The best consumer and business brands in the UK are . . . ?

The Superbrands UK listing for 2015 has been revealed for both consumer and business brands. This is an annual ranking based on input from consumers and marketing experts. And the top 5 brands overall for B2C and B2B in 2015 are:

Targeting Consumers

1. British Airways
2. Rolex
3. BBC
4. Microsoft
5. Nike

Targeting Businesses

1. British Airways
2. Apple
3. Virgin Atlantic
4. Microsoft
5. Visa

As BBC News pointed out, Marks & Spencer is not in the top 20 overall listing of B2C brands, nor is Cadbury. Heinz and Sony aren't in the top 20 overall listing of B2C brands, either. And you won't find Marmite in the top 20 overall B2C brands. These brands have been highly ranked in some years but not this year.

It seems curious that Apple--a super-star brand with global recognition--is only #10 in the consumer listing, compared with Microsoft's #4 ranking on both B2C and B2B lists.

Four views of the top five UK brands in 2014

Superbrands UK says the top UK consumer brands in 2014 are:

1. British Airways
2. Rolex
3. Coca-Cola
4. BBC
5. Heinz

Brand-Finance says the top global brands of UK origin in 2014 are:

1. Vodafone
2. Shell
3. HSBC
4. Orange
5. Tesco

LinkedIn says the top five most influential UK brands among its members in 2014 are:

1. Financial Times
2. Ernst & Young
3. BP
4. Unilever
5. Hays

The Grocer says the top five grocery brands in 2014 are:

1. Coca-Cola
2. Warburtons
3. Walkers
4. Birds Eye
5. Cadbury Dairy Milk

Did you notice? The top five brands on these lists don't overlap at all, with the exception of Coca-Cola, which appears on both the Superbrands list and The Grocer list.

Marketing RHS and Its Flower Shows

The Royal Horticultural Society's mission is be 'the world’s leading gardening charity by inspiring passion and excellence in the science, art and practice of horticulture'. The four-part objective includes inspiring, involving, informing, and improving.

The annual Chelsea Flower Show is one highlight of the organisation's activities. This year's show includes gardens created with a World War I theme, to mark the 100th anniversary of the Great War. Tickets for the show are much in demand, and ongoing interest in gardening has helped garden centers and other related businesses. A recent Telegraph article serves as a shopping guide to the show, and coverage extends across print and broadcast and electronic media.

RHS markets itself to businesses that want to exhibit at garden shows by pointing to these statistics: 700,000 visitors, highly loyal (90% are repeat visitors). These are truly customers, because 82% buy something at the show. So for businesses that target gardeners or consumers with gardening aspirations, RHS has B2B marketing to show how its events can be an excellent match.

RHS marketing to consumers blends traditional and digital. Its FB page has 50,000+ fans and the Twitter account has nearly 60,000 followers. RHS has been on YouTube since 2012. Its Pinterest boards have more than 7,000 followers, and its Instagram account has more than 1,000 followers.

Dell's Distribution Strategy in India

Dell was founded in 1984 by Michael Dell, a college student who sold build-to-order PCs from his dormitory room. Three years later, the fast-growing company opened its first international division, in the United Kingdom.

Today, despite intense competition from tech leaders like Apple, Lenovo and Hewlett Packard, Dell has ambitious marketing plans for future growth in overseas markets like India.

The PC market in India showed some growth in 2013 but 2014 is not expected to be as strong. Dell is the second-largest PC marketer in India, with an estimated market share of 13.2%. The largest PC marketer, Hewlett Packard, has an estimated market share of 28.5%, more than double Dell's share.

To increase share and boost brand availability outside of major urban areas, Dell's distribution strategy in India relies on two key elements:

• Targeting consumers, the company is doubling the number of Dell-brand stores in small cities and villages. These smaller markets are where Dell expects growth to be strong in the coming years, because PC ownership is not as widespread as in major urban areas. In addition, Dell is assembling laptops to keep in inventory, so distribution centers can ship laptops to the stores very soon after customers place their orders. In the past, Dell's build-to-order process minimised inventory costs--now, customers will receive orders more quickly, which in turn should increase customer satisfaction.
• Targeting businesses, including partners, Dell is using a roadshow approach to bring its experts and products to major commercial centres like New Delhi and Mumbai. The objective is to increase support for channel partners, expand market coverage and demonstrate its ability to provide full solutions to commercial customers.