Google, Samsung, Microsoft, Nestle and Sony are the five most meaningful brands of 2013, according to an index gauging brand strength released by Havas Media Group.
Ikea, Dove, Nike, Walmart, Danone, Philips and P&G round out the top 10 on the Meaningful Brand Index, which uses consumer perception to compare and track the impact brands have on people’s lives. The brands that top the index systematically improve personal and collective well-being of consumers and are rewarded by stronger brand equity and attachment, Havas Media Group says.
Meaningful Brands is an analytical framework that aims to measure the benefits brands bring to people’s lives. The framework covers 700 brands, more than 134,000 consumers across 23 countries and measures the impact of the brand’s benefits alongside its affect on 12 different different areas of well-being, such as health, happiness, financial, relationships and community. The analysis includes the The Meaningful Brand Index, or MBi.
The 2013 analysis found most people worldwide wouldn’t care if more than 73 percent of brands disappeared tomorrow. Only one in five, or 20 percent, of brands are perceived as making a meaningful difference in people’s lives, according to the Meaningful Brands analysis.
The analysis also found a wide difference in brand attachment among markets with a strong polarization between developed and emerging markets. For example, in Europe and the US, people wouldn’t care if 92 percent of brands disappeared. In Latin America, that figure drops to 58 percent and in Asia 49 percent wouldn’t care if brands disappeared.
In emerging markets, people place relatively more importance on a brand’s impact on their community and environment, the analysis found.
Making a meaningful difference in consumers lives pays off for companies. Companies considered so-called Meaningful Brands outperformed the stock market by 120 percent, according to the 2013 analysis. The results demonstrate that in hard financial terms, how the relationship between people and brands can benefit from measuring, communicating and delivering increased well-being, Havas Media Group says.