Interbrand has just launched its 17th annual Best Global Brands. As it has been a pivotal year for luxury brands, we feature the expert view from Rebecca Robins, Global Director at Interbrand and co-author of the FT acclaimed book Meta-luxury. Rebecca’s luxury report, featured in Harper’s Bazaar, looks at the ongoing change within the industry. We share an extract of her luxury review here:
“Over the past 15 years of the Best Global Brands list, the brand value amassed by luxury businesses has grown from USD $25.8 billion in 2000 to USD $143.7 billion in 2015.For well over a decade, luxury brands have been ascendant. They were hailed as haloed protectorates of double-digit growth. They reinvented relevance, as per Burberry, the first British luxury brand to become a Best Global Brand in 2006. And, when the economic crisis hit, luxury brands were the most resilient in weathering the storm.
However, 2016 is the year that marks the luxury reset – a reset first signalled by recent dips in brand values that is now showing up via a cascade of marked declines. And yet, against the slow landslide in value, certain brands have quietly been asserting sustainable growth.
So, what are these brands doing differently?
- They make decisions around extension and expansion, based on the long-term protection of the brand and health of the business. This is in sharp contrast to many brands that have fallen foul by chasing the immediate gratification of fast profits at the expense of sustainable growth initiatives, leading to brand dilution and value erosion in the long term.
- Sustainable growth has deeper resonance in the wider context of sustainability. We are in a constant reevaluation of what we value and why. The sweet spot is where integrity of product meets integrity of brand experience.
- Luxury brands have always set the standard. The challenge now is to translate their stories of excellence within a knowledge and experience economy that craves experience as much as the product itself. And that raises challenging questions about the role of every micro and macro brand touchpoint. It also has radical implications for the role of flagship retail, of the runway to retail model, of managing rarity, and of levels of access and service.
As luxury businesses continue to work through the reset and evolve their growth strategies, a single quest remains constant. Everything begins and ends with driving brand value.”
Want to know more? Read Rebecca Robins’ full article at Harper’s Bazaar or contact us at [email protected].
A few weeks ago, I was asked to take part in a debate with the Guardian on ‘The Sports Industry and Sustainability’. Joined by a panel of experts including Tania Braga, Head of Sustainability, Organising Committee for the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games and Russell Seymour, founder of the British Association for Sustainability in Sports, I was asked to provide a point of view from the standpoint of rights holders, sponsors and fans.
At Fuse, OMD’s Partnerships and Experiences agency, we know the power sport has to inspire, motivate and engage fans. It’s why we believe in the power of sponsorship to drive brand love, increase consideration and influence purchase decision-making. But what about harnessing the influence sport, clubs and teams have over their fans to drive environmental behaviour change? Can a football club really get their supporters to switch to a green energy supplier or to take up recycling?
An example from one of our clients that have done just that is PepsiCo in the US. Leveraging their NBA sponsorship of Miami Heat team, PepsiCo set up recycling machines that incentivise and reward fans who use them with discount vouchers for merchandise in the stadium. It’s a really great example of how a sponsor and big FMCG brand can engage sports fans, enhancing their experience at a venue whilst encouraging recycling and, importantly, driving a change in behaviour.
Nissan also used a sporting event, the UCL final last year, to promote their fully Electric Vehicle (EV). We didn’t lead with environmental messaging, but instead showcased the performance and convenience of using an EV in a modern city like Berlin. We leveraged the passion of football fans and the sponsorship platform that the Champions League provides to show fans how their physical kinetic energy could be converted into energy that fuelled the Nissan Leaf EV.
There’s a real role sport can play in making environmental and sustainability issues relevant to the everyday consumer. There’s also a massive challenge for the sustainability industry that isn’t used to talking the language of sports fans. That’s the role rights holders, sponsors and marketers can play in the sports industry/ sustainability discussion – making sustainability cool, relevant and part of what is already a consumer passion to drive effective and positive social change.
Read more about the live debate or the summary article on six ways to tackle sport’s waste problem. Any questions or want more information, do get in touch with Rachael Smith, our Purpose Director.