BRAND CONTRIBUTION TO BUSINESS GROWTH
① Brand drives marketing performance and business growth
② Strongly branded businesses show better market performance and resilience
③ The pricing power of a brand: its ability to command premium pricing
① Brand drives marketing performance and business growth
[INSIGHT]
The B2B Institute research on the effectiveness of marketing campaigns has shown that for businesses to grow, they require a balance of sales activation and long-term brand building. Many of those campaigns led to a measurable increase in the brand health, and as a consequence an opportunity for business growth: more potential customers became aware of the brand, thought better of the brand’s products, and reported that they were more likely to buy from the brand in the future.
[CASE B2B: BT]
BT’s case is a great example of brand-led business growth. BT has faced growing competition in the UK telecommunication market, and a declining reputation among small and medium business leaders, resulting in a revenue drop. ‘After years without dedicated brand spend, small and medium business leaders believed BT was remote, disinterested, and expensive’. To retain its market position, BT shifted its strategy towards building stronger connections of its sub-brand BT Enterprise with the customers, on the basis that better relationships lead to better business. To improve brand health the company created a series of b2b campaigns over a 3-year period – 6 online films and supported them with product-level ads and activation.
The brand investment approach drove remarkable uplifts in BT’s marketing campaign performance:∙ £14,5M net profit generated∙ £3,16 return on marketing investment (ROMI)
(pic1.1)
As a part of its marketing strategy, BT Group has also rebranded “to create a strong and consistent brand that will work brilliantly for everything we [BT Group] do,” Richard Lloyd, Director of Brand Identity & Design at BT Group says.
The rebrand aimed to change audience perceptions of BT from just a telecommunications brand to a technology brand highlighting the range of tech services BT offers, aside from telecoms and broadband, and support the company’s future market ambitions.
The branding project has taken three-and-a-half years for the new BT visual identity, accompanied by a new communications strategy, rolled out across all touchpoints promoting BT as a ‘digital champion’.
Sources: The B2B Institute, BT, WARC, Red&White, Design Week
Source links: [1] The B2B Institute at LinkedIn / The B2B Effectiveness Code (Study) – [2] WARC / BT: Proving the power of emotion in business – [3] Design Week / BT Group rebrands to show it’s not just about telecoms (June 2019) – [4] BT for business on Vimeo / Why BT UK Digital Champion
[CASE B2C: CAZOO]
Brand strategy played a critical role in Cazoo start-up's fast business growth. In as little as 18 months from the company’s founding and 6 months from having been launched, Cazoo made it to the unicorn companies list, with valuations in excess of $1 billion, and in 2 years from its start-up to a stock market listing with a valuation of $7 billion.
“Achieving that in 5 years would’ve been remarkable. Achieving it in 1 year is arguably unprecedented”, – Effie noted on fast achieving unicorn status by the Cazoo.
Cazoo, an online used car retailer, started in early 2020 when the UK market was highly fragmented in the segment with low levels of customer satisfaction and trust. To drive the audience’s awareness, consideration, and trust, the company launched its ‘Cazoo Yeah!’ branding campaign in January 2020.
Having insight from in-house research that buying a used car was still an anxiety-inducing experience for many people, especially without seeing cars offline or test driving them, the brand communications were around transparency, convenience, and peace of mind. Cazoo promoted car buying from them as ‘no different than buying any other product online today, where consumers can simply and seamlessly purchase a used car entirely online and have it delivered to their door in as little as 72 hours’, across the UK, and a 7-day money-back guarantee. With the brand promise: ‘mechanics’ expertise combined with comprehensive checks and customer support team means that you can feel 100% confident when it comes to buying a Cazoo car.’ The company has quickly become the UK’s leading online car retailer, and marketing reduced its cost of customer acquisition by 57%.
Results of how brand building contributed to Cazoo’s business growth are inspiring:∙ June 2020: Cazoo reaches unicorn status in record time with expected 2021 revenues approaching £1 billion.∙ March 2021: The business had generated a revenue run rate of over £450 million with 20000 orders.∙ April 2021: Cazoo had gone from an unknown company to an established brand with 69% awareness and monthly website visits peaking at over 1,5 million.∙ In 2 years: The business made it from a start-up to a stock market listing with a valuation of $7 billion.
