The same terminology used to describe a person’s personality can be used to describe the personality of a brand. In particular, a brand can be characterized by demographic characteristics (age, gender, social class, race), lifestyle (activity, interests, opinions) or personality traits (extraversion, desire for harmony, reliability).

In a recent study, it was developed and tested. Brand Identity Scale (BPS),including a compact set of characteristics designed to both measure and structure brand identity. When developing Bps More than 1 thousand American respondents were involved, 60 well-known brands with a distinct personality and 114 individual brand characteristics were examined. Five characteristics of personality (called the Big Five), such as sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication and masculinity, were mentioned by respondents even when the sample they represented was divided by gender and age and brand subgroups were used. With the help of the Big Five, almost all (93%) of the considered differences between the brands were explained.

Tab. 5-1 provides confirmation that the Big Five describes well the individual characteristics of many strong brands. For instance, Campbell hallmark and Kodak highly rated by the sincerity property, a Levi "s, Marlboro and Nike-in terms of masculinity. However, like a person, a brand can have a complex combination of characteristics that vary within the Big Five. Levi'sfor example, it has relatively high ratings (included in the first 20% of highly rated brands under study) for the properties of “sincerity”, “excitement” and “competence”, while being considered the most highly rated brand in terms of “masculinity”. McDonald "s highly rated by properties

Table 5-1. Brand Identity Scale (BPS):

The Big Five. Brand Identity Properties

Brand personality traits

and their descriptive names (attributes)

Sincerity(Campbell's, Hallmark, Kodak)

• Landed:family-oriented, living in a small town, ordinary, belonging to the "blue collar", the American "one hundred percent."
• Fair:direct, genuine, moral, attentive, caring.
• Beneficial:genuine, true, ageless, classic, old-fashioned.
• ? Friendly:sensitive, friendly, cordial, happy.

Excitation(Porsche, Absolut, Benetton)

• Courageous; trendy, excitable, eccentric, ostentatious, cocky.
• Vigorous:cold-blooded, young, agile, sociable, enterprising.
• Imaginative;unique, funny, never ceasing to amaze, artistic, loving jokes.
• ? Modern:independent, keeping up with the times, innovative, aggressive.

Competence (Anwx, CNN, IBM)

• Reliable:hardworking, inspiring confidence, skillful, trustworthy, attentive.
• Reasonable:technically competent, controlling his actions, serious.
• Lucky:leading, confident, influential.

Sophistication(Lexus, Mercedes, Revlon)

• High society: charming, attractive,pretentious, sophisticated.
• Charming:feminine, insinuating, sexy, meek.

Masculinity(Levis, Marlboro, Nike)

• Freedom-loving:courageous, worshiping the Wild West, active, athletic.
• Persistent:firm, strong, calm.

“Sincerity” and “competence”. Hallmarkprobably due to the wide variety of greeting cards, it not only has an extremely high rating for the “sincerity” property, but also one of the highest ratings for the properties of “excitement” and “competence”.

Each property of the Big Five is divided into separate features to highlight features and provide conditions for describing the content and structure. Fifteen features recorded in the table. 5-1, descriptive names (attributes) are assigned. Thus, the “sincerity” property is divided into such features as “down-to-earth”, “honest”, “wholesome” and “friendly”, and “excitement” contains the characteristics “bold”, “energetic”, “gifted with rich imagination”, “modern” . At the same time, certain features are associated with individual brands. So, Benetton highly rated in terms of "modern" and "bold", while Absolut highly rated by the characteristics of "modern" and "gifted with rich imagination."

The presence of fifteen traits suggests a strategic choice. For example, a brand that has a high rating for the “sincerity” property can rely on such a characteristic as “affable” (with signs “sensitive”, “friendly” and “cordial *), instead of using the parameter“ honest ”(with signs“ direct ”,“ genuine ”and“ moral ”). Or a brand that is highly rated by the “competency” property can distinguish the “reasonable” parameter (with the signs “technically competent”, “controlling its actions” and “serious”) to a greater extent than the “successful” (with the signs “leading”, “Confident” and “influential”). In each case, the task of brand personification and the strategy for its implementation will vary.

