Google, Apple, OpenAI, and Amazon, and customers will expect a hyper-relevant and individualized experience from every business at any moment. New state-legislated data privacy laws and several FTC rules may challenge marketers to deliver contextually relevant customer experiences, much less reach unknown prospective buyers. Are you ready?Let's discuss the critical need for data governance and applied AI for your business rather than relying on public AI models. As AI permeates society and all industries, learn how to be future-ready, compliant, and confidentlyscaling growth.
Key Takeaways:
Primary Learning Objective
1: Grasp when artificial general intelligence (""AGI"") will arrive, and how your brand can navigate the consequences. Primary Learning Objective
2: Gain an accurate analysis of the continuously developing customer journey and business intelligence. Primary Learning Objective
3: Grow revenue at lower costs with more efficient marketing and business operations.
2. DAY OF THE CLONES 1
The emailable version of this document is at pubs.yr.com/clones.pdf
DAY OF THE CLONES
Differentiation is vital.
It is the lifeblood of all marketing.
But few companies ever measure it on their brands.
And in most companies, what doesn’t get measured,
gets ignored.
As a result, their brands are becoming the same as their
competitors: clones of each other.
Clone brands are often big, familiar, household names.
But they struggle to attract customers.
And to keep those they have.
They cannot extend into new areas.
And their margins are low.
They represent a kind of living death in modern
commerce.
The human brain
is drawn to
differentiation
like a moth to a
lightbulb.
It is the most
important factor
in marketing.
But also the
least measured.
3. DAY OF THE CLONES 3
Tom is a brand manager.
His approach is thoroughly professional.
He’s searching the world for best practice, and is
bringing it to his brand.
He’s also benchmarking his brand against
competitors, making it look as good as they do.
And he’s optimizing his communication plans,
ensuring they’re best-in-class.
What’s the problem?
‘Seeking best practice’, ‘benchmarking’ and ‘best-
in-class’ sound important. But they all mean Tom is
copying his competitors.
And because his competitors are professionals
too, they are copying Tom back.
In today’s world, everyone is searching for the
same best practice.
Everyone benchmarks against each other.
And everyone optimizes their communications
plans.
Everyone is copying each other.
And so their brands are becoming clones.
HOW BRANDS BECOME CLONES
What makes your brand so different?
4. Y&R ADVERTISING4 DAY OF THE CLONES 5
Perfect information
There’s a further problem.
Today we live in a world of perfect information.
Everyone has exactly the same Google sitting on
their desktop.
All brands have access to high quality market
research.
All brands have high quality competitive
intelligence.
Faced with exactly the same
information, it’s difficult for
marketers not to make exactly the
same decisions.
Easy access to information is turning brands into
clones too.
Digital makes things even worse
Things have got worse, not
better, as the world has moved
online.
In 2004, Tom tried
e-commerce.
In 2005 he
developed a Flash-
based website
In 2006, he
launched an organic
search strategy.
In 2007, he explored paid
search.
In 2008 he dipped into
social networking.
Airlines have cut
costs so much
in recent years
that what’s left is
generic.
But so did every other brand manager in the
world.
Digital is making brands look like clones too.
Management can add to the problem
Management pressure for marketing to behave
professionally can encourage brands to become
clones too.
Tom’s CEO encourages him to follow industry
norms, and not to deliver ‘surprises’.
His finance director encourages him to adopt the
same level of marketing budget as others within
the industry.
The rest of the board encourage Tom to work
like their departments do, in slow predictable
movements, not in radical leaps.
Company managements are encouraging brands
to become clones too.
Entire industries are filling with clones
The clone problem is so bad that today entire
industries are following exactly the same marketing
strategies:
• In 2007, every telecoms company in the world
launched a multiple-play package of fixed line,
broadband and mobile.
• In 2008, they all launched a mobile broadband
USB dongle.
• And a new package of services with a free web
notebook bundled in.
• And throughout this period, all offered a complex
package of minutes and texts that none of their
customers understood.
All banks now
offer exactly
the same cards
and the same
ATM functions.
Today, most utility
companies are just a
logo on a bill.
In
2007,
every
telecoms
company
in the world
launched the same
mobile, fixed line and
broadband package.
5. Y&R ADVERTISING6 DAY OF THE CLONES 7
100%
2000 2003 2005 2007
0
It’s the same with banks.
Today, all offer exactly the same Visa cards.
And the same ATM functions.
And the same loans leaflets.
In industry after industry, brands are becoming
clones.
And there’s hard evidence for it
Differentiation levels are falling for brands in certain
categories all over the world.
It’s visible on Y&R’s global BrandAsset Valuator
tool.
It’s the only global study that actually measures
differentiation.
As can be seen in the charts above, in many
categories differentiation levels have collapsed
over the past ten years.
The clone effect is both quantitative and real.
Differentiation levels in
many categories have
collapsed over the last
decade.
DIFFERENTIATION IS LOW AND FALLING IN MANY CATEGORIES
AIRLINES
IN USA
BANKS
IN SPAIN
UTILITIES
IN GERMANY
Base: Category averages in each country.
Source: BrandAsset Valuator Differentiation (e) measure
INSURANCES
IN FRANCE
100%
2002 2005 2007
0%
100%
1997 2003 2005 2007
0
100%
2003 2005 2007
0%
If the last chapter doesn’t worry you, it’s
because you have never realized how important
differentiation is for your brand.
Large companies are happy to track words like
’trust’, ‘quality’ and ‘a brand for people like me’.
But they never try to track differentiation itself.
And in most companies, what doesn’t get
measured, doesn’t count.
So measure it
We’ve been measuring differentiation since 1993.
