This summer’s World Cup promises to be the most engaging and exciting sporting event yet. Thirty-two countries will go head to head to earn football’s top honor in what’s sure to be the most watched sporting event in history.

And while we can’t predict for sure who’ll win, Y&R created its own Brand World Cup tournament using our BrandAsset® Valuator (BAV) data to celebrate the competing countries through culturally significant brands.

BAV is the world’s longest-running quantitative study of brands— actively tracking 50,000 brands in hundreds of categories in 51 countries.

VS.SWITZERLAND FRANCE

1Scores are based on in-market data

HOW WE DID IT

First, we worked with our local offices to find leadership brands that shared the same “persona”— similar attributes— as their native countries. For instance, BAV data shows Spain is seen as Unique, Trustworthy, Friendly and Stylish. Attributes that are also shared by the popular clothing retailer Zara. Then, using our wealth of BAV brand data,1 we compared the hometown hero brands on various metrics in a head to head matchup. This matchup: Nestlé (one of the world’s largest food companies) vs. L’Oréal (world leader in beauty). But enough talk…it’s game on!

1All scores shown are based on in-market data

Perc

ent D

iffer

ence

SensuousO

bligingC

harming

Carefree

Restrained

Good Value

StylishSim

pleD

ifferentG

aining In PopularityFunD

aringR

eliableTrendy

Trad

ition

alPr

estig

ious

Inde

pend

ent

Orig

inal

Ener

getic

Hea

lthy

Best

Bra

ndU

pper

Cla

ssR

ugge

dH

igh

Perfo

rman

ceVi

sion

ary

Dow

n to

Ear

thLe

ader

Soci

ally

Res

pons

ible

Prog

ress

ive

Dis

tinct

ive

Inte

lligen

tC

ares

Cus

tom

ers

Gla

mor

ous

Uni

que

Dyn

amic

Frie

ndly

Hig

h qu

ality

Hel

pful

Wor

th M

ore

Soci

al

Nestlé has a rich persona comprised of leadership, intelligence and progressiveness, yet it’s still seen as down to earth. L’Oréal’s sensuality and charm is also approachable as it’s complemented by fun and value qualities. This looks like a match up of Serious vs. Sexy!

THE LINE UP

is stronger on is stronger on

0%

50%

100%

150%

200%

250%

300%

VS.97.6

The higher the Brand Asset score, the stronger the brand is in its cultural “brand landscape.”

BRAND ASSET SCORE BRAND ASSET SCORE

First we looked at a brand’s Brand Asset score— their overall performance score based on four key pillars:

DIFFERENTIATION: Examines a brand’s unique meaning, dynamism and energy—what it is that enables it to stand out and capture the attention of consumers.

RELEVANCE: Measures the connection brands have to people—how meaningful and relevant they are in the lives of consumers.

ESTEEM: Captures how a brand lives up to its promise—how highly consumers respect and regard it.

KNOWLEDGE: Measures the depth of understanding consumers have for a brand, and is the culmination of the brand-building process.

Then we dug deeper to explore how the brands stacked up on each pillar:

DIF REL EST KNO

100

80

60

40

20

0

88% 87%95% 92%

98% 98% 98% 94%

98.3

FIRST HALF

L’Oréal is 49% more preferred and has 67% greater loyalty than Nestlé, while Nestlé has 13% greater pricing power.

While a Brand Asset score can show a brand’s overall position in the marketplace, brand advocacy levels are also important for measuring a brand’s cultural relevance and strength.

PREFERENCE

PRICING POWER

LOYALTY

SECOND HALF

BRAND ASSET

DIFFERENTIATION

RELEVANCE

ESTEEM

KNOWLEDGE

PREFERENCE

LOYALTY

PRICING POWER

This match was a close one! The smart Swiss multi-national and the sensuous French company were well-liked and tied on overall Brand Asset score. However, with its wide arsenal of food and beverage products, Nestlé’s brand had the slight edge on Differentiation, Relevance and Knowledge.

In the second half, L’Oréal rebounded with greater preference and loyalty from its French fans. However, Nestlé scored the winning goal with its higher pricing power, so “brains” triumphed over “beauty” in this match-up!

GOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAL!

AND THE WINNER IS...

NESTLÉ L’ORÉAL

Like any good coach, BAV can help build your brand’s strength, resilience and stamina to get you to win big in the marketplace. BAV is a brand management tool with 72 universal metrics, the ability to not only be diagnostic but prescriptive, and provides insights about how to build stronger brands.

BAV looks at brands beyond the confines of their categories to identify and understand the roles they play in our culture, in order to build a strategic framework that helps drive marketplace performance. If you’d like to find out more about how BAV and Y&R can help your brand, visit yr.com/bav or email BAV@yr.com

HOW CAN BAV HELP YOU?