The DNA of breakthrough brands

Breakthrough brands are those that break the mould to deliver extraordinary value growth and financial returns. Understanding what defines and drives them is an obsession for us at Kantar, and for many in the marketing community. So, what if you could predict which brands would deliver abnormal stock market returns? 

 

The science behind breakthrough brands

 

University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School have identified that by adding Kantar’s Brand Equity data set to financial models, they can deliver a far superior model in predicting financial returns. This is significant, as the existing popular narratives that claim to define how brands grow do not use equity data as an input, thus limiting their conclusions. Oxford University’s Saïd Business School modelling achieved significantly better fit versus financial data only models – they observed a 99.5% accuracy when Kantar BrandZ data was incorporated.

 

Brand equity was the missing link in making a robust model which consistently, successfully explains strong stock market performance. And within equity, the number one contributor to extraordinary financial returns was: ‘difference.’

 

Thus, to explore and explain the fundamentals of growth through the lens of breakthrough brands — and to understand what is different about these brands — we conducted an updated analysis of Kantar’s BrandZ equity database. The result is a formidable study of over a decade of data — more than four million consumer interviews, 19,250 brands in 522 categories and 51 markets — with the goal of quantifying the relevance of salience, meaning and difference. 

 

 

Who are the breakthrough brands, and who can be a breakthrough brand?

 

Do you need to be a tech player, redefine categories, or invent a new one to truly be seen as different in the eyes of consumers? Sure, that’s one way to do it. We all know the case studies: Shopee, Airbnb, Coupang, TikTok — they are breakthrough brands. But the good news is that it’s definitely not the only route. We observed that breakthrough brands exist across a multitude of categories.

 

Fundamentally, any brand can be a breakthrough growth brand if they infuse the DNA of a breakthrough brand throughout the organisation — old or new and regardless of category. Brands like Shiseido, KFC, Tata Consultancy, and Uniqlo are a few examples from across categories.

 

So where to now, for your brand? 

 

Now that we’ve established the importance of difference, it is time to show the world just how different your brand is. Most would default directly to generating higher salience and communications about how different they are. But don’t confuse salience or communications-led growth with brand value growth. Embrace the role non-comms roles such as product and service innovation, responsibility, and experience which also play in driving preference and margin through brand difference. The role of brand growth does not stop at the moment of being available. You must build a stronger distinctive and different connected brand experience before, during and after purchase. That is how breakthrough brands are built.