Consumers wouldn’t care if 74% of the brands they use just disappeared, and 60% of content produced by brands is declared as poor, irrelevant or failing to deliver.
These findings form part of Havas Group’s biennial Meaningful Brands® study, which is packed full of useful information for communicators.
I’ve had a look and pulled out what I think you need to know.
This year’s top ten performing Meaningful Brands® are: Google, PayPal, WhatsApp, YouTube, Samsung, Mercedes Benz, Nivea, Microsoft, Ikea and Lego.
Over the past ten years the highest performing brands have been dominated by the tech sector.
This year the most meaningful brands ranking is dominated by the top internet brands – pushing brands like Samsung off the top spot from the 2015 ranking.
What is meant by meaningful?
A meaningful brand is defined by its impact on our personal and collective wellbeing, plus its functional benefits.
Brand performance was linked to quality of life and wellbeing by analysing 1500 global brands and 300,000 people in 33 countries across 15 different industry sectors.
It found Meaningful Brands® outperform the stock market by a staggering 206%. They also gain increases to their share of wallet by up to x9 and ensure up to 137% greater returns on KPIs.
The research found great content is a great driver of personal wellbeing and therefore meaningfulness.
The analysis delivers a stark wake-up call, revealing too much communication kills communication – it needs to be meaningful.
This year’s study also reveals new data tracking the relationship between a brand’s performance, its meaningfulness and the content it produces.
Content’s role is to educate, inform, entertain, inspire, reward and help.
Content effectiveness is defined by comparing the strength of brand association to different content types of content, plus the performance of content created by the brand. It’s the first analysis to measure content effectiveness at this scale.
What does it show?
The results show that content delivered by brands is underperforming to such an extent that it’s having little impact on business results or people’s lives.
Figures reveal 75% of us expect brands to make more of a contribution to our wellbeing and quality of life, yet only 40% believe brands are doing so.
Here’s how the index is created by Havas Group:
Maria Garrido, Global Chief Insights & Analytics Officer, Havas Media Group said: “For 2017, we’ve used the statistical might behind Meaningful Brands® to gain a better understanding of the role content has for the brand and the purpose it serves for people.
“Surprisingly, the data demonstrates an alarming ineffectiveness of existing brand content. Our expectations for the role or the types of content are simply not being met.”
Dominique Delport, global MD at Havas Media Group, talked about those findings on CNBC: “People just 
don’t care. Why? Because we have an overload of brand opportunity.
“So people can switch very easily. Too much communication kills communication. So you need to be meaningful for people.”
See the Meaningful Brands website to find out more if you’d like to read up about this topic.
What do you think of the results? You’re welcome to comment below or find me on Twitter @AllthingsIC.
Further reading on the All Things IC blog
Trust has imploded – here’s what you need to know
Get a reality check on fake news
The changing face of internal comms?
Key digital trends you need to know for 2017.
Want to learn more about communication? Sign up to an All Things IC Masterclass.
Thank you for stopping by,
Rachel.
Post author: Rachel Miller
First published on the All Things IC blog 5 February 2017.
