VERSION REPRO OP REPRO SUBS ART Annual 2019 PRODUCTION CLIENT Saturday 13 April 2019 An independent supplement distributed in the Guardian on behalf of The Centre for Brand Analysis (TCBA) Ltd, who take full responsibility for its contents. BLACK YELLOW MAGENTA CYAN 91SSL1901100.pgs 28.03.2019 17:11 VERSION REPRO OP REPRO How much is your SUBS personal data worth to you? ART PRODUCTION CLIENT Priceless £50,000 £100 £5 gift voucher Discover what’s really motivating UK Consumers: Worldpay Consumer Behaviour and Payments Report DOWNLOAD FOR FREE AT WORLDPAY.COM/CONSUMER BLACK YELLOW MAGENTA CYAN 91SSL1901101.pgs 14.03.2019 12:28 Promotional Feature VERSION REPRO OP REPRO About Superbrands 2019 SUBS Providing a snapshot of brand sentiment in the UK since council of 24 senior business-to-business marketing ART 1995, Superbrand status is awarded for quality, reliability and leaders and 2,500 UK business professionals, all with distinction by a combination of expert councils, and business purchasing or managerial responsibility within their businesses. executives or consumers voting on a comprehensive list of consumer and business-to-business brands. The rationale of two audiences voting on brands is simple. It ensures that any brand deemed a Superbrand is positively PRODUCTION A selection of the identified Superbrands are celebrated viewed both in terms of the output of its brand and in the Superbrands Annual, first published in 1995 and now marketing activity by the relevant experts evaluating brands in its 20th volume in the UK. The book explores the history, in this context, and how that activity and the overall brand development and achievements of some of the nation’s proposition lands and is perceived by prospective buyers. leading brands, showcasing why they are well-regarded and providing valuable insights into each brand’s strategy While all voters were asked to judge brands against the CLIENT and proposition. This supplement sits alongside the three core factors inherent in a Superbrand, namely quality, annual, providing a summary of these brands and reliability and distinction, as a sentiment survey brand exploring, through editorial features, some of the ways perception and voting by individuals is also naturally they have stayed ahead. The brand case studies are also influenced by a range of both short and long-term available to read in full on the UK Superbrands website. factors, providing a holistic picture of how brands are currently perceived. Unusually for an industry award, brands do not pay or apply to be considered a Superbrand, the reason being that in order to provide a broad review of the market and identify the strongest brands in each category, all the key players in each Contents sector need to be evaluated and voted on. p4 Research and Results Overview 2019 Just shy of 3,200 brands were scrutinised in this year’s surveys, almost evenly split between consumer and business-to-business brands. The former survey featured p6 Perfectly Balanced: 1,596 brands across 78 different categories, which ranged The Evolution of a Superbrand from ‘Automotive Products’ to ‘Vitamins and Supplements’. These brands were voted on by a nationally representative p14 The Brands 2019 sample of 2,500 UK adults, weighted to reflect the breadth of opinion across the whole country. As a secondary quality control mechanism, an objective and voluntary Consumer p22 Qualifying Consumer and Superbrands expert council also voted on these brands. Business Superbrands Any brands lowly rated by the experts are effectively vetoed from attaining Consumer Superbrand status. Meanwhile, 1,586 business-to-business brands across If you would like to find out more about 63 categories, covering everything from ‘Accountancy and Superbrands or order the book, please email Business Services’ to ‘Waste Management and Recycling’, [email protected], call 020 7079 3310 were assessed by an independent and voluntary expert or visit superbrands.uk.com. CHIEF EXECUTIVE, TCBA NEW BUSINESS DIRECTOR © The Centre for Brand Analysis Ltd & CHAIR, SUPERBRANDS UK Scott Thomson All rights reserved. Stephen Cheliotis EDITORIAL DIRECTOR No part of this publication may be reproduced DIRECTOR, SUPERBRANDS UK Angela Cooper or transmitted in any form by any means, Jessica Hall electronic, digital or mechanical, including scanning, DESIGN DIRECTOR photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system relating to all or part of the text, BRAND LIAISON DIRECTORS Verity Burgess Anna Hyde photographs, logotypes without first obtaining permission Daren Thomas PUBLISHED BY in writing from the publisher of the book together Rhiannon Harris The Centre for Brand Analysis (TCBA) Ltd with the copyright owners as featured. 