Brand Personality 2013

Transcription

1 Brand Personality Behavioural. Experimental. Statistical.

2 Top Brands Most Honest Brand Most Innovative Brand Most Powerful Brand Most Prestigious Brand Most Green Brand Best Overall Brand Decision Technology Brand Personality 1

3 Welcome to Decision Technology s 9th Annual Brand Personality survey. This report summarizes our unique insights into how some of the UK s biggest brands have performed in. As always, this year s survey contains some fascinating results that get behind the headlines and show what the UK public really thinks. For example, due to the negative sentiment around raising energy prices, energy companies have jumped into the top ten list of the least honest brands. Read on to find out who the UK public see as the most (and least) Honest, Innovative, Prestigious, Powerful and Green brands of, based on a survey of over 1000 consumers. We also report s most and least positively perceived brands overall. Decision Technology Brand Personality 2

4 Contents Top Brands... 1 Welcome... 2 Contents... 3 Brands Tracked in... 4 Brand Personality Traits... 5 Honesty... 6 Innovation... 7 Power... 7 Prestige... 9 Green-ness Sentiment Industry Personalities About Decision Technology Decision Technology Brand Personality 3

5 Brands Tracked in New brands added in : Everything Everywhere, Royal Mail, LinkedIn, Swinton Insurance Decision Technology Brand Personality 4

6 Brand Personality Traits What is Brand Personality? It is well known that people have measurable personalities that can be used to predict their behaviour in new situations. According to the leading model of human personality, the myriad adjectives we use to describe people can be distilled into just five key dimensions or traits: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism. There is also evidence that animals have personalities too. Our own research, as well as studies from the US, have shown that the same personality measurement methodologies can be applied to companies and organizations to measure their brand personality. Brand personality also appears to be related to performance and financial results. We have identified a five-factor model of brand personality. Each factor is represented by a weighted mix of adjectives that help characterize them. For example, the Honest dimension is characterized by adjectives like caring and trustworthy. The Traits Explained Our first trait, Honesty, measures a brand s integrity. Trustworthy brands that are perceived to care about their customers will receive high Honesty scores. Innovation tracks the energy and creativity of a brand. Stale or copy-cat brands receive a lower score on this measure. Power relates to presence and dominance in the market. Ubiquitous and widely-purchased brands score highly on this trait. Prestige is concerned with the social significance associated with a brand. It is typically related to exclusivity and quality. Finally, Green-ness is a measure of perceived environmental impact. In addition, we also report the overall positive or negative Sentiment associated with each brand, as measured by the tendency for consumers to associate that brand with positive or negative adjectives of any kind. Decision Technology Brand Personality 5

7 Honesty As in previous years, the list of most trusted brands is dominated by charities and public institutions, but notably three retailers (John Lewis, the Body Shop and Marks and Spencer) are also in the top ten. To find out more about building and protecting brand trust, go to our website where you can read our research brief on the topic. At the other end of the scale, energy companies suffered a big drop in trust, falling into the bottom ten brands. Politicians continue to be mistrusted, with the Conservative Party faring especially badly as the UK s fourth least trusted organization. Most Honest Brands Least Honest Brands Royal Society for Protection of Birds 1 st - e 1 st 23 Cancer Research 2 nd - FIFA 2 nd 18 Help for Heroes 3 rd - y 3 rd 19 Oxfam 4 th 1 Ladbrokes 4 th 1 nicef 5 th 1 The Sun 5 th 19 John Lewis 6 th 3 William Hill 6 th 5 Body Shop 7 th 3 7 th 14 Marks & Spencer 8 th 2 British Parliament 8 th 2 NHS 9 th 2 Ryanair 9 th 4 Cambridge University 10 th 2 The Premier League 10 th 1 Decision Technology Brand Personality 6

8 Innovation The list of most innovative brands is made up of technology firms and online businesses, including some of the world s largest and most valuable companies. Notably car makers BMW and Mercedes- Benz have leap-frogged into the top ten while Amazon has dropped from second to seventh place. Energy companies again fare badly, with four companies in the list of least innovative brands. Politicians fare badly as well with Liberal Democrats near the top of the table again. Most Innovative Brands Least Innovative Brands Apple 1 st - Lib Dem Party 1 st 8 Amazon 2 nd 1 William Hill 2 nd 1 Google 3 rd 1 Labour Party 3 rd 7 c 4 th 10 Ladbrokes 4 th 1 Youtube 5 th 4 European Parliament 5 th 3 Facebook 6 th 2 R & Sun All 6 th 8 ebay 7 th 5 Prudential 7 th 10 Samsung 8 th 2 y 8 th NEW Sony 9 th 9 Scottish & Southern Energy 9 th 6 Sky TV 10 th 5 f 10 th 5 Decision Technology Brand Personality 7

