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Influential Brands
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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?
Audience
Does 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 has
on 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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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…
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