11 Branding and Marketing Trends for 2011

The recent partnership between BrandLounge and Brand Keys, Inc., confirms the need for accurate predictive brand loyalty, equity, and engagement metrics in the Middle East and Northern Africa region.

These metrics are able to measure the direction and velocity of consumer values 12 to 18 months in advance of the marketplace.

They also allow us to identify future trends with uncanny accuracy. BrandLounge, through Brand Key’s methodology, offers 11 trends for marketers in 2011. These 11 trends will have direct consequences to the success - or failure - of next year’s branding and marketing efforts.

1) Value is What the Consumer Says It Is
Excessive spending, even on sale items, will continue to be replaced by a reason-to-buy at all. Only the consumer can tell you for sure. The appearance of ubiquity will be trouble for brands with no authentic meaning, whether high or low-end.

2) Brand, Meet Value
Brands will increasingly become a surrogate for "value." What makes goods and services valuable will increasingly be what's wrapped up in the brand and what consumers believe the brand means.

3) Zappos-ification
Marketers will have to comprehend what really drives their category, knowwhat consumers really expect, and where to focus both process and brand efforts. Yes, Zappos sells shoes, but their brand equity lies primarily in the emotional driver of "service" - how they get shoes to customers and accept returns.

4) Ethosnomics
Brands increasingly must stand for something beyond just rational items. Brands can't, however, just "stand for" the cause du jour. Doing what others do, just because they're doing it, won't work very long or very effectively. Corporate social responsibility efforts will need to be believable, sustained, and engaging. Some of the strongest will come from those brands that connect the public and the personal in today's financially-strained world.

5) Differentiation Can Be Emotional
Differentiation remains critical to brand success as the proliferation of products and services available to consumers continues. While true innovation does exist when it comes to the offerings available, increasingly differentiation will come from what the brand offers emotionally to consumers ¬especially as the ability of brands to mimic and get "me-too" products to market quickens.

6) They're Talking to Each Other Before Talking to the Brand
Social Networking and DIY media-exchange of information outside of the brand space will increase as consumers become more comfortable with their power to get the true story on products from total strangers. Brands will need to drive positive feedback out in the virtual world like never before, necessitating a deep understand of their categories.

7) Friendtelligence
Influence by friends will also increase. If consumers trust the community, they will extend trust to the brand. Not just word-of-mouth, but the right word-of-mouth is what matters. Look for more websites using Facebook Connect to share information with the friends from those sites while trying not to annoy anyone.

8) Putting the Brand Into Their Hands
It's increasingly handheld technology that facilitates transactions. Brands that make it hard to buy on the small screen will suffer. Watch for promotions and coupons to continue to explode, especially if the brand can customize that experience.

9) Prolifetition
Look for increased competition, and not just from traditional brands. The internet changed the game from consumers feeling they had to know a brand to even consider it. Ubiquitous awareness is replaced by strong word of mouth and positive viral sharing. Knowing what drives a category, what consumers really expect, and what creates loyalty, can give you a meaningful advantage when entering new and uncharted categories populated by strangers to your brand.

10) Exponential Expectations
Brands are barely keeping up with consumer expectations now. Every day consumers adopt and devour the latest technologies and innovations, and only hunger for more. As app technology becomes more entrenched, brands will be expected to deliver in that space. Look for even more apps to appear in 2011.

11) Engagement is Not a Fad
It's the way today's consumers do business. Period. Marketers will continue to use engagement methods like the right platform; program; message; and experience. But there is only one objective for the future: Brand Engagement. Attaining real brand engagement is impossible using out-dated awareness models.
Accommodating these trends will require changes on the parts of how companies measure, manage, and market their brands. And, yes, change can sometimes be terrifying. But change is, more or less, another chance. However, for brands that ignore these trends, it could very well be their last.

by Dr. Robert Passikoff
Brand Keys, Inc. partner of
BrandLounge in the Middle East
www.brandloungeme.com

Which Brands Have the Most Loyal Customers?

