Top UK consumer brands of 2017

SuperBrands has released its list of the top consumer brands for this year, as determined by UK consumers.

Here are the top 5, along with a bit of news about each of these leading consumer brands.

5. Gillette - Gillette is facing competition from UK newcomer Harry's, which offers a subscription-based alternative to buying razor blades at retail. Backed by Procter & Gamble, Gillete's traditional strengths are positive brand recognition and product innovation.

4. Andrex - The well-known toilet-tissue brand is celebrating its 75th anniversary with nostalgia-laden marketing. Andrex enjoys high market share and has slightly shrunk its rolls to cut costs and fund product investments.

3. Rolex - Reinforcing its brand's luxury positioning, Rolex sponsors special events like the Rolex Fastnet yacht race and the Rolex Grand Prix at CHIO Aachen showjumping competition. These special events keep the brand top-of-mind in the target market.

2. LEGO - The recent Bricklive special event in Belfast offered LEGO fans the opportunity to build and to watch others build creatively. More than 10,000 brand fans showed up, some to build and many to enjoy seeing the process and the finished results--reinforcing loyalty and engaging fans.

1. British Airways - As part of a trend toward entertaining passengers (and the public), BA recently released a funny safety video starring celebs like Gordon Ramsay, 'Mister Bean' (Rowan Atkinson) and Gillian Anderson. The airline's CEO says he wants passengers to watch the safety video from start to finish. It's also a positive branding association.

The art and science of marketing

art or science?

Of course marketing is a bit of both. But how much art and how much science?

The CMO of an Australian software firm believes that marketing today is 70% science, 30% art. His point: Every business should be using science (sophisticated analyses, big data, etc) to support decisions about marketing. At the same time, the creativity of art is key to developing marketing that touches hearts and minds.

Science is vital for targeting, in particular. A Google marketing exec points to the quest for 'right place, right time, right message' and how science can inform decisions about place and time. Yet art is needed for marketing that creates 'brand magic', in his words.

The CMO of an auto insurance firm observes that many marketers 'are so proud of their art but they don't know their science'. This firm is serious about the science of marketing, doing media buying in-house for tight control over targeting and timing. Still, given the intense competition in the insurance business, this CMO looks to art for the edge: 'We're not going to out-pend anybody. We're going to out-create them'.

Creativity is necessary to achieve breakthrough marketing campaigns that are memorable and drive results. And sometimes, as one agency exec notes, marketers have to take a chance and use intuition even when 'we know measurement is thin'. 

The bottom line is, in reality, the bottom line--science (metrics and KPIs, for instance) can tell us how well the marketing is working. Creativity in marketing, the art, must have a purpose. Through science (planning, testing and evaluating) we can determine how well the art delivered on the marketing objectives. Art and science in marketing!

Boaty McBoatface sails into marketing history - as a brand license?

The votes are in and "Name of Vessel" is not going to be the name of this new polar research vessel.

The Natural Environment Research Council asked members of the public to suggest names for its new vessel, which will debut in 2019. It received a flood of suggestions--7,000 names--and the one that received the most votes was, yes, Boaty McBoatface.

Boaty was suggested by James Hand, once a BBC radio presenter. Whether the NERC will actually select Boaty as the name is in doubt, despite the 124,000 votes it received.

Crowdsourcing is often cited as a great way to increase customer engagement with a brand, product or company. And it has been used successfully by Walkers, for instance, during the popular 'Do us a flavour' promotions to choose the next new snack flavour. LEGO also likes crowdsourcing.

Will the NERC agree with the public vote and name its new vessel Boaty McBoatface? Maybe yes, maybe no. Either way, the new vessel will be in the public eye when it debuts.

My idea is to license Boaty McBoatface to a toy manufacturer. If Thomas the Tank Engine can be a big success, so can Boaty McBoatface the polar vessel. Wouldn't Boaty be a brilliant brand?

Boaty McBoatface is sailing into marketing history, in the 'crowdsource' chapter.