(pic1.2)
Sources: Cazoo, Effie, IPA, Marketing Week
Source links: [1] Effie / Cazoo: From ‘Who?’ To Hero: How Cazoo disrupted the used car market in 12 months – [2] Cazoo / Cazoo reaches unicorn status in record time (23 June 2020) – [3] IPA / Cazoo: The art of instilling confidence – [4] Marketing Week / How Cazoo disrupted the used car market – [5] Cazoo / About Cazoo – [6] Cazoo / Online used car retailer, Cazoo, launches national marketing campaign (31 January 2020) – [7] Cazoo on YouTube / Cazoo - Sofa TV advert (31 Jan 2020) –
In the financial sector, businesses’ reputation and consideration are of particular significance:
“First, financial services are intangible and therefore difficult to evaluate prior to purchase or even consumption. The products are essentially a promise, where ownership is not transferred, and payment is at a later date. Second, customers do not always adopt a comprehensive and considered approach when purchasing financial services. They lack interest in and have a limited understanding of financial services despite the central role that these services play in their everyday lives. Third, the financial services sector is a crowded and noisy marketplace.” – Farquhar and Robson 2014.
According to RepTrak Survey of Bank Reputations 2020, ‘a stronger reputation also translates into a greater willingness [of people] to do business with a bank and recommend it to others.’
Findings from a 2014 Study on Consumer Trust in Banking Relationships are pointing that ‘low trust may indicate serious problems, and it should be a signal to bank managers to take action’.
Sources: American Banker, International Journal of Bank Marketing, Core
Source links: [1] Core / A Brave New World: Branding in Financial Services (Research paper) (8 December 2014) -
(pdf) – [2] American Banker / RepTrak Survey of Bank Reputations 2020 – [3] Emerald, International Journal of Bank Marketing / Consumer trust in banking relationships in Europe (Study) (26 August 2014) –
[CASE B2C: BARCLAYS]
Barclays’ business had faced some challenges. 2008 trust-damaging financial crisis affected customers’ confidence in the ability of the banking sector to safeguard their money. Followed by Barclays’ brand crisis when the bank was fined for manipulating the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). Barclays’ sales were at risk. To regain customers’ trust company’s marketing focused on coding ‘purpose’ into Barclays’ brand and reconnecting with the audience by taking one step further into a deeper more emotional connection engaging adults, teenagers, and kids in a series of its initiatives.
“People expect banks to talk about mortgages, current accounts, loans but this alone doesn’t drive emotional connections and the brand overall.” – Claire Hilton, Barclays’ Marketing Director, commented on their strategy.
The long-term brand campaign lasted over four years and was built on initiatives showing Barclays’ and its employees’ dedication to helping customers navigate the digital world: Digital Eagles – an initiative designed to help the digitally unconfident learn new skills, LifeSkills – an initiative to close the gap with employability tips for the current demand, Digital Safety Hub – a series of short videos exposing the fraudsters' tactics to avoid sharing personal details, and the dangers of oversharing on social media, Code Playground – a real and virtual space designed to teach kids and their parents the digital language. The campaign resulted in a 2,6x increase in trust in the brand.
Coding ‘purpose’ into Barclays’ brand, and reconnecting with the audience led to:∙ 460 000 estimated financial product sales∙ £153M generated short-term income∙ £2,30 estimated short-term profit ROI
(pic1.3)
Sources: Harvard Business School, BBH, IPA
Source links:[1] BBH / Barclays How Purpose Paid – [2] IPA / Purpose pays (2018) – [3] Harvard Business School / Barclays and the LIBOR Scandal (January 2013)
② Strongly branded businesses show better market performance and resilience
Kantar’s 2020 BrandZ Top 100 Global Brands study reveals the total brand value of the most valuable brands has increased by 5,9% and reached $5 trillion (+$277 billion of brand value growth over the prior to the study year), despite the economic impacts of COVID-19. Companies that have consistently invested in building strong brands have managed to avert the crisis.
Kantar data shows that on average brands account for 29% of a company’s value, and for the highest-performing brands, it can be more than 50%, providing strong evidence of the importance of branding for businesses to lead the market.
