In November 2005, the Stewart-Allen/GMI BrandBarometer surveyed 17,502 highly profiled consumers worldwide about 15 leading international consumer electronics brands.
These brands include Apple, Canon, Casio, Dell, Hitachi, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Nokia, Panasonic, Philips, Pioneer, Sanyo, Sharp, Sony and Toshiba. Consumers were asked about their perceptions and experiences of these brands, levels of trust, overall quality and perceived country of origin.
When asked to associate values with a particular brand, BrandBarometer respondents perceived Sony as ‘luxurious’, Nokia as ‘innovative’, ‘friendly’ and ‘engaging’ while Apple was voted the most ‘individualistic’ and ‘exclusive,’ and Microsoft as ‘powerful’ and the most ‘American’ brand. Sony also scored well in other areas: respondents see the brand as being ‘international’, ‘trustworthy’ and a ‘luxury’ brand. Nokia scored highly for being ‘customer-focused’, for ‘listening’ to its customers and for being the most ‘responsive’ and ‘empathetic.’ Sony and Nokia were also seen as the two most reliable brands out of the 15 studied.
When it comes to investing in brand recall and intentional associations, large consumer electronics companies clearly dedicate generous marketing and advertising budgets to achieve these[1]:
Microsoft spent $260 million on US measured media during the first 10 months of 2004 (Adweek, January 25, 2005)
Sony’s Electronics Division spent $150 million on U.S. advertising in 2004 (Adweek, September 14, 2005)
Apple spent more than $100 million on US advertising in 2003, and about $90 million between January and October 2004, $70 million of which on iPod ads alone (MediaWeek, January 13, 2005)
Panasonic spent about $60 million in U.S. media last year (Adweek, December 02, 2005)
However, the BrandBarometer did find some dark clouds on the horizon for some of the other consumer electronics brands. Sanyo appears to have a serious image problem and is regarded as the most ‘stagnant’, ‘dull’, ‘insignificant’ and ‘weak’ of all of the brands in the study.
According to the survey, the power of consumer electronics brands appears to be wavering in Western markets where branding is most sophisticated. When asked how important a brand name is when buying such products, consumers in Mexico, China and Brazil rated it as either important (6 out of 7) or very important (7 out of 7). By contrast, consumers in such countries as the UK, Germany and Denmark ranked brand names as much less important (4 out of 7).
“We know from our previous BrandBarometer studies and the behaviour of various markets that brands take on significant symbolism in emerging economies as they represent aspirational purchases – a communication of status and more upmarket lifestyle," explains Stewart-Allen.
The survey also provided interesting findings as to where the technology giants were headquartered. Nokia’s Finnish and Philips’ Dutch origins were often misidentified by survey respondents as Japanese and American respectively.
Stewart-Allen adds: “Some of the most recognisable brands in the world relate to consumer electronics. Yet, the most important for these companies is to make sure they get noticed in the right markets. The BrandBarometer finds the latent power of branding in the fastest-growing consumer markets of Mexico, Brazil, India and Russia. There is a huge opportunity here, and consumer electronics companies need to localise their marketing for their brands to have the greatest impact at a regional level, while focusing on some degree of consistency in the ways the brand is experienced and communicated worldwide."
“The appeal of some runaway brand leaders such as Nokia is based on consistently managing the experience of the brand. What is striking about this BrandBarometer is that some of the world’s best-known names are adrift and losing appeal despite their heavy investments in marketing," comments Stewart-Allen. www.brandbarometer.com
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