The brand individuality scale also allows you to measure the level of positive or negative attitude to each brand relative to a particular product category. Certain interest was aroused by the fact that personality traits depended to a large extent on the attitude of respondents to brands, which changed from one brand to another. Properties such as “excitement” and “competence”, as applied to Apple and American express were considered as positive. Masculinity has been a positive feature for Levi's and negative for McDonald "s.Respondents who considered Mercedes and Porsche “sophisticated” probably had positive feelings for these brands. However, in general, personality traits, which were primarily associated with positive relationships among respondents, were mainly associated with properties such as “sincerity” (for example, “ genuine ”,“ genuine ”,“ original ”) and“ competence ”(for example,“ reliable ”,“ leading ”).

The possibilities of the “sincerity” property may partly shed light on why some brands have turned to the use of the signs of “genuineness” and “authenticity” as the main components of brand identity. Company Chevrolet developed an advertising theme "Genuine Chevrolet ",when her research revealed a source of positive brand history based on her past Chevrolet950s and 1960s . Lower brand linen jockey positioned as "Genuine Jockeyto draw attention to her rich traditions and help her fight with competitors acting under private brands. Other examples include the “one and only” bra model. Wonderbra from Sara lee foundations and "true" products Authentics firms DockersOne of the motives for using the “true” attribute is to rely on the brand’s rich heritage and attract the lost trust and emotional connections that are supported by its historical past. In general, “sincerity” is often used by brands with a long, rich tradition, which include Kodak and Coke

Excitement is another personality trait used in product categories such as cars, sports equipment, cosmetics, and even coffee. The fact that coffee Folgers characterized as “stimulating” and “dapper,” while coffee Maxwell house had an inexpressive, weak personality, led in the early 1990s. to a significant change in sales in favor Folgers.

First, I will give an example indicated in the dedication. Among our youth party there was a saying - "we do not need the sun, we shine Firsova!" - this is what brand strength Marinka Firsova was (Brand Force of M \u003d BFM) - among Central Asia in our youth, and in this slogan there are components of the brand definition for AMA (American Marketing Association) -

1. Recognition,
2. Differentiation from others (in this case, even from the sun!).

It is from this brand definition that we will proceed for the purposes of this Law.

The TASK of measuring brand strength will be more complicated than Einstein’s doctorate on the photoelectric effect, since more than one force acts on a consumer, BUT there are many “brand strengths”,

Hence, this task is similar to the classical problem of the orbit of three planets, which the ingenious minds of mankind have been solving for hundreds of years. I do not pretend to such a mind and I take off my hat to Keplers-Leibniz-Newtons (all the more so since the task for three bodies has still not been definitely solved ...).

However, you have to start with something?

“We’ll measure brand strength in what,” my California classmates joked about reading the local summer materials, “in Nicky, or what?” Yes, even in Nicky.

Law

Brand Strength Measurement (BF) must be considered as necessary

1. integral (BFNI) and
2. differential components (BFND) of brand strength BF (BrandForce).

The time differential from BFNI is a function of BFND - in the simplest case, you can write

d (BFNI) / dt \u003d BFND * const

And also - vice versa -

BFNI \u003d Integral (BFND * dt) [t0, t1] * const2

And this means - the increment of the integral strength of the brand occurs as a functional of sales success from year to year.

I emphasize - this is the first approximation of the type of LC.

The differential component refers to the market share attributable to this brand (during the differential period, i.e., for example, for a year, for a season, etc.).

Hence max BFND \u003d 100% or 1000 milliNick2.

If the brand occupied 30% of the market for the year, it will be 300 milli-Nik2, if 1% of the market - 10 milliNik2 or 10 mnik2 (international units), respectively.

Now, the integral strength of the brand is an incredibly complex issue, but it still needs to be addressed.

I suggest the following scale-

0 (zero) Nick - the brand is not known to anyone (zero is accepted for continuity of the curve).

100 Nick - the brand is known to everyone in this CA.

1000 Nick is an ideal, for example, Mercedes, which is known not only for its CA, but - "in general, ALLsrc \u003d".

The Brand Integral Strength (BFNI) seems to be characterized by a logistic curve or a sinusoid (0 to 1).

In order not to confuse these units of measurement, I propose for the differential strength of the brand to call the meter not Nik2, but - exe - in honor of our wonderful forum, but what? - I have the right as an author.