5th Floor, Holden House BRAND LIAISON MANAGER 57 Rathbone Place Ashleigh Kelly London, W1T 1JU p03 BLACK YELLOW MAGENTA CYAN 91SSL1901102.pgs 28.03.2019 17:12 Superbrands 2019 VERSION Research and REPRO OP REPRO Results Overview 2019 SUBS surprise entry of Screwfix is genuinely a fundamental shift. are evident in this index, for example the rise of the discount ART STEPHEN This year the fast-growing multi-channel supplier of trade retailers Lidl and Aldi, and increasing concern about the rise tools, plumbing, electrical, bathrooms and kitchens broke of cancer reflected in the increasing relevance of the cancer CHELIOTIS out of its typical range in the mid-30s to mid-40s – in the charities. Conversely those brands toward the bottom of the previous four years it placed 40th, 34th, 45th and 44th – relevancy list may have troubled times ahead, many indeed Chief Executive, TCBA so it will be interesting to see if the brand falls back into having already suffered fundamental business problems, PRODUCTION & Chair, Superbrands UK that zone or maintains its new higher range. including retailers HMV, Carpetright, Oddbins, Mothercare and House of Fraser. Seventeen of the Consumer Superbrands top 20 have also The research process was managed by The Centre for Brand featured in the top 20 over the last five years more than As ever we hope you find the top line results interesting Analysis (TCBA) in partnership with Dynata, one of the world’s once, while 11 of this year’s top 20 were present in the and reflective of a broad church of opinion and nationwide leading data research companies. The 2019 research again previous year. Many of the ‘new entries’, as with the Business sentiment – undoubtedly, they will not match your own CLIENT sees some interesting trends emerge. For individual brands, Superbrands, simply placed towards the bottom end personal perceptions neatly, after all none of us is a perfect their ranking ‘range’ and, more importantly perhaps, of their longer-term range last year and have edged back match for the mythical ‘average consumer’. position within their category, will typically be determined up again to re-enter the leading pack. British Airways, by major factors such as awareness, physical and mental Dyson, Kellogg’s and Mercedes-Benz all returned after availability, market size and share as well as the customers’ a one-year break for instance. Consumer Superbrands Business Superbrands Top 10 Top 10 experience. Fundamental changes against these metrics tend to be slow and examples of brands deviating This overall consistency in the survey is reflective of how 1 LEGO Apple significantly from their ‘range’ tend to be less common. brand perception and positions do tend to shift slowly over 2 Apple Microsoft Large deviations can be a leading indicator of the start time. Reflecting this underlying consistency, as is typical every 3 Gillette Emirates of long-term brand decline or indeed growth. year, in the vast majority of cases the category leaders and 4 Rolex British Airways order of brands within categories remains fairly constant. 5 British Airways Samsung More commonly a brand’s ranking will move up and down Of the 63 B2B categories only 15 had new leaders while 6 Coca-Cola PayPal within its typical range, with these shifts often reflecting one new category was added. Similarly of the 78 consumer Andrex BP shorter-term factors such as current brand activity, from categories only 15 were topped by a different brand from 7 the latest marketing campaign to new product developments, last year, while there were three new categories. 8 Mastercard Mastercard the commentary around that brand from third-party observers 9 Visa Google and influencers – including positive and negative press In terms of the overall results the leading brand in both 10 Dyson Visa coverage – along with share of voice at the time of the Consumer Superbrands and Business Superbrands remains research and any external market or competitor activity. the same as 2018, headed by LEGO and Apple respectively. This is the second year running in which Apple has topped Consumer Gaining Losing While for brand owners the insight from the research stems the Business Superbrands rankings, having placed second NET Brands Relevancy Relevancy from exploring the short and longer-term data at a category in the previous three years. Fellow US tech titan, Microsoft, level, naturally individuals are often interested in the overall edged up one place to second in the rankings while Emirates 1 Amazon 73% 8% 65% winners or top 20. Turning our attention to the top 20s, also enhanced its position, by two places, to secure third spot. 2 Aldi 68% 13% 56% the results of both the Consumer and Business Superbrands In the Consumer Superbrands rankings, LEGO retained the Macmillan Cancer 3 66% 11% 55% surveys reflect a notable medium-term underlying consistency number one position for the second year in a row, having Support with leading brands tending to remain within their ranges, placed third in 2016 and second in 2017. Apple meanwhile 4 Netflix 65% 11% 53% notwithstanding some ‘within-range’ short-term variability. moved up one place to second, reversing positions with 5 Google 64% 12% 52% Gillette, which moved down one place to third.