Amazon most ‘meaningful’ brand in UK

In the UK, on average, just 28% of people would care if the brands analysed disappeared as there was widespread feeling that the brands were not meeting expectations.

For example, while 57% of people agreed that companies should be actively involved in solving social/environmental problems and 58% thought companies and brands should play a role in improving our quality of life and well-being, only 25% thought that brands were working hard at improving quality of life and well-being.

Retail companies dominated this study, with seven of the top 10 spots going to retailers; technology and finance took the remaining spots (Samsung, PayPal and Sony).

The Media company’s Meaningful Brands survey looked at 1,000 brands, more than 300,000 consumers, across 34 countries and is a global analytical framework designed to connect human wellbeing with brands at a business level.

It measured the benefits brands bring to people’s lives by measuring the impact of the brand’s benefits alongside its impact on 12 different areas of wellbeing (such as health, happiness, financial, relationships and community among others)

Attachment remains the key to being meaningful with all of the top 10 brands scoring more than 45% when respondents were asked ‘would they miss the brand if it disappeared tomorrow’.

When comparing the UK with other countries it belonged to the ‘Mature, Pragmatic & Brand Agnostic’ countries: one of the lowest levels of meaningfulness of brands analysed, and a high impact of functional area vs wellbeing.

In its report, Havas pointed to the financial benefits for a business of having Meaningful Brands: top meaningful brands can increase their ‘share of wallet’ (the percentage spent with a brand versus the total annual expenditure within its category) by seven times and, on average, gain 46% more share of wallet than less Meaningful Brands.

Meaningful Brands also outperform the stock market by 133%, with the top 25 brands delivering an annual share return of nearly 12%.

Paul Frampton, CEO, Havas Media and head of clients and strategy said: “Great marketing has a cumulative effect as it’s shared – it naturally flows and gains momentum. We will only share ideas if brands engage us in a more involving way in the things that matter to us. We now look to brands for meaningful connections – big or small.”