Kantar’s BrandZ Top 25 Most Valuable Global Brands 2020:(pic2.1.1 – TOP 25)
Notes: Brand Contribution measures the influence of the brand alone on financial value, on a scale of 1 to 5, where 5 is the highest. The ranking combined analyzed market data from Bloomberg with extensive consumer insights from over 3,8 million consumers globally, covering 17500+ brands in 51 markets. The 2020 ranking uses valuations data incorporating stock price performance from April 2020 to reflect the impact of COVID-19.
OR
Kantar’s BrandZ Top 15 Most Valuable Global Brands 2020(pic2.1.2 – TOP 15)
Notes: Brand Contribution measures the influence of the brand alone on financial value, on a scale of 1 to 5, where 5 is the highest. The ranking combined analyzed market data from Bloomberg with extensive consumer insights from over 3,8 million consumers globally, covering 17500+ brands in 51 markets. The 2020 ranking uses valuations data incorporating stock price performance from April 2020 to reflect the impact of COVID-19.
Amazon – grew 32% (by almost $100 billion) to $415,9 billion in brand value. Apple – grew 14% to $ 352,2 billion, Microsoft (+30%, to $326,5 billion), Google (+5%, to $323,6 billion), Alibaba (+16%, to $152,5 billion, Tencent (+15%, to $151 billion) – all with the high level of brand contribution – an influence of the brand alone on financial value.
Sources: Kantar, PRNewswire
Source links: [1] Kantar / Proven: a strong brand is essential for growth during a crisis (2020) – [2] PRNewswire / BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Ranking Reveals Growing Power and Influence of Technology – [3] Sources for 2020 year data:
- Kantar’s BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2020 (pdf) - PRNewswire
- Kantar’s BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2019 (pdf)
[4] Kantar on YouTube / Kantar BrandZ's brand valuation methodology –
“We see a significant improvement in brand equity now compared to 10 years ago because businesses understand the importance of investing in brand-building and are stronger and more resilient as a result. While the impact of COVID-19 has impacted every business regardless of size or geography, consistent investment in marketing can and will help carry you through a crisis.”– David Roth, CEO of The Store WPP EMEA & Asia and Chairman of BrandZ
[CASE B2C: CADBURY]
A great example of resilience and improving market performance through well-executed branding is how Cadbury retains its leading #1 position in sales value and maintains constant growth in the UK’s grocery market. Meanwhile, its top 5 competitors in the category have fluctuated facing downs in sales and a lowering of their UK’s grocery market share over the last few years.
(pic2.2)
(pic2.3)
Sources: The Grocer
Source links: [1] 2022 Sales and ranking data: The Grocer / Britain’s Biggest Brands 2023: the top 100 (March 2023) – [2] 2021 Sales and ranking data: The Grocer / Britain’s Biggest Brands 2022: the top 100 (March 2022) –
[3] 2020 Sales and ranking data: Smylies / Britain’s top 100 brands for 2021 (based on The Grocer / Britain’s Biggest Brands 2022: the top 100) – [4] 2019 Sales and ranking data: The Grocer / Britain’s Biggest Brands 2020: the top 100 (March 2020) –
[CASE B2C: CADBURY]
Cadbury retains its market position and maintains sales growth by constantly strengthening its brand platform.
In 2018 the company launched a new branding campaign, ‘There’s a glass and a half in everyone’, to grow market share and sales in the UK. The focus in brand communications was around the core principles of the brand and its founder, philanthropist John Cadbury, showing moments of kindness and generosity that are “consistent with the brand’s roots and values” – as noted by Cadbury’s Global brand director, Ben Wicks.
The campaign focused on two primary areas: creating emotionally engaging ‘stories of everyday Britons using Cadbury Dairy Milk to demonstrate generosity to each other’, and developing emotionally engaging initiatives that inspire to show generosity to each other. These initiatives include the Cadbury Worldwide Hide – a digital platform where people could virtually hide an Easter Egg for a loved one, Cadbury Secret Santa – a digital platform and physical installations that enabled people to send chocolate secretly to a loved one. The brand also partnered with Age UK on the Donate Your Words initiative and supported independent chocolate shops. The TV campaign was underpinned by digital, social, PR, experiential, and sampling activations.
