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Influential BrandsOctober 2015

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The UK’s most influential brands

#1#2#3#4#5

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Why is understanding influenceso important right now?

Lack of control of brand narrative

Scarcity of premium

brand environments

Scarcity ofattention

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What do we mean when we talk about influence?

A [Newsbrand’s] main product is not news or information, but influence: societal influence and commercial influence.Philip Meyer, Academic and Author

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What do we mean when we talk about influence?

Commercial SocietalIs the brand used, and are the users loyal to

it?

Does the brand inspire people to live better lives,

does it change the way the user thinks?

AudienceDoes the user listen to brand communications, do they pass on these

messages?

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The Guardian’s influence

Audienceinfluence

Societalinfluence

Commercialinfluence

More brand converstations per reader per week, vs other

QP readers

Source: Keller Fay May 2015

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Our aims

Consumercentric…

Identify driversof influence

BrandIndex

…and International

Advice for brandson how to boost their influence

Broad range ofbrands & categories

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How we did it

2,000 nat rep sample per market (UK, US and Australia)Generating approx 15,000 brand rankings across key categories

N.B. Charity category not included in the US – education/government

Alcoholic drinks

Travel

Tech

Social media

Charity

FMCG (other)

Finance & utilitiesMotors

Fashion & BeautyRetail

Telecoms

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How we did it

12 influence identifier statements e.g. I choose Tesco above all other similar brands

Respondents answered about brands they were familiar with

20 brand attributes applied to the personality of each brand e.g. Do you think that the Tesco is trustworthy?

N.B. Charity category not included in the US – education/government

2,000 nat rep sample per market (UK, US and Australia)Generating approx 15,000 brand rankings across key categories

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What did we find out?

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Brand influence is made up of four distinct pillars

Commercial Societal AudienceInward

AudienceOutward

InfluenceScore

The impacta brand has

on consumer’s purchasing

habits

The impacta brand has

on society andits industryas a whole

The impactof a brand’s

comms

The impacta brand’s

audience hason otherpeople

A weightedblend of the

four influencepillars

Drivers of influence

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Key drivers feeding into the pillars (UK)

1. Positive

2. Inspirational

3. Trustworthy

4.Unique

5.Interesting things to say

Overall Influence Score

20 drivers tested in total

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The UK’s most influential brands

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10

58.3

54.7

53.9

53.1

50.2

49.9

49.1

49.4

46.8

46.7

Ranking and influence score (out of 100), by brand

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Inspirational, trustworthy, interesting things to say and unique

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10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.00%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

The benefit of influence: loyalty

Overall influence score

Bra

nd lo

yalty

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#4 53.1 #4 66.9 #4 52.2

#2 54.7 #2 68.4 #2 55.8

Surveys in three markets

#1 58.3 #1 75.0 #1 61.5

#3 53.9 #3 66.9 #3 55.2

#5 50.2 #5 65.2 #5 50.9

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01Understand that influence is made up of different pillars

02Demonstrating that you are positive, trustworthy & inspirational has a particularly strong impact on influence

03Understand which influence drivers are key to their category, and how they perform against them

Three rules for brandsTo be influential, brands should…