Brands That Have Built and Maintained Strong Relationships with Consumers Top Index with Gerber Ranking No. 1, followed by Tide, Gatorade, Clorox, and Crest
FutureBrand Consumer Index Shares Takeaways and Unveils Path to Brand Success
NEW YORK, June 04, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The consumer brand landscape is facing a critical juncture, according to insights from the inaugural FutureBrand Consumer Index. Unveiled today, the FutureBrand Consumer Index exposes gaps between consumer expectations and brand performance, highlighting the need for brands to drive more innovation, authentic connections, and meaningful experiences. Shedding light on the challenges and opportunities that define this pivotal moment, the FutureBrand Consumer Index offers an exploration of brand potential and a roadmap to success.
To better understand consumers’ perceptions, brand-led business transformation company FutureBrand examined 100 consumer packaged goods brands that are deeply embedded into consumer lives across 18 critical attributes, including mission, innovation, indispensability, consistency, personality, and seamlessness, among others. The study found that despite relentless efforts, most brands are falling short on relevance, missing key growth opportunities, and succumbing to a phenomenon dubbed as “blandification.”
“Despite immense time, energy and resources being put behind many consumer brands, most are not reaching their full potential,” said Jon Tipple, Global Chief Strategy Officer, FutureBrand. “Traditional marketing approaches and formulaic thinking appear to be increasingly ineffective, ushering in ‘blandification’ across consumer brand categories and segments. The findings from the FutureBrand Consumer Index provide concrete next steps to help brand marketers reassess their strategies and challenge traditional brand building norms so they can win with consumers.”
Brands topping the FutureBrand Consumer Index include Gerber ranking No. 1, followed by Tide, Gatorade, Clorox, and Crest.
In addition, the FutureBrand Consumer Index unveiled key insights, such as:
- Consumer brands face a ‘relevance gap’ in the minds of consumers. Brands excel in consistency, one of the lowest drivers of brand affinity, and underperform on seamlessness (‘this brand understands me’), the top driver of brand affinity. By focusing energy on driving consistency over consumer connection, brands are missing the mark.
- Brands can create more meaningful ties with consumers by solving personal needs for them. In a world where self-care and personal fulfillment are deemed increasingly vital, people are paying more attention to their individual needs. Solving tangible problems for consumers is just one of the outlined ways brands can close the relevance gap and forge deeper connections.
- Consumer brands can look at corporate brands for inspiration. When comparing results from the latest FutureBrand Index, corporate/B2B brands are not only maintaining but also growing their relevance, surpassing some consumer brands in meeting customer needs. Consumer brands could benefit by adopting innovative strategies from their corporate counterparts.
“Embracing innovative approaches is not just advantageous, it's imperative for the survival of even the most iconic consumer brands. Without the ability for brands to adapt, innovate and create genuine connections with consumers, stagnation and irrelevance loom on the horizon,” said Lynne Field, Head of Strategy, FutureBrand North America. “Our research underscores the urgency of addressing the 'relevance gap' identified in today's consumer landscape. However, we view this gap not as a threat, but as a gateway to transformative growth.”
As a leading brand specialist company, FutureBrand regularly publishes indexes that order or reorder well-known brands by perception strength to create unique brand rankings. All published indexes seek to witness the future-proofing power of connecting brand purpose to everyday audience experience and identify those companies that are succeeding best in this mission-critical endeavor.
FutureBrand partnered with QRi Consulting to conduct its inaugural index of consumer brands, assessing 100 brands on their purpose and experience across 18 critical attributes. Conducted between January 15-25, 2024, QRi Consulting conducted online interviews with 3,021 U.S. consumers who reported being aware of and knowledgeable about the brands discussed.
To learn more about the FutureBrand Consumer Index visit https://www.futurebrand.com/consumer-index-2024.
Press Contact
Marielena Santana
marielena.santana@digennaro-usa.com
About FutureBrand
We are a global brand business delivering world-class strategy, design and experience in 20+ offices around the world. For businesses in moments of change, transition and transformation, we are uniquely built to tackle the world’s most complex brand challenges. Our belief is that when you change your brand, you change the future.
In all our work, our focus is to balance brand purpose with everyday lived experience. This formula, proven through our FutureBrand Index methodology, positions your brand to drive future growth in an ever-changing world. Our clients include American Airlines, Nestlé, Sanofi, Barilla, Bentley, McDonald's and most recently, Air India. For more information visit futurebrand.com.
About QRi
QRi Consulting is FutureBrand's global research partner for the FutureBrand Index. Working closely with FutureBrand, QRi helped define the research approach, managed recruitment, questionnaire development, and provided in-depth analysis of the qualitative and quantitative data underpinning the report. Results are informed by QRi's extensive research, brand, and sector knowledge and experience as well as its proprietary QualiQuant methodologies.
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