Our BrandAsset Valuator study has interviewed
500,000 consumers in 48 countries about 38,000
brands since then.
Measuring differentiation isn’t easy
It isn’t easy to measure differentiation:
1. Differentiation is volatile. Attributes like ‘reliable’
only go up or down a few percentage points a
year. With a hit product like iPhone, differentiation
can rise ten percent within months.
DOES IT MATTER THAT BRANDS
ARE BECOMING CLONES?
Differentiation
(Percentile rank)
Differentiation
(Percentile rank)
Differentiation
(Percentile rank)
Differentiation
(Percentile rank)
6. DAY OF THE CLONES 9
The PowerGrid
To look at brands more easily, we combine
differentiation and relevance into a leading
dimension we call Brand Strength, and esteem and
knowledge into another lagging dimension we call
Brand Stature, and plot one against the other to
form what we call a PowerGrid:
HOW BRANDASSET VALUATOR MEASURES BRANDS
BrandAsset Valuator has measured 38,000 brands
since 1993 using research amongst 500,000
consumers in 48 countries.
It measures all brands in exactly the same way.
And it has told us that brands have four key pillars.
Differentiation is the first. The others are:
• Relevance: the ability of a brand to connect with
a consumer’s needs.
• Esteem: the level of respect consumers afford a
brand.
• Knowledge: the level of familiarity a consumer
feels with a brand.
An up-and-coming brand looks like this:
A big, established brand looks like this:
And a clone brand with eroded differentiation looks
like this:
FaceBook
Differentiation Relevance Esteem Knowledge
PERCENTILERANK
100%
BAV USA H1 2008
Nike
PERCENTILERANK
100%
BAV USA H1 2008
StateFarm
PERCENTILERANK
100%
BAV USA H1 2008
DIFFERENTIATIONANDRELEVANCE
THE POWERGRID
ESTEEM AND KNOWLEDGE
CLONE
ZONE
2. Differentiation needs stabilizing. We’ve spent a
lot of time refining our differentiation measure,
as it’s a tricky thing to measure.
3. Differentiation is an absolute measure – it is
measured against all other brands, not just the
ones within a specific market. You can’t measure
differentiation within a market. That’s because
differentiated brands change the very nature of
the market they’re in.
But it’s worth it
BrandAsset Valuator makes clear the serious
problems faced by brands in the Clone Zone -
established brands with low differentiation:
1. Clone brands struggle to attract customers
We’ve found that all the brands with rapidly growing
user bases lie outside the Clone Zone.
Brands within the Clone Zone typically have static
or declining user bases.
2. Clone brands have all failed in the past
We have studied the movement of brands around
the PowerGrid for fifteen years.
We have never seen a new brand start in the
bottom left hand corner of the PowerGrid, and
then move directly into the Clone Zone.
Brands in the Clone Zone were therefore generally
highly differentiated at some point in the past, and
then lost it.
3. Cloning can happen fast
We’ve found that the differentiation levels of many
brands collapse two years after their launch - the
clone tendency can start early.
This allows us to look easily at the development of
brands.
On the PowerGrid, new brands start in the bottom
left of the diagram. Successful, differentiation-
driven brands then tend to move clockwise
around it towards the top right hand corner.
And established brands with weakening
differentiation tend to fall and cluster in what we
call the ‘Clone Zone’.
Clone brands tend to score
low on words like ‘interesting’
and ‘fun’.
Differentiation Relevance Esteem Knowledge
Differentiation Relevance Esteem Knowledge
AllchartsfeaturetheBAVDifferentiation(e)
measure
7. Y&R ADVERTISING10
Stern Stewart looked
at the financial
performance of brands
on various points on the
PowerGrid.
Brands lying above the
diagonal produce much
higher returns on capital
than brands that lie
below it.
VALUING BRANDS
FUTURE GROWTH VALUE
AS A MULTIPLE OF SALES
1.7x
0.9x 0.6x
2.3x
1.3x
Once a brand has fallen into the Clone Zone, it
struggles to attract new users.
This is why marketers often say that they pick up
all the users they will ever pick up in the first two
years after launch.
4. Entire industries can become clones
Differentiation can decay fast as a market
becomes less sexy. Mobile service provider
brands did well in the 90s as the mobile phone
became the coolest accessory for young
people everywhere. Ten years later, mobile
service providers are struggling to maintain
differentiation, as their marketing promises
become little more than low, low prices. Thus
does an industry become clones.
5. Clone brands cannot range extend
Range extending a brand is an important part of
marketing.
We’ve therefore looked at brands that have successfully
extended their ranges and meanings into new areas, as
well as brands that have struggled to do so.
The brands that have successfully extended into
empires, like Nike, which extended from sports shoes
into an entire sports-driven lifestyle, and Apple, which
extended from computers into music players and
phones all lie towards the top of the PowerGrid.
We have struggled to find examples of brands in
the Clone Zone that have succeeded in extending
themselves.
To ensure his soldiers had
reached their quota of twenty
kills in each battle they fought,
Ghenghis Khan insisted they
show him the right ears of their
victims.
And when his men started
cheating by bringing him left
ears too, he switched body
part and insisted they collect
twenty noses per battle
instead.
Through careful measurement,
Ghenghis Khan ensured that
all his victories were precisely
calculated.
Thus he conquered the world.
Similarly today: the best
victories are measured.
And the ones that aren’t
measured probably didn’t
happen.
Which makes it puzzling.
If differentiation is so
important, why does no major
marketer measure it?
OriginalresearchbasedonPowerGridversion93;nonenergizeddifferentiation
8. DAY OF THE CLONES 13
The world’s most popular restaurant chain
doesn’t offer you a plate, knife or fork.
