A new debate has been ignited over the value of brand measurement strategies to navigate uncertain economic times and maintain a competitive edge.
As companies grapple with this uncertainty, consumer behaviour shifts and growing market pressures, accurately gauging brand performance is emerging as a vital tool for survival and success.
Brand measurement provides businesses with the ability to identify the effectiveness of marketing efforts, understand customer perceptions, and respond swiftly to evolving preferences. By monitoring and analysing these critical indicators, organisations can make data-driven decisions to better position their brands and optimise their marketing investments.
Tom Manners, co-CEO of the Clockwork agency, tells the FM: “A brand is an asset that grows or declines based on a variety of factors — business performance, product strength, relatability and salience. Having a strong brand measurement strategy in place enables the entity to track these fluctuations while building a framework to identify which factors most directly influence brand strength. It is a critical tool — especially in larger listed organisations.”
Sean McCoy, founder of the HKLM brand agency, says marketing and branding have been fraught with implied lack of measurability, accountability and return on investment. Brand measurement efforts, he says, play a key role in addressing this proactively.
Ogilvy Social.Lab senior digital strategist Jordan Major says measurement gives brands a clear definition of commercial impact. Measurement allows greater accountability between brands and suppliers, particularly as brands expect clearer results.
Michael dos Santos, of the Shift design agency, says despite the importance of brand measurement, it is often misunderstood because brands are intangible assets and are subjective.
Brand measurement must account for the full business experience
— Michael dos Santos
He says brand measurement must account for the full business experience.
“Brand measurement is at its core a diagnostic tool, not only focused on a business’s present circumstances but also on its growth in its reputation and profitability. Therefore, meaningful brand measurement should focus on targeted user experiences from those who have had a genuine engagement with the business’s experience points. The goal of this is to measure whether a brand is aligning with and delivering on its purpose, competitive advantage and overall experience strategy.”
Manners says brand measurement done well helps a business discern broader trends. This can help interpret and predict customer behaviour.
He says there are huge risks in neglecting brand measurement. “Brand decline is like having mould in your roof. At first, you do not notice it at all. When you do, it is too late.”
Major is on the same page. “The market continues to be shaped by advancements in technology. Generative artificial intelligence, greater accountability around privacy, data security and an assortment of other themes are all interconnected. Though the future remains uncertain across all these subjects one thing does remain clear — none of them is going away. The greatest risk is to do nothing, and the greatest consequence becomes losing relevance and market share to those competitors who have done something about it.”
McCoy says brand measurement is more complex than just measuring the effect of marketing and advertising. “A blind belief in creativity alone to drive brand performance or campaign effectiveness and business results is a myth that some marketers and their agencies may buy into. In instances such as this, marketers are likely to undervalue brand measurement or disregard it. This is a dangerous misconception, and it is my firm belief that the appropriate blend between art and science is what will drive results. Measurement is clearly a part of the science component.”
Effective brand measurement is a data play. Manners says measurement for the sake of it is not enough. “Marketing teams should be structured to respond rapidly to shifts in the market while product and delivery teams should always be prepared to alter or improve process based on brand measurement feedback.”
McCoy suggests the real value of brand measurement data is the translation into insights that they offer and should bring. “The misconception about data overload is when the insights and interpretation are lacking and are lost in the noise of ‘big data’, whereas key insights derived, and acted upon, will enable competitive advantage to marketers who will use this to make market gains or product improvements.”
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.