What makes a brand worth billions of dollars?

Kantar is one of the world’s leading data, insight and consultancy firms with 30,000 employees providing business strategies for clients in 100 countries. Kantar is part of advertising giant WPP Group, and its services are employed by over half of the Fortune Top 500 companies.

Jane Ng and Ed Dacanay, Kantar Millward Brown Philippines Group account director and business director, respectively, discuss how brands become worth billions of dollars.

Q1: When do you say a brand has brand equity?

Dacanay: Before we even think about equity, we need to understand what a brand is. It is a set of associations made up of facts, benefits, memories and feelings in the mind of a consumer.

Strong brands have a balanced set of associations, made up of knowledge, emotions and experience. All our research suggests that a balance of positive functional and emotional associations is more likely to make a brand strong and successful in the market.

A brand is what facilitates choice.

Imagine going to a supermarket where the products are not branded, and packaging is homogeneous. There is then no way of telling how one is different from the other. This is where the role of branding comes in, and why equity is important.

A brand does not only help differentiate the products. It evokes impressions in consumers’ minds and which has an impact on the actual purchase behavior. Brand equity is, therefore, the value derived from the strength of a consumer’s perception of the brand.

When a brand has equity, it has a point of difference. However, its end motive is not simply to be different. This difference must be meaningful to consumers, which means the brand delivers on it and communicates it in a way that is compelling, memorable and generates clear and unique propositions.

In essence, a brand with strong equity has meaningful, different and salient propositions in the eyes of the consumer. This point of view is the core principle of Kantar Millward Brown. This is why we say: Using this powerful principle as applied to brands across the globe, we help our clients grow great brands.

Q2: How does product portfolio affect brand equity?

Ng: Part of brand equity building is to ensure that the product provides a holistic brand experience that meets customer expectations. A holistic brand experience should be seamless from the brand promise to product performance and customer service.

As such, what we offer as part of the portfolio ladders up to the eventual experience the customer will have, and their perceptions of the brand.

Brands usually look at their product portfolios to address specific needs and usage occasions. However, when doing so, marketers will need to manage the delicate challenge of protecting the master brand and its sub-brands in the portfolio.

With a successful umbrella strategy, a one-brand touch point can impact the entire product line. The core brand essence transfers to the full range of products, and a lift for one brand can create a halo effect for the others. It is key that a core brand essence ties the entire product line together and lends credibility to any new extensions.

Umbrella branding allows core brand values to be associated across variants, bolstering equity.

However, individual variants can still have points of differentiation. This will ensure the master brand equity halos on its sub-brands and the marketing efforts on the sub-brands contribute to the build of the overall master brand. In some cases, the product portfolio may be anchored entirely on the master brand supported by different product offering that might play across categories.

In these situations, it is key that that master brand communication remains consistent over time.

Q3: Can brand equity change based on occasion?

Dacanay: Before joining Kantar Millward Brown, I was part of our sister company Kantar TNS, which embraces the philosophy that brand equity changes based on occasion. The example they most often use to prove their point is the case of coffee drinkers making their brand choices across day parts.

It is easy to imagine that a person’s decision-making when it comes to coffee brands may vary moderately or greatly depending on the specific situations and occasions he finds himself in throughout the day. He may find a Nescafe most appropriate and enticing for breakfast at home, but a Starbucks could be what he craves after lunch.

Q4: What newer brands would you consider as brand equity models in the Philippines? What are communication lessons from these brands?

Dacanay: As internet access grows in the Philippines, many of the technology brands will come to mind.

In particular, we think Uber has been exemplary in this area. Traffic woes and the pains of commuting are issues that are close to the hearts of every Filipino.

Uber has integrated itself into society in a short period of time and built trust with customers quickly. It also ensures delivery of quality experience for customers by consistently updating the app, stringent recruitment and screening of drivers, and cutting down waiting time.

On the communication front, Uber has always been consistent in taking a personal tone and approach in its e-mail and in-app communications with riders.

Recently, Uber took one step forward to connect with Filipinos through #UberSTORIES, where riders are encouraged to share their experiences. Many of the stories got us smiling from ear-to-ear, as the experiences are all so close to the heart.

Outside of TV, Uber also takes a transparent stance on social media, openly addressing issues with customers when issues arise. Whether it is above-the-line or below-the-line, Uber stays consistent in portraying a reliable and meaningful personality that allows it to remain different.

But it is not just new brand launches. Dove is an excellent example of ensuring that all new portfolio launches contribute to building the master brand equity.

There is always a consistent Dove look and feel in all their communications. The core brand essence of real beauty is always there and the impression cannot be missed.

Even after they extended the brand to the male market, the care equity continued to stand strongly.

Q5: How do non-Filipinos codify brands from the Philippines?

Dacanay: Non-Filipinos certainly attach a Philippine layer to their perceptions about brands that are obviously from here.

Certain Filipino brands that have gone global such as Jollibee deliberately drum up their being Filipino. Other brands such as those by URC may not be doing so with the same intensity, and hence, may likely be perceived by non-Filipino consumers as local brands in their respective countries until, of course, they find out if they care to look at the fine print in the packs.

For the likes of Jollibee that extend their reach beyond the country as Filipino brands, the codification by foreign consumers takes on another layer of complication. Not only do they receive brand communication versus what they consider meaningfully different within the context of their own cultures, but, to varying degrees, their reception is also influenced by how they perceive us (how we are as a people, how they understand or don’t understand our culture, the quality of our work particularly in the category they are consuming).

It is not different to when we market our talent. Whether we like it or not, being a Filipino applying for a job in an international company carries unique equity. Hence, we can say that nation branding is a common concern and a shared responsibility for all of us across industries and sectors including government, of course.

What the Philippines or the Filipino stands for in the global stage affects how our Filipino-branded products and services play and perform in international markets.—CONTRIBUTED