The world’s best-selling yoghurt doesn’t say
it’s a tasty dessert. It says it will speed your
digestive transit.
The world’s best-selling toothpaste didn’t
grow by saying it would clean your teeth. It
offered social confidence.
The world’s best-selling shampoo doesn’t say
it will clean your hair. It says it will clear your
dandruff.
WANT TO BE A GLOBAL BRAND? THINK DIFFERENTIATION
6. Clone brands struggle with me-toos
Marketers of clone brands spend their lives
fighting off private label and other types of me-too
brands. Highly differentiated brands do not need
to do this. Apple’s iPod team do not worry about
new entrants to the MP3 market.
7. Clone brands have the lowest margins
Financial analysts have looked at the financial
performance of brands at differing positions on
the PowerGrid.
Brands in other parts of the PowerGrid have
margins up to three times higher than brands in
the Clone Zone.
Clone brands therefore do not just perform badly
in image terms.
They also make less money.
So
Lack of differentiation is the key problem that
many brands face.
But we should not be too negative. Our study
of differentiation reveals that it is a very strong,
positive force.
Most marketers feel that their brands face a range
of problems.
Our research shows that if they can get their
differentiation up, most of their problems will just
melt away.
9. Y&R ADVERTISING14 DAY OF THE CLONES 15
brand is not differentiated, it does not leave the
starting gate.
• What about awareness? Does differentiation
produce it or vice versa? Differentiation is
the thing that gets you to first notice a brand,
therefore differentiation is the thing that
produces awareness. Awareness doesn’t
produce differentiation: there are plenty of
high awareness brands with low differentiation.
Differentiation is therefore more important than
awareness too.
Differentiation grows brands
Differentiation is the thing that makes a brand
grow.
A brand that acquires high levels of differentiation
and relevance tends then to grow rapidly in terms
of esteem and knowledge, and move towards the
‘iconic’ brands like Coke, Ikea and Nike in the top
right of the PowerGrid.
As can be seen on the chart on the next page,
all the big brand successes of this decade have
grown along this path.
• If you’re a smart marketer, differentiation can
rocket even before you’ve launched your brand.
Spanish clothes brand Zara was one of the
most differentiated brands in Sweden - before
it opened its first store.
• With Starbucks and iPod, their differentiation
level just keeps building over time. The trick is
not just to launch something different. It is to
keep it different as time goes on.
DIFFERENTIATION: THE HOLY
GRAIL OF MARKETING
If you study only one aspect of your brand, that
aspect should be its level of differentiation:
Differentiation is vital
• When a successful brand is launched, the first
thing to rise is its level of differentiation. After
that, other attributes like ‘stylish’, ‘caring’ and ’up-
to-date’ may rise, as it develops a brand image.
Some attributes, like ‘trust’, can take a decade
or more to grow.
If differentiation doesn’t rise, a positive brand
image struggles to appear. Differentiation
is therefore the most important attribute in
marketing.
• Once a brand has differentiation, it then needs
to persuade consumers that its difference is
relevant to their needs.
It can succeed with a low level of any attribute
apart from differentiation and relevance. But if a
The
human
brain is drawn
magnetically
towards
differentiation
10. DAY OF THE CLONES 17
All successful
brands begin with
differentiation.
But differentiation is counterintuitive
The way differentiation works is not obvious:
• High levels of differentiation disrupt other
brands that lie outside conventional perceptions
of a brand’s marketplace. Starbucks is a coffee
shop, Nescafé is packaged coffee. But when
Starbucks level of differentiation went up, that
of Nescafé and other packaged coffees went
down.
• Differentiation involves taking the road less
traveled. If you’re a yoghurt manufacturer, would
you promote your yoghurt as being good at
speeding digestive transit, rather than talking
about yummy chunks of fruit? All your focus
groups would say no. But Activia did it in 2000.
Eight years on, Activia is the most successful
dairy brand in the world.
• You can differentiate anything, including water.
Evian is a highly differentiated brand, especially
in France.
• With differentiation, you can be the brand or
the other brand. There are often only two highly
differentiated brands in a market. Coke and Pepsi
are one pair. Nike and Adidas are another.
• Note to marketers who have a close relationship
with R&D scientists: Differentiation is in the eye
of the beholder. Coke and Pepsi taste pretty
similar. They come in similar cans. But both are
highly differentiated brands.
Differentiation also keeps top brands at the top
Maintaining a high level of differentiation is also
critical to keeping a leading brand a leader:
ESTEEM AND KNOWLEDGE
DIFFERENTIATIONANDRELEVANCE
iPOD
2002
2003
2006
2008h1
ESTEEM AND KNOWLEDGE
DIFFERENTIATIONANDRELEVANCE
STARBUCKS
1997
1999
2002
2004
ESTEEM AND KNOWLEDGE
DIFFERENTIATIONANDRELEVANCE
MYSPACE
2005
2007
2006
2008h1
ESTEEM AND KNOWLEDGE
DIFFERENTIATIONANDRELEVANCE
BLACKBERRY
2002
2004
2006
2007
ESTEEM AND KNOWLEDGE
DIFFERENTIATIONANDRELEVANCE
ZARA
USA 07
UK 06
Italy 07
Spain 07
ESTEEM AND KNOWLEDGE
DIFFERENTIATIONANDRELEVANCE
Wii
2007
2006
2008
ESTEEM AND KNOWLEDGE
DIFFERENTIATIONANDRELEVANCE
HENNES & MAURITZ
USA 07
Italy 07
UK 06
Netherlands 07
ESTEEM AND KNOWLEDGE
DIFFERENTIATIONANDRELEVANCE
eBAY
2005
ESTEEM AND KNOWLEDGE
DIFFERENTIATIONANDRELEVANCE
GOOGLE
2001
2005
ALL THE BIG SUCCESSES OF THIS DECADE DID IT
THROUGH HIGH DIFFERENTIATION
2004
2005
2007
1993
2007
2006
20052008h1
2001
2003
2005
2008
USA
USA
USA
USA
Switzerland 07
Saudi 07
UAE 06
Japan 07
France 07
Russia 07
GLOBAL
GLOBAL
Switzerland 07
France 07
Germany 07
UK
2002
2003
USA
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USA
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2008h1
2007
2006
USA
h1
Allchartsonthispageusethedifferentiation(e)measure
11. Y&R ADVERTISING18
The iPod changed the MP3 player from a geeky toy
into a mainstream youth accessory.