Perhaps our subject question should more appropriately be "Which brands are imbued with the most emotional value?"

Why two different questions? Well, we've long known that loyalty is absolutely driven by emotion. But based on this year's Brand Keys Loyalty Leaders List it's absolutely clear that when it comes to loyalty (and brand profitability), consumers are looking to emotionally connect more than ever before.

Of the 501 brands in 70 categories on this year's list, here's who made the top-10:

Apple iPhone
Samsung cell phones
Wal-Mart
Grey Goose
Apple Computers
Hyundai
Amazon
J. Crew
Blackberry
Avis

For a more thorough analysis of this years leaders and laggers we invite you to read Noreen O'Leary's Brandweek article, "Consumers Most Loyal to Tech and Cosmetics." If that title surprised you, remember that the 'emotional engagement' that women share with beauty brands is very powerful, and that there are few things consumers take more personally than the technology that keeps them connected.

Click here for a complete listing of the 501 brands.

http://www.brandkeys.com/awards/leaders.cfm


Brand Keys, Inc. partner of
Brand Lounge in the Middle East
www.brandloungeme.com

3R's of Back-To-School

It's not only parents happy to see their children go back to school in the next few weeks. Retailers are also celebrating. According to our annual Back-To-School survey, average spend for clothing and supplies is up 10% over a year ago, or $584.


The consumer's view of the traditional retail 3R's used to be 'retailer,' 'rates,' and 'requirements,' - which retailer was offering the best prices for stuff the kids really needed. But as parents have already earned their Ph.D.'s in smart back-to-school shopping, this year 'requirements' has moved to the head of the class.

Unlike other major purchase events like Mother's Day, there's a more lopsided distribution in terms of which retailers will be the beneficiaries of back-to-school shopping: Discount Stores 95%, Department Stores 60%, Office Supply 55%, Online 50%, Specialty Retailers 45%, and Catalogs 35%. For some lessons as to parents' shopping plans, we invite you to read Jill Radsken's Boston Herald article, "Class Action."


The top-10 retailers who got A's in consumers' intent-to-shop were:



1. Amazon

2. Bed, Bath, and Beyond

3. Gap

4. J. Crew

5. Kohl's Footlocker

6. Nike

7. Staples

8. Target

9. TJ Maxx

10. Zappos



What brands get what piece of the academic pie is ultimately determined by what retail brands actually stand for. Brand meaning can quickly matriculate into surrogates for added-value, and these days you don't need a crib-sheet to discover that consumers seek out brands that possess meaning and act more positively to those retailers who do as well.


And that behavior should be a fundamental lesson for all retailers.


Brand Keys, Inc. partner of
Brand Lounge in the Middle East
www.brandloungeme.com

Brand is Grand

The "Decade of the Brand" opens with 2010 as consumers continue to search for meaningful value-and use brands as a critical variable in the value equation.


For all 518 brands in the 71 categories tracked in Brand Keys' 14th annual Customer Loyalty Engagement Index®, attributes and loyalty drivers relating to "brand" have increased dramatically. And while a powerful finding, it's not entirely surprising. Our 2009 findings predicted that value, not price, was the watchword in consumer behavior. And you can't have the value conversation without the brand conversation, and that makes brands a surrogate for value and more important than ever.


But we're talking about brands - real brands, not just well-known products and services or the latest celebrity-endorsed offerings that stand for nothing in consumers' minds. The desire for real brands that mean something has reached its highest level of consequence since the 1960's, and real loyalty and engagement assessments can tell you what you really need to know: how consumers will behave in the marketplace, and most importantly, what will get them to behave more positively toward you.


For additional insights into 2010 consumer loyalty we invite you to read Noreen O'Leary's Brandweek review, "Starbucks and Wells Fargo Surge in Customer Loyalty." The complete listing of the 71 category rankings can be found at www.brandkeys.com/awards


At a time when brands are struggling to differentiate from their competition and to find ways to profitably engage their customers, the changes this year serve as a 'bellwether' for marketing managers. It will be the products and services that dig in the right place, based on a truly consumer-centric view of their category that will strike gold, and establish themselves as this decade's brand leaders.