Agree, exe \u003d 100% - it sounds!

And 10 milli-exe \u003d 1% of the market is also not bad if the market is $ 1 billion.

Here are some good reasons to call the unit of brand strength exe.

1. The effectiveness of the brand, it also executivness over a period of time echoes the name "effective managers."
2. Managers are truly effective. For example, I recently needed materials on IDEF0 schemes - accomplices immediately posted 4-5 links and even one charming lady sent a humorous sketch on the use of IDEF0 for making ... eggs! (I don’t know if the lady will allow her to be called ...).
3. By no means do I want to throw a stone at marketing.spb.ru/cfin.ru, which has good material on IDEF0, but doesn’t contradict one another?
4. The effectiveness of the exe-resource is manifested both in the influx of new forces, and in a wide variety of intellectual tools and methods for discussing topics, and there are many other things, for example, in the effectiveness of editors who are not "shovely pout officials waiting for bribes", but - on the contrary, they rejoice in good texts, i.e. these are real linguistic entities.
5. Moreover, effectiveness, the brand’s strength is manifested in the competent overcoming of sometimes acute contradictions and even sometimes emotional outbursts, but we will consider that the contradictions serve development, or, in other words, “the main thing is to protect the opponent”, in the words of the founder of buting (hello moderators and all SOSTAV.RU!)
6. Another serious argument - executive makes it possible to develop the theory of order markets, within the framework of which this Law appeared.
7. Finally, due to the fact that I want it so, why not? - I am kind to everyone, to many - more than kindly and to anyone - negatively.

Hopefully units like exe and Nik will be understood around the world. For example, Nike was named after the Greek goddess of victory, Nick.

Well, let them calm down - 1000 Nik from Mercedes - also comes from the understandable Russian word Nikiforov :).

Remark 1. The total exe amount (according to BFND) is always less than or equal to 100%. If branded goods account for 70% of the market, then the sum of the strengths of all brands will be 700 milli-ex.

If 50% of the market - respectively 500 milli-exe.

(This is all - for a certain period - for a year, for 5 years or for a month, for a season)

Remark 2. In terms of integral characteristics, the situation is fundamentally different and it is nontrivial. The consumer is attracted by several brands - for example, BMW, Mercedes, Volvo, etc. - all very strong brands. However, he can buy Audi - due to some life circumstances.

Here is the explanation of the non-triviality (ambiguity) of the solution to the problem - according to the DATA the consumer, the differential forces of these brands have not grown, but the integrated forces - BFNI - may have even grown ... And what do you want? Perhaps this consumer seriously decided for himself next year to sell Audi and buy a BMW.

The total integral sum of the forces of the BFNI brands is the integral over a very large sample.

The first approximation is the amount of CA. Then 800 Nik is 8 well-known brands on this market or 6 ALL known and 4 - known to half of Central Asia.

Agree, dear accomplices, this integral indicator is also not a useless characteristic of the market.

Example 1. Mann, Grebennikov, Ellochka, Zyabkina - most likely are in the range of 80-100 Nik, at least - in marketing forums (e-xe, marketing.spb.ru, sostav.ru, gfk.ru).

Example 2. And your humble servant mathematician Nikiforov? Obviously - 1 Nikiforov \u003d 1 Nick. :) Joke, at least - 7 nicknames. Far, of course, to Grebennikov, but there is room to grow.

Note, in the case of 800 Nik the total sum is exe differential - it will be MORE THAN 800 milli-exe. This is a VERY INTERESTING RELATIONSHIP, not yet explored.

Remark 3. “Trout and Rice.” Jack and Al, hello! Your problem was solved quantitatively - on exe, albeit as a first approximation.

Remark 4. After reaching BFNI \u003d 100 Nik and up to 1000 Nik, most likely there is an exhibitor-logistics, like in Mercedes, which is due to

1. unique qualities of the product,
2. unique efforts of the company,
3. unique position of the company in the market,
4. and of course -
5. unique attitude towards the consumer.

The question of whether there can be many brands with a value of 1000 Nik is complicated and not completely clear for me. For example, what about Ford?

Remark 5. Are there brands with BFNI \u003d 1000 Nik in order markets? The task is even more difficult, but you can recall Paris and Las Vegas (entertainment sector).