Microsoft’s mission to put a computer on every
desk changed the definition of what a computer is
for.
Google changed computer search from being
a nerdy activity into most people’s first call
when they need to know a train time or a date’s
background.
HIGHLY DIFFERENTIATED BRANDS REDEFINE MARKETS
Starbucks created new expectations in packaged
coffee, as well as in coffee shops.
• When a top brand stumbles, the first thing about
it to decline is its level of differentiation. It is an
early warning sign of trouble for the brand.
• As your market gets mature, a distinctive
philosophy can keep you differentiated. Nike’s
compelling ‘Just Do It’ philosophy has kept it
differentiated for twenty years.
• Measuring differentiation answers the age old
question of whether one should line-extend
one’s brands. Highly differentiated brands
like Coca-Cola extend with impunity. Weakly
differentiated brands end up meaning nothing.
What drives differentiation?
BrandAsset Valuator allows us to see what brand
attributes are associated with differentiation in
a category. This gives a picture of how previous
brands made a splash within the market.
But you would be ill advised to copy these traits
with your brand, because you would be copying
the moves the last successful entrant made.
Differentiation always involves taking a walk on
the wild side.
Is differentiation a relic of the age of advertising?
No. Advertising that persuades you that a brand
is somehow different, and then which persuades
you that that difference is somehow decisive has
always been good at raising differentiation.
But Starbucks built a high level of differentiation
without any conventional advertising, just through
word of mouth, and a powerful, distinctive instore
experience.
12. Y&R ADVERTISING20 DAY OF THE CLONES 21
Knowing about differentiation is good.
But what really helps is knowing how to grow it.
Unfortunately, many big packaged goods
companies have forgotten.
Instead of building their own highly differentiated
brands, they have started buying them in from
other companies.
The world’s biggest marketers have outsourced
the most important part of marketing.
So how do you grow it?
Here are some of the things we have learned grow
differentiation:
1. Talk to non-users: when Nintendo invented the
Wii, they did so by talking to people who didn’t
use video gaming consoles, and asked them
why they didn’t. Girls told them that unlike their
brothers, they didn’t get off on killing things.
Nintendo gave them Cooking Mama, Wii Fit and
Nintendogs.
2. Get a vision: the Body Shop moved away from
other‘natural’toiletryretailerswhenitannounced
it was against animal testing.
BUILDING DIFFERENTIATION
No brand need
suffer the
indignity of low
differentiation.
Google too built itself into a globally important
brand without any conventional advertising
whatsoever – it used strategic partnerships with
AOL and others.
So?
Differentiation may not be measured by most
companies.
But it is fundamental to marketing, both analog
and digital.
Without differentiation, a brand cannot lead a
market, or extend into new areas, or charge a
premium.
Without differentiation, a brand becomes a clone.
13. Y&R ADVERTISING22
3. Keep developing your offer: a brand that
continuallyreinventsitselfkeepsitsdifferentiation
up. The iPod developed the capability to carry
more songs. Then photos. Then podcasts. Then
videos. Then it introduced a touch interface,
wifi, and then music and application stores. Not
all digitally based brands do this – most banks
haven’t added any more facilities to their ATMs
since the 1980s.
4. Give your brand a sense of dynamism: Coffee
shop chain Tchibo keeps differentiation up
by offering a rapidly changing set of offers
for household appliances, foods and garden
equipment. The rapidly changing offer keeps
the brand fresh.
5. Use the power of scarcity: if you find yourself a
nice dress in Zara, buy it now. Because once an
item sells out in Zara, they don’t restock it.
6. Getting differentiation up can sometimes mean
rethinking your business model. In 2008, Prince
realized that with CD sales in freefall, he was not
about to make great sales of his new album. So
in the UK, he gave the album away on the front
of the Daily Mail newspaper. His subsequent
concert tour sold out.
7. Make it real: Grand Theft Auto San Andreas was
a great computer game. The improved graphics
of Grand Theft Auto IV makes it feel like you
really are mugging and carjacking people.
8. Go for the jugular. Dr Kawashima’s Brain
Training for the Nintendo DS has been a huge
hit amongst fifty-something adults because it
Differentiation may have its roots in evolutionary psychology. Mankind only
survived in the hunter-gatherer era by spotting the unusual, like edible berries
or a lurking predator, fast.
14. Y&R ADVERTISING24 DAY OF THE CLONES 25
HOW TO DIFFERENTIATE A BANK
Banks have adopted digital technology hugely in
the last ten years.
But they have used it to cut costs, rather than to
differentiate themselves.
Banks are acutely aware that a face-to-face
transaction with a customer can cost them as
much as fifty dollars; a postal transaction can cost
a few dollars, but a digital or ATM transaction costs
them just cents.