Cadbury’s sales value compared to its top UK competitors /2019–2022/ (pic2.4)
Notes: Brands are ranked by sales value. Brand values are the sum of value sales of all products across multiple categories trading under one name, specified on the front of the pack. Products sold under the Cadbury brand include sub-brands such as Dairy Milk; including cakes, biscuits, potted desserts, drinking chocolate, and ice cream. Nestlé includes cereals, Kit Kat, and other confectionery, such as Quality Street and Smarties; excludes Nescafé.
Cadbury Dairy Milk achieved its highest penetration levels on record, with 75% of households buying it in the UK.
Over four years, even though the recent global economic recession, the branding campaign has brought the company:
- 22% rise in annual sales since the campaign launch
- £261M generated additional revenue per year
- £1,4B worth growth per year, making Cadbury UK’s fastest-growing grocery brand
(pic2.5)
Sources: The Grocer, IPA, VCCP, Marketing Week
Source links for the tables and diagrams on Cadbury’s performance: [1] 2022 Sales and ranking data: The Grocer / Britain’s Biggest Brands 2023: the top 100 (March 2023) – [2] 2021 Sales and ranking data: The Grocer / Britain’s Biggest Brands 2022: the top 100 (March 2022) – [3] 2020 Sales and ranking data: Smylies / Britain’s top 100 brands for 2021 (based on The Grocer / Britain’s Biggest Brands 2022: the top 100) - [4] 2019 Sales and ranking data: The Grocer / Britain’s Biggest Brands 2020: the top 100 (March 2020) –
Source links for the case:[1] IPA / VCCP’s ‘Glass & a half’ campaign wins IPA Effectiveness Awards Grand Prix (10 October 2022) – [2] VCCP / Cadbury: Mum’s Birthday – [3] Marketing Week / Cadbury ditches joy positioning after six years to go ‘back to brand roots’ (12 Jan 2018) – [4] IPA / Cadbury – [5] Marketing Week / Why Cadbury is taking ‘a glass and a half’ into new global markets (25 Jul 2018) –
③ The pricing power of a brand: its ability to command premium pricing
“In the current market, strong brands can also command premium pricing, as customers perceive them as trustworthy and high-quality.”– David Haigh, Chairman & CEO of Brand Finance
[INSIGHT]
Research conducted by CEB in partnership with Motista and Google shows that by building emotional connections with customers, brands can drive important outcomes like purchase intent and pricing power. Business-to-business customers, for example, are almost 50% more likely to buy a product when they see personal value in their business purchase decision – such as confidence in their choice and a career opportunity [as a result of the right purchase decisions]. They are 8x more likely to pay a premium for comparable products when personal value is present.
[CASE B2C: WAITROSE & PARTNERS]
Prior to the particularly challenging 2020-2021 for the whole sector, Waitrose & Partners – supermarket in the UK – benefited from a perception of its brand as a premium supermarket providing high-quality food, to support their premium pricing.
Waitrose’s marketing strategy has been focused on promoting its brand quality attributes – sourcing and provenance. Brand communications emphasized it, telling the story behind Waitrose products. The 2016 campaign showed Waitrose farmers and suppliers. The 2017 ‘Everything we do goes into everything we taste’ delivered that message through the leans of products, such as tuna.
In 2020 the company launched ‘You Can Taste When It's Waitrose’ campaign, tracking the same goal of building brand perception to support its quality advantage. A series of short films showed the scenes of product origins, with natural sounds heard at each location, to give the audience a deeper dive into the idea. TV, outdoor, and print were supported by great social content on how the food is produced, and Waitrose’s commitment to sourcing quality superior tasting products.
Particularly this one campaign led to £216 million in incremental sales in year 1 – generating £3 of profit for every £1 spent.
(pic3.1)
Sources: Brand Finance, Google, Waitrose & Partners, adam&eveDDB, IPA, Marketing Week
Source links: [Quote] Brand Finance / Global Most Valuable B2B Brands Index 2023 (Study) – [1] Marketing Week / Waitrose focuses on quality and provenance in marketing push –[2] IPA / Waitrose and Partners: Making Purpose Taste Good – [3] Waitrose & Partners on YouTube / Eggs – You Can Taste When It's Waitrose & Partners TV Ad (5 Feb 2020) –