Brand Keys, Inc. partner of
Brand Lounge in the Middle East
www.brandloungeme.com

Listening to a Billion Consumers

Windows 7, the latest version of Microsoft Windows, a series of operating systems for use on personal computers, was released today less than three years after the release of its much-denigrated predecessor, Windows Vista.

With the official launch currently underway around the globe, Microsoft has released four new advertisements to market Windows 7. This round of advertisements is very direct and dubbed 7-Second Demos, with the theme “I’m a PC and Windows 7 was my idea,” an extension of the “I’m a PC” campaign, having consumers take credit for “developing” various aspects of the new operating system.

We cannot comment upon whether Windows 7 will live up to promises and expectations, but we think that the concept of a billion consumers co-creating the product, is a wonderful example of meaningfully leveraging the real voice-of-the-consumer, an often overused advertising expression.

Lots of companies – especially big companies like Microsoft – do all kinds of research. Most of that research ends up providing excellent answers to meaningless questions, and virtually none reflect the real voice or expectations of the consumer. Check out the new GM campaign if you doubt us. And while a product positioning approach of “we not only hear you but we’ve listened to you” isn’t new, it’s usually the small niche brands that do it well.

And it shouldn’t be surprising that it’s Microsoft who’s doing it now. After all it was Bill Gates who pointed out this strategy back in 2000, in his book “Business @The Speed of Thought.” “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”

And perhaps a meaningful voice for the brand.

What do iPhones, Grey Goose, Wal-Mart, and Mary Kay have in common?

Each was one of the top-10 brands in this year's Brand Keys Loyalty Leaders List. This year we rated 63 categories and 440 brands, so who else was among the top-10? Rankings were as follows:


iPhone
Samsung
Google
Blackberry
Wal-Mart
Grey Goose
Mary Kay
AVIS
Apple
Amazon.com

Customer values intrinsic to technology brands were seen to best meet, and even exceed, customer expectations, and the 'emotional engagement' that women share with their favorite beauty brands is still very powerful. But for a more in-depth look at this year's results (and a list of the top-25 brands with the most loyalty customers) we invite you to read Kenneth Hein's Brandweek coverage, "Dial 'L' for Loyalty."

More important than "satisfaction," and infinitely more important than "awareness," loyalty is a leading-indicator of consumer behavior and, thus, predictive of brand profitability. It's become more and more important, especially these days when many products and services are turning into commoditized category placeholders. And loyalty isn't static or managed via points, as witnessed by this year's big loyalty swings.

In the Automotive category, Hyundai moved up from 295th on last year's list to 24th - an increase in loyalty due to improved product quality, and it's emotionally resonating 'Assurance' campaign: their one-year promise to buy back cars from any customer who became unemployed.

McDonald's perked up loyalty and profits with an enormous increase in the Coffee category, moving from 156th last year to 16th, mostly to Starbucks detriment. Starbucks, already feeling the pain of customer disloyalty, ranked 191st last year and now ranks 428th, in the bottom dozen brands - a move that correlates highly with decreases in their same-store sales and profitability.

Some segments have, of course, suffered because of the economy, but brands that understand that the old 'price-value' equation has been transformed to a instantaneous 'value-for-dollar' consumer calculation, will have also realized that the brand can have meaning and can act as a surrogate for value, thus buttressing loyalty.

For a list of complete 2009 rankings - who got it right and who still can't figure it out - we invite you to visit http://www.brandkeys.com/awards/leaders.cfm

Which national brand ranked last? Much to the dismay of the bailer-outers of our great nation, General Motors clearly didn't get that memo and was ranked 439th (down this year from 363rd). GM might want to start with doing more than investing in a big string section in their advertising, and doing some value-based and meaningful branding.