And so they have driven their customers out of
their branches to the ATMs outside:
• If a customer does venture into the bank
nowadays, the helpful people have been
replaced by aggressive loan salesmen.
• Throughout the world, ATMs and online banking
portals offer exactly the same services.
• And the smart stuff in banking - like putting
credit card functionality into mobile phones -
are being driven by payment systems like Visa,
not by the banks themselves.
ESTEEM AND KNOWLEDGE
DIFFERENTIATIONANDRELEVANCE
BANKS
Around the world,
most banks fall in
the clone zone.
is upfront about how weak their mental faculties are.
‘You have the brain of an eighty year-old’ screams Dr
Kawashima at his terrified users.
9. Don’t worry about value for money. The Red Bull can
is smaller than a typical soda can. That’s what makes
people think Red Bull is special.
10. Repeat, do not worry about value for money. Baileys
was just the leader in the cream liqueur market until
Diageo started pushing the price up way above the
competition. Girls in bars then realized that if they
ordered a Baileys they’d look expensive, and if they
asked for anything else they’d look like a cheap date.
Today Baileys is in a class of its own.
11. Don’t dismiss what initially feels absurd. ‘How about we
put little pieces of metal in our cinnamon schnapps?’
was a winning idea for Goldschläger.
Similarly, could a pen with a squishy grip be
positioned on a stress-relieving health benefit? The
idea has built Dr.Grip into a powerful brand in Japan
in the past few years.
These are our general findings on how to improve
differentiation.
Now let’s look at it in some individual categories that
could do with more of it.
Don’t reach for a pill
if you’re stressed.
Reach for the
squishy barrel of
Dr.Grip.
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15. DAY OF THE CLONES 27
If banks had better differentiated their offers, perhaps they might not have needed to compete so hard to lend
money to people they knew could never pay it back.
Differentiation levels at banks have therefore
collapsed.
It needn’t be that way
• Do banks have low differentiation levels because
they are a low interest category? A break-the-
rules bank like ING Direct, which enters new
countries with an online deposit account with a
market leading rate of interest, always ends up
with high differentiation. No bank need remain
undifferentiated.
• Small savings banks like Spain’s cajas and
Germany’s Sparkassen have been growing
in differentiation for the past five years - not
because they have done anything different, just
because they have kept their local branches and
customer service whilst their larger competitors
have shut branches and told their customers to
‘talk to the machine’ outside. Sometimes brands
just get lucky.
So
Banks need now to dig themselves out of the
clone zone:
1. Even back in 1980, ATMs allowed you to
check your balance, order a check book and
withdraw money. Moore’s Law means that today
computers are a million times faster, smarter
and more sophisticated. But ATMs offer nothing
more than they did then. ATMs need to move with
the times, rebuilding the distinctive relationship
that no longer happens in the branch.
2. Similarly bank internet portals are no smarter
than they were ten years ago. Yes, banks
ESTEEM AND KNOWLEDGE
DIFFERENTIATIONANDRELEVANCE
ING DIRECT
2005
2006
2007
Banks that break the
rules, like ING Direct,
end up with high
differentiation.
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16. DAY OF THE CLONES 29
Are you a succeeder or a risk-averse mainstreamer? Take our online quiz at http://4cs.yr.com/diys
need to keep their security levels up to avoid
phishing and other attacks. But they are leaving
the development of smart banking portals to
outsiders, like mint.com, which looks at your
banking transactions, analyses them by type and
gives you smart, intuitively helpful commentary
on your spending habits.
3. Many banks are currently asking their customers
to elect not to have paper statements, arguing
that it is greener not to, and that it eliminates a
source of identity theft. But those banks should
be careful. Eliminating the paper statement is
one more way banks will lose their relationship
with their customer.
4. Bankswouldconnectbetterwiththeircustomers
if they better understood their customers’
motivations and appetite for risk, rather than
mailing out applications for loans, credit and
mutual funds to them indiscriminately.
To help this process, Y&R has developed a
consumer segmentation system called 4Cs that
segments banking customers into typologies.
The system identifies customer’s basic life
motivations using Mazlow’s hierarchy of needs.
Of the seven groups, two groups, succeeders
and mainstreamers look identical to most
banks. But succeeders have an appetite for risk,
and therefore in most countries are attracted to
equities, whereas mainstreamers stick firmly to
risk-free deposit accounts. 4Cs thus identifies
customer groups that banks can’t detect
themselves.
Learn more about the
4Cs segmentation at
http://pubs.yr.com/
sevenkinds.pdf
17. Y&R ADVERTISING30
HOW TO DIFFERENTIATE A
TELECOMS COMPANY
In emerging markets, telecoms is the most exciting,
innovative industry on earth.
In India, companies like Airtel are putting mobile
phones in the hands of subsistence farmers and
fishermen, and are thereby changing their lives.
Having caught a netful of fish, an Indian fisherman
need no longer sail to a port in the hope of a good
market price; he can now phone or text two or
three ports, and do a deal at the best price before
sailing.
This effect is massively important: an extra ten
phones per hundred people in countries like
India makes GDP grow 0.6% a year faster than it
otherwise would*.
Meanwhile
Meanwhile in the developed world, mobile phone
companies now have phones in the hands of every
ESTEEM AND KNOWLEDGE
DIFFERENTIATIONANDRELEVANCE
TELCOS
CLONE
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In Europe and the US, many
telcos have fallen towards
or into the clone zone in the
past decade.
* Source: London Business School
Mobile telecoms advertising, 2012?
Whatever the country, telecoms advertising
seems to involve complex numerical offers.
Handsets are what’s sexy, not the mobile
service providers.
The innumerate need not apply.
