Best Global Brands 2013 Table of Contents JEZ GINNI The New Rules of Brand From Information to Intelligence Leadership is evolving. Leadership 82 2 It must now be shared. Sector Leadership Best Global Brands 2013 86 CEOs, CMOs, and consumers 10 all have the power to Methodology BISH Creative Leadership 120 drive brand value. 70 Contributors China’s New Brand Leaders 126 Brands are where business 74 strategy meets reality. Corporate Citizenship 2.0 78 MARK CHIEKO The New Rules of Brand Leadership By Jez Frampton In our globalized, hyperconnected age, one question persists in boardrooms, corner offices, business schools, and conferences all over the world: What is leadership and how has it changed in the 21st century? Driven by rapid technological advancement, the digitization of nearly everything, and the ever more THE NEW RULES OF BRAND LEADERSHIP intricate interdependencies of the global market, the business landscape has transformed over the past two decades. Operating in a bewildering new environment in which little is certain, the pace is quicker and the dynamics more complex. Those who lead today’s brands can no longer rely on once immutable truths or principles of leadership hon- ored in times past. It is a new world. And as purchasing increasingly shifts from a physical experience to a virtual one and transaction-based interactions between brands and consumers shift to relationship-based interac- tions, new skills and sensibilities are needed. Lead- ership roles are converging, traditional structures are crumbling, the consumer’s voice carries more weight than ever, and less tangible strengths like emotional intelligence and psychological insight are just as key to leading a brand today as the ability to generate high ROI and increased shareholder value. Best Global Brands 2013 You can’t control the it’s a subtle refinement or a category conversation—so join it breakthrough, the important thing to Today’s leaders face extraordinary remember about innovation is that In the brave new world of social media, when it hits the mark, it’s because a new challenges and must learn to think your brand is increasingly being shaped company has satisfied an unmet need. by consumer opinion and demand—and is decreasingly under your control. As Another thing to remember about inno- differently about their role and how many brands discovered (the hard way), vation is that just because you’ve been something as seemingly insignificant as successful at something historically to fulfill it. Those who do may have an ill-timed tweet can stir up a firestorm doesn’t mean you have to do it forever. of negative publicity. While keeping To be truly innovative, you sometimes communication to a minimum might have to be willing to disrupt yourself. an opportunity to change the world seem the best way to avoid trouble Amazon excels at this. The online behe- online, sitting out of the conversation moth disrupted book publishing, shook may be more risky. up all of retail and later the market it THE NEW RULES OF BRAND LEADERSHIP in ways their predecessors never had come to dominate—books—by creat- If you’re not doing what you say you’re ing the Kindle. doing or a mishap occurs, consumers are imagined. eventually going to find out. But being exposed doesn’t have to be a PR disaster— Lead through design it can be an opportunity to open your doors, clear the air, and forge a deeper connection. Design-savvy brands appreciate the value As such, some brand leaders, under- it. What story will unlock your employees’ Consumers can become valuable allies if of aesthetics and realize that consumers LEAD standably, feel overwhelmed or worry potential or move consumers to identify brands address concerns—whether it’s are just as drawn by a product’s visual that they don’t know everything they with your brand and accept your offer about labor practices, product ingredi- appeal and functional elegance as they need to know to stay on top. All are grap- enthusiastically? ents, or a controversial ad—instead of are by its specs and capabilities. Apple pling with today’s volatile environment dodging issues or attempting to spin re-educated people on the importance in different ways, but all are looking to Look at the marketplace and try to under- them. By opening up a space for real of design. As a result, consumers in- understand the landscape and master stand how it is changing. Peek beyond the dialogue and actually listening to con- creasingly judge the quality of products whatever skills are needed to excel and, visible horizon and imagine where the sumers, you can learn more about what on the basis of appearance—the design, more importantly, to connect and co- world might be, not just next quarter, but people really want, crowdsource ideas or packaging, and interface. In the auto create with consumers in today’s more 5, 10, or 20 years from now. Also, consider gather insights that could help improve industry, research has revealed that collaborative marketplace. To shed light surveying employees and consumers— products and user experience. while consumers traditionally assessed on the leadership challenge before us— their feedback might help you shape a brand’s level of innovation on the basis and the evolving nature of leadership a vision that is timely, relevant, and of technology like GPS systems, they itself—we have identified a few areas speaks powerfully to a collective need. Don’t wait—innovate now take cues about innovation from where brands must pay particular atten- exterior styling as smart features have tion in order to lead effectively in these In recent years, many companies have While some brands stay focused on re- become standard across the industry. tumultuous and exciting times. been so focused on survival that they fining their products and moving tech- neglected to consider what their brands nology forward that is relevant to their Simply put, design matters, and today’s mean—or could mean—to people. Locked industry, other brands take things fur- brands are increasingly aware that con- Imagine and advance a vision in austerity mode, they’ve been hunker- ther. Google, for example, has engineers sumers want products to be “pretty” and ing down, reducing costs, increasing and developers at its extreme innovation well-designed. It’s not a huge leap to Leadership only exists in the eye of the margins, and expecting low growth. But lab, Google[x], working on futuristic then assume that aesthetics and superior beholder—the follower. People purchase, if brands really want to harness the power technologies such as its self-driving car functionality will soon be demanded pursue employment with, and recom- and potential of markets, big visions and Project Loon, an internet service in all categories. Similarly, brands mend brands they believe in, so if you have to come back into the game. via balloons in the stratosphere. There themselves will have to evolve their want brand fans, loyalists, and ambassa- is plenty of room for wild ideas and look and feel—from updated logos and dors, you must have a vision of the future fresh approaches—especially those that richer websites to retail spaces that that inspires—and you must communicate just might work. However, whether are not only stylish, but also stream- 4 Best Global Brands 2013 line the shopping ex perience through and information that shed light on the only way to avoid confusion and your brand and your company’s special- technology. Dazzling consumers, dif- what customers want. improve efficiency—which explains why ized skills to solve them? What role can ferentiating your brand, strengthening companies that operate as a collection consumers play? your image, and nurturing a culture of The catch is that nearly every major brand of silos tend to underperform. innovation—design makes it all possible. is collecting structural data, which attempts to paint a picture of consumers Whether collaborating across silos in your We are all leaders based on transactional behavior. This own organization, partnering with other Invest in people can tell companies where people spend organizations or NGOs, or co-creating Long before the advent of the internet, their money, but it doesn’t reveal a whole with consumers—it is crucial for brands in another tumultuous time in history, There’s an old proverb that says: “If lot about what they think and feel, or to get collaboration right. As the way Martin Luther King Jr. spoke eloquently you are planning for one year, plant why they really buy what they buy. we work continues to change, this fun- of the “inescapable networks of mutu- rice. If you are planning for 10 years, da mentally social activity, founded on ality” and reminded us that we are all, plant trees. If you are planning for 100 Going forward, the big challenge will be generosity and openness, will be the regardless of our position, “tied together years, plant people.” If you’re going to parsing through unstructured data. This glue that binds disparate people and in a single garment of destiny.” Consum- stay ahead, you’ve got to have the best will involve combing social media data keeps things running smoothly. ers and brands, too, are now connected in THE NEW RULES OF BRAND LEADERSHIP people—and you’ve got to know how to for deeper insights about customer pref- unprecedented ways. retain them. To attract talent, partic- erences—how wide their social groups ularly Millennials, you’ve got to know are, what their interests are, what colors Make CSR strategic—and make In a very real sense, brands and consum- what they’re looking for and how they they prefer, and so forth.