Because when it comes to engendering loyalty, that's what sets us apart from other life forms - or at least the ones with driver's licenses.

Brand Keys, Inc. partner of
Brand Lounge in the Middle East

10 Branding Trends for 2010

Niels Bohr once noted that “prediction is very difficult, especially about the future,” but then he didn’t have access to predictive loyalty metrics. Happily, Brand Keys does. And as they measure the direction and velocity of consumer values 12 to 18 months in advance of the marketplace and consumer articulations of category needs and expectations, they identify future trends with uncanny accuracy.

Having examined these measures, we offer up ten trends for marketers in 2010 that will have direct consequences to the success – or failure – of next year’s branding and marketing efforts.

1) Value is the new black.
Excessive spending, even on sale items, will continue to be replaced by a reason-to-buy at all. This is trouble for brands with no authentic meaning, whether high-end or low.

2) Brands increasingly a surrogate for “value.” What makes goods and services valuable will increasingly be what’s wrapped up in the brand and what it stands for. Why J Crew instead of The Gap? J Crew stands for a new era in careful chic—
being smart and stylish. And the first family’s support of the brand doesn’t hurt either.

3) Brand differentiation is Brand Value.
The unique meaning of a brand will increase in importance as generic features continue to plague the brand landscape. Awareness as a meaningful market force has long been obsolete, and differentiation will be critical for success—meaning sales and profitability.

4) “Because I Said So” is so over.
Brand values can be established as a brand identity, but they must believably exist in the mind of the consumer. A brand can’t just say it stands for something and make it so. The consumer will decide, making it more important than ever for a brand to have measures of authenticity that will aid in brand differentiation and consumer engagement.

5) Consumer expectations are growing.
Brands are barely keeping up with consumer expectations now. Every day consumers adopt and devour the latest technologies and innovations, and only hunger for more. Smarter marketers will identify and capitalize on unmet expectations. Those brands that understand where the strongest expectations exist will be the brands that survive – and prosper.

6) Old tricks don’t work/won’t work.
In case your brand didn’t get the memo here it is: consumers are on to brands trying to play their emotions for profit. In the wake of the financial debacle of this past year, people are more aware then ever of the hollowness of bank ads that claim “we’re all in this together” when those same banks have rescinded their credit and turned their retirement plan into case studies. The same is true for insincere
celebrity pairings: think Seinfeld & Microsoft or Tiger Woods & Buick. Celebrity values and brand values need to be in concert, like Tiger Woods & Accenture. That’s authenticity.

7) They won’t need to know you to love you.
As the buying space becomes even more online-driven and international (and uncontrolled by brands and corporations), front-end awareness will become less important. A brand with the right street cred can go viral in days, with awareness following, not leading, the conversation. After all, everybody
knows GM, but nobody’s buying the cars.

8) It’s not just buzz.
Conversation and community is all: ebay thrives based on consumer feedback. If consumers trust the community, they will extend trust to the brand. Not just word of mouth, but the right word of mouth within the community. This means the coming of a new era of customer care.

9) They’re talking to each other before talking to the brand.
Social Networking and exchange of information outside of the brand space will increase. Look for more websites using Facebook Connect to share information with the friends from those sites. More companies will become members of Linkedin. Twitter users will spend more money on the Internet than those who don’t tweet.

10) Engagement is not a fad; it’s the way today’s consumers do business.
Marketers will come to accept that there are four engagement methods including Platform (TV; online), Context (Program; webpage), Message (Ad or Communication), and Experience (Store/Event). But there is only one objective for the future: Brand Engagement. Marketers will continue realize that attaining real brand engagement is impossible using out-dated attitudinal models.

Accommodating these trends will require a paradigm change on the parts of some companies. But whether a brand does something about it or not, the future is where it’s going to spend the rest of its life.

How long that life is up to the brand, determined by how it responds to today’s reality.


Brand Keys, Inc. partner of
Brand Lounge in the Middle East