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18. Y&R ADVERTISING32 DAY OF THE CLONES 33
Western man, woman and child who will ever have
them.
Penetration rates have reached 110% in some
countries.
The great mobile phone land grab is over.
And Western mobile phone countries are now
suffering from Alexander Syndrome:
‘When Alexander saw the breadth of his
domain, he wept, for there were no more
worlds to conquer.’
Mistakes have been made
Telecoms companies have missed huge
opportunities on the way:
• Over the past ten years, the size of the ringtone
market in most countries has grown to be larger
than the CD singles market. But mobile phone
companies have left it to specialist companies
like Germany’s Jamba and its Crazy Frog series.
• Phone wallpapers too have been a huge
business over the last ten years. But the money
has gone to specialist content providers, not to
the phone companies.
• At the time of writing, mobile phone companies
are missing out on a huge revenue stream from
people mailing their holiday photos home from
abroad - the MMS system still doesn’t work, and
the cost of emailing a holiday photo home using
mobile data is too high because data roaming
rates are $15 a megabyte in many countries.
ESTEEM AND KNOWLEDGE
DIFFERENTIATIONANDRELEVANCE
AOL
1999
1997
2007
USA
2005
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No brand is safe
from the clone
zone.
So think different:
It’s clear that mobile telecoms companies need to
break out of the clone zone if they are to prosper
again:
• The fundamental question they must ask is ‘what
market am I in? Over the past five decades, the
computer has shrunk from the mainframe, to
the mini computer, to the desktop PC to the
laptop. The next stage in its evolution looks
remarkably like a mobile phone. Which means
that telecom companies are sitting on top of
a potential goldmine - if, and only if, they can
identify it conceptually.
• As the world moves over to the concept of cloud
computing, the mobile phone will become the
access device of choice, because it is the only
device that most people have on them at all
times.
But the clouds at most telecoms companies
still look pretty dumb: they’ll let you store your
photos, and your contacts, but little else.
Telecoms companies, this is your wake up call.
AVERAGE
REVENUE PER
USER
A lot of telecoms
companies are in the
ARPU poo.
It’s not a phone. It’s
the next evolution
of the computer.
Thischartusesthedifferentiation(e)measure.
19. Y&R ADVERTISING34 DAY OF THE CLONES 35
HOW TO DIFFERENTIATE AN
AIRLINE
In the nineties, most airlines pulled their big
advertising campaigns and put the money instead
into their frequent flyer schemes.
It was a smart move – even in cities like New York,
95% of their TV advertising landed on people who
would never sit in their premium cabins. With
frequent flyer schemes, all the media landed on
people who flew frequently.
But then the schemes started to break down.
Frequent flyers started to accumulate so many
miles that airlines no longer wanted to redeem
them. The blackout dates grew so that most airlines
could never fly you to where you wanted to go, or
charged you so much in taxes and supplements
on your ‘free’ ticket that it was cheaper to book via
Expedia instead.
Airlines need to rethink their relationship with their
precious premium customers:
With the notable exception
of Virgin Atlantic, most
airlines around the world
are sliding towards the
clone zone.
ESTEEM AND KNOWLEDGE
DIFFERENTIATIONANDRELEVANCE
AIRLINES
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• Through frequent flyer schemes
and advance passenger
information, airlines know where
and when you’re flying in advance.
They also have your email address.
So why does no airline mail you a
PDF destination guide? It could be
the cheapest and most effective
piece of brand-building airlines
have ever done.
• Airlines could be greener and
more customer friendly at the
same time. Emirates have just
dumped the two tonnes of dog-
eared inflight magazines and
shopping guides that the average plane carries,
and have replaced them with up-to-date versions
on their seatback video screens.
• Airlines need to think about what else they can do
cheaply and well for their premium customers.
Space and weight is at a premium inflight - but
not at the airport before they board.
So Virgin Atlantic have built free beauty
treatments, jacuzzis, Playstations, sushi and
cocktails into their frequent flyer lounges. Other
airlines need to realize that beer and peanuts
are no longer enough.
• Airlines need to recognise that after a decade
of cost cutting, what image they have left is the
result of their national origin. For example, it’s
very difficult to be perceived as unpunctual if
you’re a German airline. And it’s very difficult for
Starbucks call their shops
the ‘third place’ in your life,
after your home and your
workplace.
Airlines need to apply similar
thinking to their customer
experience.
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20. Y&R ADVERTISING36 DAY OF THE CLONES 37
your airline to be perceived as unstylish if you
are from Italy.
Ask to see Y&R’s ‘Nations’ presentation of
BrandAsset Valuator research to learn more
about how your country’s image can benefit
your brand.
• The world is much more global than it was ten
years ago – and business travellers are travelling
more and more beyond their home airline’s
network.
Airlines need to focus more on their alliance
brands, like Star Alliance, Skyteam and One
World, ensuring that their customers are looked
after at the most critical point in their business
lives – when they get into trouble on the other
side of the world.
HOW TO DIFFERENTIATE A UTILITY
COMPANY
Back in the early days of electricity, electrical
companies were very imaginative marketers.
In the 1890s Edison was marketing direct current
(D.C.), and Westinghouse was marketing alternating
current (A.C.).
Their battle was the first format war – the
precursor of VHS vs. Betamax, and of HDDVD
versus BluRay.
Edison knew that consumers were afraid of
electricity, and played on this insight to differentiate
his brand.
To prove that competitive A.C. was dangerous,
Edison gave a series of demonstrations of its
lethal power.
He publicly electrocuted dogs and cats.
And then he filmed the A.C. electrocution of Topsy,
a Coney Island elephant*.