In the end, I think - even Kotler will realize that e-heh is a terrible force, especially when e-he begins to bring victory (victory is Nick, bear - for), then the brand’s strength is great both in Milli-ex Nik. That is why the Law is called the law of ex-Nikiforov. (And if Kotler is asked to e-hell, so be it, I will give him a recommendation, although he is just a systematist :)).

Dear accomplices! I ask critics for the proposed brand strength gauges, because this is just a first approximation. I will be very grateful.

Returning to the beginning of the article, I can say that the illustration of Russian branding “we don’t need the sun, we’re shining Firsova” will be a trip to France through Moscow on November 2-3 and I will try to drag it to an exe meeting. But do not expect any vendors, she receives 3 rubles, as well as a professor of quantum physics (here she is the real face of the brand of the current regime), well, to hell with them, with rags, the strength of the Human brand is different. Just think if you’ve also been talked about you as you were about her or have been loved for 30 years, how I love her,

Sincerely, always your humble servant mathematician Nikiforov.

P.S. The writings of BFNI and BFND stand for “Nikiforov’s brand strength measurement,” as other options are possible. If this becomes generally accepted or for convenience, you can use shorter BFI and BFD, but what if someone thread offers something better? For example, it’s very interesting for me ... and - "my native science would live ...", I’m not greedy, I’ll come up with something else.

In the language of marketers means its recognition.

Brand recognition is when a consumer easily recalls its existence and learns among other products when making a purchase.

Moreover, it is this fact that will affect his final choice.

In addition, recognition includes identification of product characteristics.

Remembering the brand name, an advertising message pops up in the consumer’s head, for example, related to qualityor other distinctive parameters of the product.

The existing associative relationship between the brand and its products affects the choice of the target audience.

Therefore, its competitiveness and prospects directly depend on popularity. further development on the market. A recognizable brand brings money, as it directly affects sales.

Who or what makes a brand recognizable?

Recognizable are Nike, Apple, Coca-Cola, Ford, Tefal, etc. They are firmly “stuck” in the minds of the average consumer and are leaders in various market niches.

Why? It’s all about competent marketing strategy . It is she who elevates the brand to the rank of “superstar” among the target audience.

To make a brand successful and in demand it is necessary for a long time work on the following points:

• in every possible way to stimulate sales;
• create a strong associative and emotional connection between the consumer and the brand;
• increase the volume of contacts of the brand with the target audience;
• to form and strengthen a positive image of the brand.

All these tasks and many others help to perform marketing tools - advertising and PR. Often, famous personalities are brought in for this purpose and world-wide events are used.

It is not surprising that everyone wants to buy a can of Coca-Cola to become part of this positive story. It is important that the chosen strategy has not changed, so customer confidence is growing every year.

How to measure popularity?

How to measure brand recognition and is it even possible to do this?

Fame, like any measure of commercial success, can be measured by conducting a not-too-complex study of brand recognition. For this there are special indicators of brand recognition.

The parameter of the current level of popularity serves as a guide for building the right development strategy. Based on this, goals are set and the budget is calculated.

Marketers identify several estimates:

Top of mind - means that the brand is firmly embedded in the "mind" of the consumer, a strong connection has been created with the category of goods and their characteristics. The name of such a brand pops up in memory first. As a rule, these are market leaders whose products are in the top of sales.

Knowledge without a hint - the consumer recalls the name of the brand without additional informationenough product category. To find out the question is asked, which brands, for example, sports, do you know?

Hint knowledge - the weakest level of recognition. The consumer recalls the trademark only with direct contact with its elements - logo, packaging, name, in a similar way.

It is believed that in the consumer’s head for each product category a stable set of 5 brands is formed.

Is she really needed?

Not all companies can boast a high level of recognition. And still they take their place in the market. But every brand wants to go up a notch and become more popular. And this is justified by the desire to receive high profits.

The mechanism is simple. The more information a consumer knows about a product and brand, the more likely it is that he will buy his name. At the time of decision making, this is a determining factor. Because an ordinary buyer is not an expert and rarely thoroughly understands the characteristics of the things he needs.

A person believes in the image that he creates during advertising campaigns and promotion. The information presented is deposited in the head, and at the time of purchase pops up.

