Prophet Brand Relevance Index Reveals Almost Half of Top 20 Brands Have Marketing Efforts Led by Women

Eight of the top 20 brands in the fourth annual Brand Relevance Index (BRI) have female chief marketing officers or heads of marketing as brand relevance is increasingly being created by women.

 

Lego (2), Google (4), Dyson (12), Samsung (13), Pixar (14), Benefit (19) and Disney (20) currently all have their marketing efforts led by women:

 

·         Julia Goldin, CMO at Lego

·         Lorraine Twohill, CMO at Google

·         Sabrina Tucci, Global Marketing Director at Dyson

·         Younghee Lee, CMO at Samsung

·         Shannon (Ryan) Nicosia, Director of Marketing and Communication at Pixar

·         Lou Bennett, Marketing Director UK & ROI at Benefit

·         Anna Hill, CMO at Walt Disney UK

 

The 2018 BRI also revealed that the only financial services institution to feature in the top 50 is Nationwide at which Sara Bennison is Chief Marketing Officer.

 

Helen Rosethorn, partner at brand and marketing consultancy, Prophet, commented: “Women are playing an increasingly vital role in brand power and how this is being marketed. To have over 35% of the top marketing roles in the BRI filled by women this year shows progress. There’s evidence – and not just in marketing – that women are driven by opportunity more than money but with a focus on equal pay and a growing acceptance of flexible working conditions, brand marketing will be and can be more influenced by women.”

 

 

 

 

·         Home-grown brands are falling behind. Year on year there’s been a decrease in the number of British brands making it into the top 50 – accounting for only 22% in 2018. British brands have been slow to adapt and adopt and the lack of disruptive innovation is fast putting future growth at risk. For brands that commit to innovation – like Dyson (12) – there’s a real opportunity to stand out from the pack.

·         The power of purpose. Lush (16), Ikea (28), brands with conviction are becoming more powerful, influential and relevant than ever. Having a built-in Purpose is enabling deeper connections to be made with consumers over pertinent issues whilst also enabling brands to tell compelling stories that build genuine warmth, credibility and loyalty.

·         Rethinking value exchange. For a long time, brands failed to deliver value beyond the transactional relationship but now – with Netflix (5) and Spotify (7) leading the charge – we’re seeing more swapping rich data in order to deliver more personalised, more welcomed and more relevant experiences to consumers.

·         User mindset over matter. Lego (2), Fitbit (6), Whatsapp (22) for these brands it’s no longer about treating customers as buyers but more about developing an ever-growing user base that can be tapped into in innovative, creative and community-led ways.

 

 

The Prophet Brand Relevance Index is released in four countries – the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States and China. Apple was the top brand in the UK, Germany and U.S., whilst Aliplay took the top spot in China. 

 

 

Prophet partnered with SSI, the premier global provider of data solution and technology for consumer and business-to-business survey research, to program, field, collect and tabulate data. 

 

In the UK, Prophet surveyed 11,500 consumers about 240 brands across 27 industries. Companies from all industries that contribute materially to UK household spend were included, except brands in the tobacco and firearms categories or those engaged in primarily business-to-business categories. In some cases, smaller companies that are driving change in their respective industries were also included given their significant traction with consumers. The data was sourced from the Office for National Statistics’ 2017 Family Spending Report (UK).

 

Each participating consumer rated up to five brands within a single category on 16 different attributes that correspond to the four principles of relevance Prophet identified. To rate a brand, a consumer had to be familiar with the brand and a frequent consumer in the brand’s category. More information about the methodology can be found here.

 

Download the index in full here.