Meanwhile, his employee Harold P. Brown invented
an even more compelling demonstration of the
Utility companies
around the world
suffer badly from
cloning.
ESTEEM AND KNOWLEDGE
DIFFERENTIATIONANDRELEVANCE
UTILITIES
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* Search for ‘Topsy’ on YouTube
21. DAY OF THE CLONES 39
The alternating current-based electric chair was invented by a utility company marketing direct current, to
frighten consumers away from their competitor’s product.
lethal power of A.C.: for the State of New York, he
invented the electric chair.
Boring
The utility companies of today are much less
imaginative marketers.
Dual fuel packages, and discounts for automated
bill payments don’t exactly capture the public
imagination.
And so utility marketers have come to believe that
the products they sell are boring.
Which is puzzling. Because if you talk to any
schoolchild in the twenty-first century, they will
tell you that energy and water conservation are the
most important and emotive issues in the world.
An emotive issue
Utility companies struggle with guilt and doubt
in this area, as they know that the bulk of their
activities are to do with coal and oil.
But this is not the way the consumer thinks. For
consumers, it is the corporate intention, not the
corporate business that matters:
• BrandAsset Valuator reveals that some of
the greenest, most corporately responsible
companies in the world are oil companies - not
because oil is green, but because they publicly
advertise their corporate concerns about the
environment, and make the world aware of their
windfarms.
The consumer feels frustrated by corporate and
political indifference to green issues, and aches
Water companies
need to separate
communication of
their water product
from that of their no
doubt exciting sewage
treatment services.
Electrical power may
not be sexy, but lack
of it can be, says
Cosmopolitan South
Africa.
22. DAY OF THE CLONES 41
You can differentiate anything, including water.
to show favor to any company that shows they
think the same way they do.
• The big upcoming issue for utility companies
and the governments that sponsor them is
how to sell the public on the idea of nuclear
power again. A tip for companies trying to
do this: technology that has been around
for a while is a lot less scary to consumers
than when they first encounter it.
Many consumers were terrified by
microwave ovens when they first appeared
in the 1980s. Today, they are just kitchen
infrastructure. Similarly, nuclear power
may be a easier sell in the 2010s than it
was in the 1960s.
• And why do water companies struggle to
communicate with their customer? Their
corporate management always seem to be
acutely concerned about not alienating their
sewage division, and end up advertising their
water product and their sewage treatment
services in the same ads.
Meanwhile, mineral water companies are
managing to sell water at the same price as
Coca-Cola. Surely water companies could do
better?
No one passes on stories
about neighbors trying to
dry their dog in a microwave
oven any more.
Established technologies
don’t scare consumers as
much as new ones.
23. Y&R ADVERTISING42
Life and pensions companies have been in the
clone zone for a very long time.
When Y&R was founded in 1923, they were already
struggling to differentiate themselves.
Even then, they wrestled with the fact that few
people were interested in what they had to say at
the time when they chose to say it.
The problem in 1923 was that most insurance
companies had built their business model in
the nineteenth century when lethal infectious
diseases like cholera, typhoid and TB were rife.
Their products were designed to protect families
if the breadwinner died.
They took a long time for them to change their
promises and products to reflect the twentieth
century concern, not of dying too soon, but of
living too long.
In the 2000s
Today insurance companies are ignored by the
consumer because they don’t get twenty-first
century consumer concerns.
HOW TO DIFFERENTIATE AN
INSURANCE COMPANY
95% of insurance companies’
brand DNA is generic. They’re
just not different enough.
Source: BrandAsset Valuator
Insurance companies are associated in the consumer mind with accidents and getting old.
They should be associated more with life management.
24. Y&R ADVERTISING44 DAY OF THE CLONES 45
For instance, in Germany, life insurance is the
preferred way to save. But life insurance means
25 years of regular payment to build up a pot of
money. Who today knows what they will be doing
for the next 25 years?
Insurance companies need to think different:
• Insurance company literature is all about the
1970s family - two kids born to a couple in their
early twenties, who leave home when the couple
are in their forties, leaving them two decades to
build up their pension before retirement.
Today, middle class couples across the world
are having their kids in their mid thirties - which
means they will be demanding college fees
from semi-retired parents in their mid fifties.
How does a pension plan help its owner put
their kids through college?
• For people with money, retirement is an
opportunity to open a dive school, or to become
a landscape photographer. Pensions need to
reorient themselves around the hundred things
you want to do before you die.
• Research indicates that the 2007-9 credit crunch
has severely damaged the relationship between
consumers and the financial institutions they
rely on. Like those who lived through the Great
Depression, many will never trust financial
institutions again.
Today is thus a ‘Year Zero’ for insurance
companies: a time to fundamentally redefine
what they stand for.
Many big
insurance
companies are in
clone central.
ESTEEM AND KNOWLEDGE
DIFFERENTIATIONANDRELEVANCE
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HOW TO DIFFERENTIATE A CAR
In the past, automotive brands were regarded as
some of the strongest in the world.
But recent developments in the car market indicate
to us that differentiation is becoming more and
more of a problem for car brands.
Put simply, car brands are becoming more and
more the same.
Ten years ago, Porsche was a highly distinctive
brand, with a clear image and a clear demographic,
driven by its high price point, powerful engines
and no room in the back.
Today, is Porsche a high-status brand for single
men? Or with the launch of the Cayenne SUV, is it
a family car?
Long term, the brand’s differentiation can only
suffer from this move, however lucrative it proves
in the short term.
Similarly with BMW
Ten years ago, BMW was an aggressive saloon for
executives on the way up the corporate ladder.
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25. DAY OF THE CLONES 47
Sometimes, differentiation can be in the detail.
