Meaningful Brands outperform the stock market:Havas Study

The results of Havas’ Meaningful Brands analysis revealed that a brand’s “Share of Wallet” – a metric used to measure the percentage spent with a brand vs. the total annual expenditure within its category is on average 46% higher for Meaningful Brands and can be up to as much as seven times larger.

Furthermore, the performance of Marketing KPIs set by top Meaningful Brands can grow at twice the rate of those set by lower scoring Meaningful Brands.  For example, for every 10% increase in meaningfulness, a brand can increase its purchase and repurchase intent by 6% and price premiums by 10.4%. This statistically proves that a brand’s meaningfulness is a key driver of KPIs success.

Meaningful Brands outperform the stock market by nearly seven fold, with top scorers delivering an annual return of 11.76% - nearly seven times higher than the STOXX 1800 stock index. Not only do top scorers in Meaningful Brands 2015 outperform the stock market by 133%, the gap has widened since 2013 (120%).

A unified tracking tool for CEOs and Marketing Directors

Meaningful Brands® 2015 demonstrates that brands that contribute significantly to our quality of life are rewarded with stronger business results - they earn a “Return on Meaning”. Return on Meaning measures the potential business benefits gained by a brand when it is seen to improve our wellbeing.

This provides us with the first unified tracking tool for CEOs and Marketing Directors. It measures the impact of increases in a brand’s meaningfulness and how it affects each marketing KPI, the brand’s Share of Wallet and its performance on the stock market.

Dominique Delport, Global Managing Director, Havas Media Group summarises:

“Great marketing has a cumulative effect as it’s shared - it naturally flows and gains momentum. We will only share ideas if brands do stuff that matters to us. We now look to brands for meaningful connections - big or small. By understanding this, our Meaningful Brands project becomes central to how brands communicate in this new organic world.

This year, we’ve tackled one of the big issues for our industry - if meaningfulness is so crucial, how do you measure and create it in a way that CEOs can buy into, and marketers can evaluate? Our 2015 project pulls in data that spans across stock market, share of wallet and marketing KPIs enabling CEOs and CMOs to work together and crack the code to meaningfulness.”

Top Meaningful Brands and sector trends as Consumer Electronics dominates

The top ten global performers for 2015 are Samsung, Google, Nestlé, Bimbo, Sony, Microsoft, Nivea, Visa, IKEA and Intel. Following these leaders are HP, Dove (Unilever), Walmart, Gillette (P&G), Knorr (Unilever), Kellogg’s, Amazon, PayPal, Honda and Carrefour.

Brands with the largest percentage increase since the last analysis in 2013 are Honda, LG, ING and AXA.
Top performing categories worldwide are Consumer Electronics, Healthcare, Food, Personal Care and Retail. Technology brands account for nearly one third of the top 50 global Meaningful Brands, with 3 out of top 5 brands from this sector - Samsung, Google and Sony.

This 2015 analysis shows that size is not a barrier to meaningfulness, with smaller brands outperforming larger brands. For example Honda vs. Toyota or Ford; PayPal vs. MasterCard and Uniqlo vs. Zara or H&M.
In 2015 top performers stand out for making a meaningful difference to our personal wellbeing by delivering more tangible benefits. However, the results from the 2015 study show that there is no one size fits all formula, but many different pathways to meaningfulness.

Most people do not care if 74% of brands disappeared

Most people would not care if 74% of brands disappeared and less than 28% of brands improve our quality of life and wellbeing. These figures have remained stable over the last 5 years showing that in many developed countries the disconnect between brands and people has become the new norm.

Being meaningful is a more important brand driver than trust

The percentage of brands people trust in North America is only 22% and 31% in Western Europe.  The percentage of brands which contribute positively to our quality of life and wellbeing is much lower at 3% and 7% in these markets respectively. Even where levels of trust are high, for example in Developing Asia (78%), the figures show that levels of meaningfulness, i.e. a brand’s contribution to our quality of life and wellbeing, fall behind at 38%.

What these figures suggest is that trust is no longer enough, but more of a pre-requisite. Meaningfulness however is a key driver for brands that wish to deepen connections and play a greater role in people’s lives.

Geographical polarisation continues to rise

The figures also prove that global polarisation in the way people feel about brands continues to widen. This is especially strong in developing Asian markets, where people still care about 60% of brands, an attachment 10 times higher than in the West. Not only is the relationship healthier in developing Asian markets, the Returns on Meaning for brands are 30% higher.

In the West, more than 60% of people expect brands to play a role in their lives, but only one third perceive brands are delivering.  We see that in the West product functional benefits increase in importance in 2015 as people become increasingly skeptical. As brands push this functional relationship with people, commoditisation increases, the relationship weakens and the Returns on Meaning diminish. The result - brands in the West are attaining Returns on Meaning 30% lower than in developing Asian markets.

The percentage of brands seen to contribute positively towards our quality of life shows a staggering range from only 3% and 7% in North America and Western Europe respectively, to 38% in Latin America, 75% in developing Asia and sinking to 9% in developed Asia – i.e. Australia, Singapore and Japan.

Different pathways to meaningfulness, but a common pattern of engagement

Despite the no one size fits all formula, Meaningful Brands discovered a common pattern of engagement.
2015 results show that providing incentives/rewards are meaningful for 68% of people, followed by relevant information to learn more about and live customer support (both 61%). Besides rewards, providing people with educational experiences and solutions are meaningful for 57% and 53% of people worldwide. Once again however different sectors show different patterns – for example for the Telecoms industry Listening and Rapid Response are key, yet for the food industry it was more collective areas that dominated such as sustainable sourcing and employment record.

Maria Garrido, Global Head of Data & Consumer Insights, Havas Media Group concludes:

“Brands that enhance the wellbeing of people, communities and societies are more meaningful. In the West, we have a more functional relationship with brands so continuous innovation and product delivery is key. In high growth markets, the relationship between people and brands is one that focuses more on personal benefits. In these regions people look to brands to help them achieve economic status, better experiences and every-day inspiration.

By understanding what activity will resonate with certain global and local audiences, forward-thinking brands will not only be able to plan more meaningful campaigns, but will also be able to report on meaning as a powerful metric of success.”

Meaningful Brands– Havas’ metric of brand strength - is the first global study to show how our quality of life and wellbeing connects with brands at both a human and business level. It’s unique in both scale – 1,000 brands, 300,000 people, 34 countries - and scope (12 industries). The research covers all aspects of people’s lives, including the impact on our collective wellbeing (the role brands play in our communities and the communities we care about), in our personal wellbeing (self-esteem, healthy lifestyles, connectivity with friends and family, making our lives easier, fitness and happiness) and marketplace factors, which relate to product performance such as quality and price.