Do not forget about the fear of losing money or spending it on a low-quality thing. Therefore, trust is automatically created for a brand that has taken care of its popularity.

Trusted brands, this is the secret to commercial success. And if you want success, you need to popularize "your name."

Promotion Tools

How to increase brand awareness? Marketers have developed many methods for promoting a brand. Their choice depends on the type of product or service.

This is an indirect advance through solving the problems of its target audience.

Positioning in their habitats potential customers - you need to use all possible communication channels.

Online Submission - positioning on online spaces has long grown into a separate branch of promotion, including contextual advertising, SMM technology.

Company brand development with the help of consumers - customers believe reviews of real customers, so you need to work closely with this resource - bloggers, celebrities, group members.

In order for all the tools used to be effective and justify the money spent, you must first carefully study your target audiencemake up her exact portrait.

Who will help?

Behind any popular brand is a team of specialists. This may be the company's own resource or counterparty. Recent times there is a trend in the market to contact specialized agencies. Even in this case, the process must be controlled by the brand manager of the company.

The cost of services varies and depends on many factors. The minimum cost is from 100 thousand rubles for drawing up a promotion plan without taking into account the costs of its implementation. Saving on services is not worth it, the slightest mistake in the promotion process can cost the entire successful result.

Brand Development - Strategy

It is one thing to position the brand in the minds of consumers, and it’s another to develop it.

In this direction there are 3 strategies:

• launch new products;
• look for new customers;
• apply new technologies;
• experiment.

The main thing is the goods. As marketers say, any product can be turned into a diamond. To get started, line up manufacturing processso that there is a product for promotion.

If you want to compete with the popularity of Apple - go ahead. Everything is possible if you build the right brand development strategy for the company. The main thing is to understand why this is necessary. And do not forget about what you need so that in the future you do not have to prove that it belongs to you.

Watch the video: elements of the brand development strategy and their characteristics, improving the image of the company.

Well-known marketer Thomas Gad shares his way of getting loyal consumers.

The modern world is teeming with information, necessary and unnecessary. In this case, people have a completely natural desire to hide from this stream. It turns out that technological progress, with its inherent ability to produce more and more data, and humanity, trying to protect itself from them, are moving in opposite directions. Remember how many friends you have in social networks. Two hundred, three hundred, maybe a thousand? Now think about how many of them you regularly communicate with, how many of them really interest you? The data of my (and not only) studies show that on average it is only 8-10 people. One way or another, your whole life revolves around this small group. Business uses everything possible waysso that through these groups of 8-10 people to penetrate the life of each of us, it is quite natural that you are more likely to be interested in the interest of someone from your immediate environment. The same goes for product or service information. Therefore, the business uses all possible methods to penetrate the lives of each of us through these groups of 8-10 people. For this, companies are ready to do anything, do a lot of research, torment the focus group with hundreds of questions. Although in reality it is only necessary to ask one: “Are you ready to advise this product to your friend?”. Everything is the answer to this question and will show a person’s attitude to the brand. Accordingly, focusing on such a result, the brand is more likely to become successful. Once upon a time, the Mini Cooper automobile brand successfully played on this principle. They released a new model and were about to start a large-scale advertising campaignhang everything huge outdoor advertising, put on television commercials ... But then we decided to spend the entire advertising budget on people. They provided such good service and additional privileges to those who already had a Mini Cooper machine, that they simply could not help advising it to their friends and relatives. The latter, seeing all this, involuntarily thought about buying this particular car. To build and analyze the brand’s effectiveness, I came up with my four-dimensional model, the so-called 4D branding (from D - dimension, measurement). It can be used to create a new brand or to evaluate existing ones. In essence, this four-dimensional model allows companies to develop their own unique brand code, the brand’s mental field, which will be relayed to consumers. By focusing on one of them, manufacturers can activate the corresponding sphere of human existence.

