Are you measuring brand wrong?

This newsletter comes from the hosts of The Marketing Architects, a research-first show answering your biggest marketing questions. Find us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts!

 

This week, we're diving into brand measurement with Kantar's Mary Kyriakidi. If you're still chasing vanity KPIs while your competitors build pricing power, this one's for you. 

—Elena  

 

Brand perception accounts for over 30% of company value on average.    

For the most successful brands, that number jumps to over 50%. Coca-Cola famously hit 90% in the 1990s, proving the financial reality of brand equity. 

 

The brand metrics that actually drive growth                      

Most marketers are drowning in vanity KPIs while missing the metrics that actually predict business performance. Here's what separates effective CMOs from the rest: 

1. Meaningfulness, Difference, and Salience beats distinctiveness alone. Kantar's research shows distinctiveness explains only 25-30% of what makes a brand feel different. The rest comes from emotional connection and perceived leadership. Distinctiveness gets you noticed, but meaningful difference gets you chosen.
2. Pricing power is the ultimate brand metric. The strongest brands can command up to double the price, and even bargain hunters will pay 40% more for brands they see as meaningfully different.
3. Stop defaulting to promotions. When growth slows, half the people buying on promotion would have bought anyway. You're just giving away margin while training customers to expect discounts. Instead, invest in being more meaningful, different, and salient.
4. Connect brand metrics to business outcomes. The CMOs who gain boardroom credibility don't speak in advertising metrics. They show how brand equity directly links to penetration, margin, and future growth using metrics like demand power and pricing power.
5. Track competitors beyond your narrow category. If you're a toy brand, you're also competing for leisure time. This shift in perspective changes everything about how you benchmark and find growth opportunities. 

Listen in on our discussion.

 

"Diary of a CMO"           

This comprehensive report from Kantar reveals how the world's most effective CMOs win by aligning marketing with business outcomes through the meaningful, different, and salient framework. Essential reading for any marketer serious about proving brand impact. 

Read the article.

 

 

It Matters What You Measure.                

"Not everything that can be counted counts." 

— William Bruce Cameron, sociologist