What We Can Learn from 2020 Best Global Brands
In 2020 we see turbulence around the world. The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented disruption for businesses all over the world. Amid a global pandemic with its significant impact on business in 2020, Interbrand has announced its 2020 Best Global Brands ranking.
Interbrand named the one hundred most successful companies and their approaches in COVID situation. Although world conditions are under pressure and uncertain, but the aggregate value of the 100 best global brands still grew by 9%, as their total brand value exceeded USD 2 trillion.
It’s clear that in 2020, strong brands have become stronger as a result of the COVID effect, which has accelerated digital transformation trends, such as cloud based tech and streaming, reinforcing the dominance of technology first brands.
COVID effect to global brands
The 2020 Best Global Brands ranking saw the ‘COVID effect’, with global retailers shop closures. This caused the ranking drop of Zara (#35) and H&M (#37) by six places and suffered 13% and 14% decrease in brand value, respectively.
In other hand, social media and communication brands have shown good performed, with Instagram (#19), YouTube (#30) and Zoom (#100) entering the rankings for the first time.
Other brands and industries also have benefitted from the ‘COVID effect’, like logistics (UPS (#24), FedEx (#75) and DHL (#81))and electronic payment (PayPal (#60), Visa (#45) and MasterCard (#57)) with positive brand valuation growth. These two sectors became more central to our lives in lockdown and increasing the needs of e-commerce since last year.
During these unprecedented times, the report shows that consumer behaviors have shifted, and customers demand for affinity and trust from business.
The key takeaways
The Interbrand’s report laid out the ways that businesses have built resilience to the pandemic, with three key indicators.
1. LEADERSHIP
As uncertainty rises, it needs a brave leadership to create hope. Beside rely the expectation to government, we need business to setting a worthy purpose and an enlightening vision beyond turbulence and chaos to put a flag in the future.
Interbrand identify four dimension factors in the leadership indicators:
1. Direction
How is clear purpose and ambition for the brand, a plan to deliver on them over time, and a defined culture and values to guide how those plans should be executed.
Best global brands start from their desired future and work backwards, identifying each challenge as a step on the road toward that future. Tesla’s brand hasn’t only driven demand from consumers but also attracted investors. In the end, it also forced fundamental change in its industry sector. Tesla is very likely to face more competition in the future, but will be dominating the industry with absolute clarity of direction.
2. Agility
How the speed to market that a company demonstrates in the face of opportunity or challenge, enabling it to get ahead and stay ahead of expectations.
Fast growing brands are remarkable in their ability to combine long term vision with short term action with direction and agility. Amazon combines agility as a mindset, supported by converging technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotic. Driven by real-time data, AI and machine learning, Amazon has been exploring new services to dominate markets. It also dynamically improved its business model from one-to-one interactions, into marketplace, and into subscription model.
3. Empathy
How the organization is in tune with customers and wider stakeholders, actively listening to and anticipating their evolving needs, beliefs and desires, and responding effectively and appropriately.
In a time of anxiety, people may be all in the same storm, but not in the same boat. Empathy has become the central component of brand affinity in this situation to understanding customers and anticipate fast changing priorities and emotions. Microsoft considers empathy as important leadership trait as well as innovation spirit. With the deep sense of empathy, that put as culture by Satya Nadella, Microsoft can satisfy and understanding the customers needs.
4. Alignment
How the whole organization is pulling in the same direction, committed to the brand strategy and empowered by systems to execute it across the business.
Finally, leaders need to make consistent alignment across the organization so each person has the the same mind, vision, and objective toward the business’ direction. Netflix’s CEO spends annually about 25% of his time on building the alignment required to support what he describes as Netflix’s culture of context.
2. ENGAGEMENT
Leadership requires engagement. They inspire others to join them on a shared journey, invite co-operation and create a following.
Interbrand identify four dimension factors in the engagement indicators:
1. Participation
How the brand has the ability to draw in customers and partners, create a sense of dialogue and encourage involvement and collaboration.
Today’s hyper connectivity has transformed the way people and organizations expect to engage with brands: not as unconditionally faithful customers, but as active involvements and collaborators. Salesforce listens to customers’ communities and in constant conversation with its customers. With its programs, Trailblazers and Dreamforce events, Salesforce is creating customers as co-creators and advocates.
2. Coherent
How customer interactions, whilst varying depending on channel and context, remain authentic to the brand’s narrative and feel.
For decades, the imperative for marketing brands was create consistency in visual assets. Today’s greatest brands build coherence in feeling. Brand leaders shift their focus from consistency in assets (“does it look the same?”) to pursue coherence in feeling (“does it feel the same?”).
3. Distinctiveness
How the existence of uniquely own signature assets and experiences that are recognized and remembered by customers and difficult to replicate.
Creating a distinctive experience will engage and connect customers to your brand. Apple’s distinctiveness or uniqueness isn’t a result of what the brand says, but what it does. Apple has consistently changed what was in people’s minds by changing what was in their hands.
3. RELEVANCE
Ultimately, it takes brave leadership and powerful engagement to find relevance. The great brands lift consumers from indifference and make consumer choices meaningful.
Interbrand identify four dimension factors in the relevance indicators:
1. Presence
How a brand feels omnipresent to relevant audiences, is talked about positively, and is easily recalled when a customer has a need in the brand’s category.
Brands with a consistent presence are those that are continuously engaged with their audiences, so that their brands stay relevant in customers. Spotify has a vision to make music present in the moments you need it. By ‘putting the world’s music in your pocket’ and establish strategic partnerships to several daily-life devices, Spotify made it possible to listen to music whenever and wherever.
2. Affinity
How customers feel a positive connection with the brand, based on the functional and/or emotional benefits provided, and/or a sense of having shared values.
One key aspect of relevance is that customers feel an affinity to a brand — that it plays a meaningful role in their lives by aligning to the same values and priorities. Nike’s Colin Kaepernick campaign in 2018 was ahead of its time, anticipating the race riots and Black Lives Matter movement that would follow into 2020. In order to make the world aware of Nike’s values, the brand made a controversial campaign. The campaign reflects exactly what the brand stands for, clearly identifying itself in contrast to others.
3. Trust
How a brand is seen to deliver against the (high) expectations that customers have of it, is perceived to act with integrity and with customers’ interests in mind.
Trust has always been a pillar of branding in a transactional way: at heart, the notion of delivering on a promise. Due to its dedication to mitigate its customers concerns around fraud and to keep consumers’ money safe, PayPal is one of the most trusted payment brands. At a time of heightened anxiety and economic uncertainty, nothing matters more than this customer’s trust.
“Leadership, engagement and relevance are three consistent themes we are seeing as brands try to navigate the rapidly changing business landscape.” said Charles Trevail, Global CEO, Interbrand. They are the keys to unlocking results in the current crisis, building customer confidence and business resilience.