So, the 4D branding model includes 4 dimensions: functional, social, mental, spiritual. Functional presents the features of a particular product, what benefit the consumer can derive from it. An example of such positioning can be Nokia. At a certain point, the company decided to focus on a convenient interface, a simple menu that everyone could figure out. By emphasizing one of the functions of its product, it has actually become associated with ease of use. Social measurement determines how a brand relates to a person within society. That is, how a brand can play on existing relationships in groups or build them yourself. So, the initiative I love Ukraine from the Ukrainian mobile operator Kyivstar, having formed a movement under the patriotic slogan “Share your love for Ukraine”, has earned itself an image national companywho cares about the country. Mental the dimension refers to the individuality of each person, communicates directly with him. An expensive and high-quality car, as a rule, increases self-esteem. Therefore, Rolls-Royce and can sell self-confidence for a lot of money. Spiritual the dimension refers to the values \u200b\u200bbehind the brand. And if a product or service is surrounded by a value halo, then consumers buying them receive something much more than what they paid for. A good example is the Morshinskaya mineral water. The creators of this brand focus on the fact that every person throughout the working day needs updating, recharging for a good appearance and productive activity. Thus, they propose to solve the existing problem in a concrete way - drink water, refresh yourself and gain strength. No matter how important branding might seem, the most interesting thing is that it could well exist without the huge efforts of companies and manufacturers. Wouldn’t consumers themselves be able to figure out the quality of the product, put their own meaning into it and give preference to some brand name? Of course they could. But this is clearly not in the interests of the manufacturer, right? He needs customers to choose his product or service, only they are lined up for them. Actually, therefore, manufacturers claiming leadership have always spent and continue to spend a lot of time and money on building their brand. Forbes.ua23.03.2013

The British research company Millward Brown has substantially changed the ideology of its well-known brand dynamics brand measurement technique. Work on modifying the methodology began in 2011, the first public mention of it appeared about a year ago, but only now we can talk about how the methodology took its place in the Millward Brown arsenal in an updated form. What's new in the methodology as a result of several years of work?

Other people - another life

First of all, the need for updating is due to the fact that a lot has happened in the world since the launch of the Brand Dynamics methodology in 1996. Too much to afford to stay the same. Every 10 - 15 years a new generation comes into the world. Sociologists give them different names - generations X, Y and Z, baby boomers and scammers, generations of the Millennium and thumb, etc. etc. The point is not in the names, but in the fact that people with different psychotypes, different habits and other things come to the world - since we are talking about brands - consumer behavior.

Rapidly changing technologies add oil to the fire. The advent of the Internet has changed the attitude to brands, their choice, and the shopping process itself. In addition, the customers themselves begin to behave differently, adapting to the marketing tools of manufacturers and retailers. Here is just one example lying on the surface: if in 2007, when the Internet was already developed, Google found 70.6 thousand links in Russian for the “buy online” request, then in 2013 there were almost an order of magnitude more - 579 thousand. Sellers they catch a wave of consumer interest in online trading, creating new resources and developing existing ones. In a volatile environment, brand measurement practices must also change.

However, some postulates must remain unchanged, “invariant,” as mathematicians say, at least in order to ensure the ability to use archives and maintain continuity. Researchers from Millward Brown, starting work on modifying the methodology, have identified several principles that remain relevant “at all times”.

1. Parameters for assessing brand value should be directly related to financial flows.
2. All channels through which the brand generates revenue must be considered. money from end customers.
3. It is necessary to use those decision-making factors by consumers, the importance of which is indicated by neurology.
4. 4. Research should be simple, oriented to practical use and interesting for the respondents themselves.
5. 5. The methodology should provide marketers with knowledge of how to ensure positive dynamics of the growth of brand value in the future.

The general sequence of measuring brands and interpreting the results, which, in fact, is the essence of any such methodology, has almost not changed in the case of Brand Dynamics. Schematically, it now looks as follows.

The sequence of actions when working on the updated methodBrandDynamics

Source: Millward Brown ARMI-Marketing

Initially, by interviewing respondents, a number of empirical parameters are determined that show various aspects of a person’s relationship to the brand under study. Then, empirical data is collected in three clusters (Meaningful, Different, Salient), each of which characterizes one or another aspect of brand attitude (below we will talk about them in more detail). It is clear that each of the clusters has a complex structure, it includes empirical parameters measured during interviews with different weights. Together, the three mentioned clusters determine the degree of “predisposition” of the consumer to the brand under study.