9 Power The organizations in our list of the most powerful brands of have changed slightly from : Apple and Coca-Cola have dropped out of the top ten and have been replaced by Cambridge and Oxford Universities. Mobile networks, retailers and handset manufacturers take many of the spots on the list of least powerful brands. New addition LinkedIn also takes a high spot on the least powerful list. Most Powerful Brands Least Powerful Brands British Army 1 st 3 giffgaff 1 st - The Police 2 nd 1 HTC 2 nd NEW Microsoft 3 rd - Phones4U 3 rd NEW Bank of England 4 th 2 3 Mobile 4 th 2 BBC TV 5 th 3 Gap 5 th 2 NHS 6 th 1 T 6 th 12 Google 7 th 6 Lib Dem Party 7 th 12 TV British Parliament 8 th 3 Uswitch.com 8 th 6 Apple 9 th 6 Scottish & Southern Energy 9 th 3 Coca-Cola 10 th 4 William Hill 10 th 13 Decision Technology Brand Personality 8

10 Prestige Car manufacturers maintain their grip on the top of this year s most Prestigious brand list. Poundland retains its place this year as the least prestigious brand. Some great rivalries also have a special place in these rankings: Mercedes-Benz is more prestigious than BMW; Oxford University is more prestigious than Cambridge; and (at the other extreme) easyjet is more prestigious than Ryanair. Most Prestigious Brands Least Prestigious Brands Jaguar 1 st 1 1 st - Mercedes-Benz 2 nd 1 The Sun 2 nd 2 BMW 3 rd 1 Aldi 3 rd 1 Oxford University 4 th 1 4 th 1 Cambridge University 5 th 2 Ryanair 5 th - Audi 6 th 1 6 th 5 Apple 7 th 1 7 th 1 British Airways 8 th - 8 th 10 John Lewis 9 th 1 9 th 3 Waitrose 10 th 2 Facebook 10 th 1 Decision Technology Brand Personality 9

11 Green-ness The list of least green brands is fairly similar to last year, populated by airlines, oil companies and car manufacturers. This year, British Gas has jumped nine places to make it into the top ten of this list. Whilst Amazon has slipped down the list of the most green brands, online companies Google and Wikipedia are still in the top ten showing that many consumers believe online businesses to be inherently green. Most Green Brands Least Green Brands Royal Society for Protection of Birds 1 st - Ryanair 1 st - Body Shop 2 nd 2 EasyJet 2 nd - Oxfam 3 rd 3 BP 3 rd 1 Help for Heroes 4 th 2 British Airways 4 th 1 Unicef 5 th 2 Shell 5 th 2 Cancer Research 6 th 1 Virgin Atlantic 6 th 1 Marks & Spencer 7 th 4 Jaguar 7 th 2 Google 8 th - Castrol 8 th - Amazon 9 th 2 Mercedes-Benz 9 th 9 Waitrose 10 th 16 Renault 10 th 5 Decision Technology Brand Personality 10

12 Sentiment Apple retains its crown as the brand that overall attracts the most positive sentiment from UK consumers. Cambridge and Oxford University have entered the list this year. Mercedes-Benz has climbed a few places to second place while BMW has risen to fourth place. British retailer John Lewis has retained its position at number ten. In the least positive sentiment list, three energy companies have joined the top ten. Most Positive Sentiment Least Positive Sentiment 1 st - 1 st - 2 nd 3 2 nd 1 3 rd 10 3 rd 1 4 th 2 4 th 3 5 th 3 5 th 10 6 th 3 6 th 2 7 th 5 7 th 4 8 th 4 8 th 9 9 th 1 9 th - 10 th - 10 th NEW Decision Technology Brand Personality 11

13 Industry Personalities Every brand is different and extremes of personality difference can exist within a single industry. For example, Online Google is one of the UK s most powerful brands whilst LinkedIn is in the least powerful list. Nonetheless, there are also interesting commonalities between brands in each industry. By averaging across the personality ratings of each brand within an industry we can focus on the key differences between industries. For example, Technology brands are positively perceived due to their innovativeness, whilst Charities are honest and green. Car Makers are not at all green, but compensate by often being quite prestigious. Political parties and Utility companies are least positively perceived, primarily because they tend to be seen as dishonest and not very innovative. Industry Personalities in Technology Charities Car Makers FMCG Institutions Online Supermarkets Retailers Media Brewers Airlines Telecoms Oil & Gas Banks Insurers Utilities Political Sentiment Honesty Innovation Power Prestige Green Decision Technology Brand Personality 12

14 About Decision Technology Founded in 2002, Decision Technology specialises in helping businesses and policymakers understand and manage customer decision-making, from acquisition through to retention and all the points in-between. Dectech seeks to define a new category that is both market research agency and strategy consultant. Hence, we deliver field research and customer insights alongside financial analysis and business advice. We believe in this hybrid approach because it marries the necessary focus on commercial results with a practical understanding of what drives human behaviour. For further information please see our website at Decision Technology Brand Personality