Universal Brand Relationships - BlackBar Consulting

We have identified the 5 Universal Brand Relationships via a rigorous statistical process across multiple product categories and brands.

The Relationship metrics we have developed combine consumers’ brand perceptions and brand experiences in a way that preserves the integrity of these two different components of CBR.

The validity of the CBR constructs is demonstrated by the fact that their influence on brand financial measures, price/value perceptions and customer franchise measures is significantly greater than that of other measures of brand equity.

reinforcementfive380

Top reinforcement brands are Pantene, L’Oreal, J&J, Amazon and Google. While both components of the relationship are important, hair care brands do it more by enhancing self-esteem.

rolemodelfive380

Many corporate brands – like GE, 3M, Facebook and Amazon – are seen as leaders and innovators, but only Apple and Google manage to combine those perceptions with that key personal experience of feeling both challenged and encouraged by the brand.

identificationfive380

Brands most identified with are Amazon, Google and WalMart. Apple and J&J are well-loved brands, but are not experienced as a means of self-expression to the extent of the former. Facebook is a means of self-expression – but not as well loved.

differentiationfive380

J&J and WalMart epitomize the customer experience of feeling at the center of attention, but their product offering is not differentiated from competitors’. The uniqueness of Amazon – and the way its offering feels customized – makes the customer feel different.

playfulfive380

Brands from several very different categories are seen as relaxed and stylish, but the most successful casual dining brands – together with YouTube and Amazon – are the ones which just seem to give pleasure, without requiring anything in return.

Capitalizing on Brand Relationships

Brand Relationships make a substantial contribution to the Market Value of a branded business, and also impact Market Value indirectly via their influence on Customer Franchise.
Brand Relationships influence the size and composition of a brand’s Customer Franchise.
Strong Brand Relationships enhance consumers’
price evaluations of a brand, impacting profitability
and brand value.

BlackBar Model Case Study: Consumer Brand Relationships with Digital Brands

The BlackBar model fits the Market Value of branded businesses to three contributing variables - Brand Relationship Equity, Size of Customer Franchise, and Operating Profit

For Apple, Operating profit is the dominating factor, accounting for over 50% of Market Value. Being able to continue to justify higher prices and margins in the future, is thus a critical factor for the maintenance of the brand’s Market Value.
In contrast, Google’s Market Value is much less vulnerable than Apple’s to changes in Operating Profit, being more reliant on Brand Relationship Equity and the size of its user base
Digital brands derive most of their Brand Relationship Equity from two Brand Relationships – Identification and Reinforcement.
For both of these Brand Relationships, Google’s breadth of offering seems to be a key factor – for enhancing means of self-expression (Identification) and perceptions of performance (Reinforcement). For Apple, the launch of a new game-changing product (Apple TV ?) might strengthen both these Brand Relationships more than yet another iPhone, while FaceBook needs to add functionality beyond the purely social.