What can brand strength tell me about how brands create value?

Kantar has unique access to datasets from different categories and industries which enable it to cross-pollinate how consumers think about brands, how they use them, how they shop and buy brands and how those brands perform. Kantar’s understanding of how these things connect has been developing in the last few years culminating in the publication of their study ‘Blueprint for Brand Growth’.

Kantar has discovered that brands which outperform the market have certain common characteristics and that those which are ‘meaningfully different’ outperform the stock market by up to five times, are more resilient and recover more quickly from adverse conditions like a recession. ‘Meaningful difference’ also correlates strongly with pricing power, account­ing for about 94% of it (Kantar 2024) – pricing being a critical lever to develop margin and outperform competition in revenue terms. This data provides evidence that success goes beyond the product and service a brand offers and that people’s perceptions and attitudes to brands affects not only how they think about them and buy them today but also affects and predicts the brand’s future performance as well.

Marketing thinking and action has been built on the notion that attitudes and behaviours are linked, but now data is showing us much more specifically how they are linked and the actions brands can take to leverage that link.

Being meaningfully different to more people

Let’s unpack what Kantar understands by these terms. In its framework it considers three key elements – meaningful, different and salient. These are ingredients brands must have and to succeed they must be stronger relative to their competition. Being ‘meaningful’ is about meeting consumers’ needs or motivations – this comes down to both the functional needs a consumer has from a product or service and their emotional needs – things such as how they want to feel, how they want to be perceived or the experience they want to have.

There are simple and cost-effective ways you can measure these dimen­sions over time, asking consumers to rate your brand and those of your competitors on the efficacy and suitability of your brand for their needs. Having a meaningful brand – one that performs well against my expecta­tions – is critical and it gets you into a consumer’s consideration set which means repurchasing is more likely.

Being ‘different’ is more complex. ‘Different’ is the language Kantar uses, but I prefer the term ‘remarkable’ as it avoids the false opposition we often see in debates in marketing. Being different is about relative difference, not about being unique. Kantar can demonstrate that being different matters as the greater the relative difference to competition the less willing consumers will be to substi­tute a brand for another in that category. Again, this relative difference is easy to measure in a research context – it is about understanding within your competitive set which brands stand out and are seen to be leading the way.

The third element in this model is ‘salience’ – this is more than just whether people have heard of or are aware of your brand but how easily it comes to mind when a consumer encounters the category. As with the other dimensions, salience is simple to measure and with mobile-enabled meas­urement is normally cost-effective, quick and accurate.

The combination of these three factors – meaning, difference and sali­ence – is predictive of future penetration growth. Core brand equity measures are no longer rear-view mirror but reveal ‘Future Power’, as Kantar calls it and therefore a vital diagnostic for understanding brand strengths and opportunities relative to your competitive set.

Predispose more people

Predisposition is about increasing consumers’ sense that your brand is the right one to buy. The first growth accelerator is about loading the dice in your favour and is just as important for frequently bought categories as it is for infrequently bought ones such as cars.

Successful brands predispose more people by investing in the right activi­ties and experiences – high quality, relevant and engaging messages delivered through advertising, media, influencers, brand- or user-generated content, events, usage and so forth. When these touchpoints build meaning and difference, they increase predisposition and up to nine times more volume share growth and improved margin. Brands with strong predisposition tend to have better pricing power and this increases the likelihood of driving value share by four times. Kantar’s evidence shows benefits for brand pene­tration now and two years into the future.

This notion of ‘predisposition’ can be quantified through understanding the relative meaning and difference of your brand among other attitudinal and predictive measures. The notion of ‘predisposition’ is similar, but not identical, to the idea of ‘mental availability’ or the propensity of a brand to come to mind in a buying situation which has been a common concept in marketing in the past decade.

Be more present

The second growth accelerator is ‘Being More Present’. This is about being present along the consumer’s path to purchase and includes media connec­tions, range, distribution, pricing, promotion and any activity which converts predisposition into purchase. Being in the right places matters and explains why digitally born brands such as Harry’s and Glossier sought to shift into physical retail, ensuring they were more available to more people.

Occasionally mainstream brands talk passionately about the importance they place on selective distribution as though this somehow makes them more precious. In truth, they are typically missing out on sales or may not have as strong a brand and proposition as they believe. Brands that are present on all relevant buying occasions attract seven times more buyers than those present on one half of buying occasions – deliberately limiting distribution is not a growth strategy. Even luxury brands understand the importance of being present and recognize the need to invest to ensure the shopping experience in different locations is appropriate for their brands – think about beauty brands, Apple’s bold decision to invest in its own network of stores and the private sales of watch and whisky brands.

The rise of retail media is enabling brands to focus on targeting people at the moment of choice with the right trigger, advancing the precision with which effective brands convert sales amongst predisposed consumers. This notion of ‘being present’ is similar, but not identical, to the idea of ‘physical availability’ – being available and easy to shop in a buying situa­tion, as Kantar stresses the importance of the quality of a brand’s presence, as well as the scale.

Find new space

The third growth accelerator Kantar observes is about how brands sustain growth into the future. The strategies will differ depending on brand size, life stage and category. This is about finding new space in which a brand can credibly and incrementally grow – be they motivations, occasions, categories, services and so forth. An example of this is Heinz’s co-branded entry into pasta sauces with Absolut Vodka – combining the ‘meaning’ or relevance for that category which comes from how consumers perceive Heinz with the difference ‘Absolut’ can bring from the spirits category. As such this makes the proposition more than just another jarred sauce.

Finding new uses for your brand doubles your chances for growth. For example, Kantar found increasing use cases for a brand by 10% results in growth of 17% (2024). This means that beyond ensuring prospective buyers understand what you are about as a brand at scale and being present, you should focus on how to credibly expand that offering into new, relevant spaces in their lives.

This framework enables brands to audit where they are, using data for their brand and category and define critical actions.

Many brands may be ‘meaningful’ – meeting the requirements of their audience, but unremarkable. Insurgent brands may be distinctive in spades but not actually as good at delivering their product and service as estab­lished brands and of course are less likely to be known by as many prospective buyers. In contrast, some of the world’s best-known brands run the risk of lagging on meaning, as high-growth brands create new expecta­tions for what a great product or service experience might be. A brand lacking in difference may investigate what its innately differ­entiating features are and double down on these in communications, packing, presentation etc. Or it may seek through innovation to make its offering less substitutable. Being more predictive of future outcomes means brand guidance systems powered by core research data, AI and predictive models are coming back into their own for a new generation of marketing leaders.