Thus, part of the study is devoted to the study of the relationship between the consumer and the brand. But the “disposition” of customers can influence brand business parameters in different ways. In order to quantitatively characterize the various aspects of this influence, the researchers identified three indicators from the obtained array of experimental data - Power, Premium and Potential. By superimposing market factors external to the brand on the obtained data (competition and marketing activity directly at the points of sale, actions of the state regulator, and much more), they receive a final assessment of the brand’s condition. Again, this is only general scheme. Now some details.

Another life - other concepts

Outwardly, the main differences between the modified methodology are the reduction in the number of measured parameters and the change in parameter names. Internal changes are much deeper: the paradigm of the methodology itself has changed. Explaining the essence of innovation, researchers from Millward Brown begin with basic concepts.

It is clear that there are many definitions of such an entity as, for example, “brand”. Moreover, there is usually no “most correct” definition; there is a “most relevant” definition to the problem under consideration. What will it be in this case? At Millward Brown, as part of their methodology, brand is understood as a set of associations (ideas, memories and feelings) in the minds of consumers.

Further, following the logic of the five basic principles for creating the methodology indicated above, they determine two main ways that a brand can influence the financial results of an owner’s company: through increasing sales or (and) through receiving a price premium.

The concept of “brand value” or “brand equity” in this case can be defined as a commercial asset, the value of which affects both the likelihood that a buyer chooses a particular brand and the willingness of people to pay for this brand more like “here and now” ", And in the future.

While working on a modification of their methodology, Millward Brown analysts analyzed the database accumulated over years of working using the Brand Dynamics methodology to identify signs of successful brands. These are the signs:

1. Consumers feel their “affinity” with the brand, its relevance to the lifestyle of its adherents.
2. Consumers believe that the brand is perfectly able to meet their needs (meet their needs).
3. Brands look unique in their own way.
4. Brands are dynamic, they are developing in accordance with current trends in their categories.
5. These brands are remembered first (top of mind) when it comes to their categories.

It is these signs that formed the basis of the methodology, they are measured in the course of the survey of respondents. The processed questionnaires make it possible to identify three basic parameters (recall, earlier, there were five such parameters) that determine various aspects of the respondent’s attitude to the brand:

Relevance (meaningful). This parameter is dominated by the parameters indicated above under paragraphs. 1 and 2 - relevance and ability to satisfy needs. Thus, this parameter characterizes the size of the territory on which the brand builds an emotional and functional relationship with its consumers.

Distinctiveness (different). The main components of this parameter are uniqueness and dynamism, compliance with brand trends (paragraphs 3 and 4 in the list).

Noticeability (salient). This is the parameter that is best described by the top-of-mind idiom: what we recall first of all. In the case of brands, this may mean that when going to buy, for example, shampoo, a person first of all thinks about brand X. Actually, the parameter itself for brand X can be measured by the share of its followers in relation to the entire audience of consumers of shampoos. "Visibility" is different from the good old "brand knowledge." It is important not only that a person knows about the brand, but also that he distinguishes it from others.

For two years, Millward Brown investigated the relevance of new parameters to modern market conditions. It was confirmed by analyzing empirically obtained data on 350 brands from both the packaged product category (CPG) and non-packaged (non-CPG) in several countries around the world.

Measurement Features

However, it is not enough to formulate new concepts; we still need to learn how to measure them. Did the change in the metrics affect the wording of the questions in the questionnaires, and if so, how?

Millward Brown answers the first question positively. On average, evaluating the five key metrics requires about three minutes of interview time. However, to achieve such results was not easy - I had to revise the wording of the questionnaire.

Researchers explain: “When we measure a parameter like Salient, we’re trying to understand how likely it is that when making a purchase decision, people really think about the brand. Previously, if we wanted to find out “brand knowledge without a hint”, then we asked questions about all the brands of the category that come to the mind of the respondent. This shows how easy it is for a person to remember a particular brand, especially if you analyze in what order the brands are called. However, as noted in research circles, using a category name can disrupt the respondent’s thinking during the course of the purchase. ”

Thus, a new approach is proposed to measure the parameter “Brand Visibility” (Salient), which can be called Visibility, “based on needs” (in English it sounds much better - meet needs). Millward Brown data suggests that this approach is 30% more accurate than the traditional “knowledge without clue” measurement to predict brand market share.

Here is an example of how questions are asked in brand research. washing machines:

Innovations in the wording of the questionnaire questions