Today, with the launch of the 1 series, BMW is also
a runabout for shoppers.
And with the launch of the X series, it is a family
SUV too.
As with Porsche, BMW’s high level of differentiation
has allowed it to extend in this way, but whether it
is a good idea for the brand or not is debatable.
Long term, its differentiation level is under threat
too.
And in the mid market
It’s even worse in the mid market.
All cars are covering all niches within the market
- saloons, SUVs, small runabouts and station
wagons.
Specifications and options are becoming more
and more the same.
In the great rush to keep volumes up as the market
floods with overproduction, brands are under
threat.
So
• Now is the time for car companies to celebrate
what they don’t do. This strategy has an
illustrious past. ‘You can have your automobile
in any color you want,’ said Henry Ford as he
launched the world’s first mass-production car
at half the price of his nearest competitor, ‘as
long as it’s black.’
• Similarly, the opportunity for a car company to
differentiate its brand as a testosterone-fueled
two seater studmobile is wide open, now that
Porsche is also a family car.
A Porsche driver, 2008
26. Y&R ADVERTISING48
Marketers need to understand differentiation
above all today.
The analog media we have used for decades are
being replaced by digital media.
And the scary thing about digital media is
how brutal the feedback is.
In the analog era, you could boast about
the word of mouth your campaign was
generating, safe in the knowledge that word
of mouth was unmeasurable, and therefore
you could not be contradicted.
You could also produce the world’s most
boringadvertisingcampaign,andstillreassure
your shareholders that you had achieved 100
million impacts.
Not so today
In the digital era, you can produce a really
brilliant website and still get no clicks.
And you can measure online word-of-mouth
precisely with tools like VML’s SEER (vml.com/
seer).
WHY IT MATTERS NOW
It’s early days yet in our analysis,
but it’s already clear to us that if
you want your blog posts or viral
activity to propagate, your brand
needs a high level of differentiation.
Viral propagation index
DIFFERENTIATION
CAMPAIGN VIRALITY
1x 2x 3x 4x 5x
100%
0%
Campaignviralityisanexperimental,non-BAVmeasuregaugedbystudyingtheviralspreadofcampaignswe
haveaccessto.
In the analog era,
he who shouted the
loudest got heard.
In the digital era,
no one clicks on a
brand unless it’s got
something different
to say.
27. Y&R ADVERTISING50 DAY OF THE CLONES 51
In the digital era, monitoring tools like dashboards
let you watch people click on your ad, or interact,
or respond as it happens.
The success or failure of your campaign is revealed
quantitatively, decisively, and instantly.
Digital exposes failure
In the digital era, everything is measurable.
So the buck stops with the marketing.
And undifferentiated brands stand out by their
failure to achieve anything.
No one wants to participate in your discussions
unless you have a different point of view to make.
No one wants to interact with your ‘social’
advertising if it doesn’t have something different
to say.
No one will search for your brand online unless
they think it offers something different to what
they have already.
And no one will blog about your brand unless it’s
different either.
Clone branders, the party is over.
SUMMARY
1. Differentiation is the most important attribute
in marketing. Without differentiation, there is no
marketing.
2. But most marketers don’t even measure it on their
brands. And in most companies, what doesn’t get
measured gets ignored.
3. The result in many industries is that brands are
becoming more and more the same, as
marketers increasingly copy each other’s
ideas, under the guise of ‘seeking best
practice’, ‘benchmarking’ and ‘optimizing’.
4. The resulting ‘clone’ brands have lower
margins, lower attractiveness to customers
and lower loyalty. They also struggle to line
extend.
5. Brands in the clone zone include most
banks, insurance companies, airlines,
cars and increasing numbers of telecoms
companies.
6. Getting out of the clone zone is hard work. But any
brand in any sector can do it. No brand need be left
behind.
7. Strategies to do this break free of the market norm,
and blaze new trails. They admit that stealing with
pride is still stealing.
‘Resist
the usual’
Raymond Rubicam
FOUNDER, Y&R
28. Y&R ADVERTISING52 DAY OF THE CLONES 53
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Permission to store and display the PDF of this publication on
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way.
Permission to quote extracts from this publication is also freely
given, as long as such extracts are clearly attributed to Y&R
Advertising.
BrandAsset Valuator and 4Cs are registered trademarks of Young
and Rubicam Brands inc.
Published by Y&R EMEA, Greater London House, Hampstead Road,
London NW1 7QP
By:
Simon Silvester
simon.silvester@yr.com
tel: +44 20 7611 6356
For new business enquiries, please contact:
Yossi Schwartz
yossi_schwartz@za.yr.com
tel: +27 11 797 6314
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marcella.donovan@yr.com
tel: +44 20 7611 6565
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bernard.barnett@yr.com
tel: +44 20 7611 6425
Thanks to: Alessandra Cotugno, John Keaveney
In the end, a
brand has only
one choice to
make.
To be different.
Or to be the same
as all the others.
8. They also recognize that differentiation is the most
powerful attribute in marketing - and that if a brand
has high levels of differentiation, most of its other
problems are not as serious.
9. Above all, they recognize that differentiation is not
an easy, intuitive concept, and that its behavior is
worthy of serious study.
10. Differentiation is particularly important today, as we
move from analog to digital media. No one will pay
attention to you if you have nothing different to say.
They won’t blog about you either.
Or click on your links.
Without differentiation, digital media strategies
simply do not work.
29. Marketing is looking much
more professional these
days.
It’s taught at business
schools.
The techniques of lean
production are being brought
to it.
The only practice that
matters is best practice.
What was once the
mysterious art of marketing
is becoming a clear, logical
process.
There’s just one thing though.
The process doesn’t work.