Millward Brown and Ogilvy & Mather launch The Brand Cross-Cultural Index

WPP’s Millward Brown and Ogilvy & Mather released a syndicated tool for understanding a brand’s value across racial or ethnic segments. The Brand Cross-Cultural Index (BCCI) is a brand equity database, assesses and ranks brands based on their appeal to non-Hispanic White, Hispanic, Black and Asian consumers.

“With the U.S. Census predicting that 80 percent of growth over the next five years will be coming from ethnic consumers (Hispanics, Blacks and Asians), there are major implications for brands,” said David Burgos, vice president of Cultural Strategy, Millward Brown and co-author of the BCCI report. “Marketers eager to grow brands in this diverse and evolving marketplace are in need of tools to support their decision-making process, and the BCCI will help them pinpoint growth opportunities and understand revenue potential of dialing up various marketing levers within and across segments.”

“Since launching the Ogilvy Cross-Cultural Practice in 2011, brand value and the benefits of using the cross-cultural discipline for the total market approach have been top of mind with our clients,” said Jeffrey Bowman, senior partner, managing director, Ogilvy & Mather and co-author of the report. “Partnering with Millward Brown to bring this innovation to market now provides important data driven guidance. This new diagnostic tool can serve as a dashboard for how brands are connecting and building brand value within the new marketplace.”

Leveraging the BrandZ database and using Millward Brown’s Meaningfully Different brand equity framework, the BCCI provides two core solutions: a BCCI ranking that identifies brands best at nurturing a meaningful connection with consumers across segments; and Brand Power, a predictive model of a brand’s volume share based purely on perception, absent of activation factors.

Using an expanded ethnic sample, the tool assessed 58 brands in three industries: Quick Service Restaurants, or QSR, ($120 billion total value), Retail Banking ($165 billion), and Beer ($92 billion), with plans for additional categories in 2014.

Based on the assessment of the three categories, Millward Brown and Ogilvy & Mather identified that brands commanding market share do not necessarily have a uniform appeal across segments, with some of them failing to connect with ethnic consumers in a meaningful way. These brands are not only leaving money on the table today, but risk declining market share in the future.

Interesting findings revealed in the study include:

•     Room to grow. Brand Power of many brands, including Arby’s, Samuel Adams and PNC Bank, indicates room for growth with Hispanics, Blacks and Asians. Using the Selig Center’s expenditure data, the study estimates that Arby’s, for example, has the opportunity to grow revenue by as much as $334 million if the brand is able to create a meaningful connection with ethnic consumers. Takeaway: It is no longer a choice; brands must win the hearts and wallets of ethnic consumers to stay relevant and grow in the new marketplace.
•     Balance relevancy and reach. McDonald’s commands market share driven primarily by its strong salience among multicultural segments (Brand Power of 13.4 percent, followed by Subway at 7.4 percent). However, the Subway brand actually has the most meaningful connection with consumers across most segments, putting it first in the BCCI ranking. Takeaway: It is about both being in the right places and having the right products and messages.
•     Meaningfully different ideas work across cultural boundaries. Despite not doing much ethnically targeted marketing, equity measures for Panera and Yuengling are at the same level or even stronger among multicultural consumers, placing the brands in third and fifth places respectively in their BCCI rankings. Takeaway: Meaningfully different brand ideals that are founded in core human insights will deliver higher ROIs.
•     Cross-cultural marketing works both ways. Not surprisingly, brands of Hispanic origin like Corona and Modelo have their strongest Brand Power among Latinos (9.8 percent and 3.5 percent respectively). However, these brands enjoy high equities among other segments as well, which propels Corona to number two in the BCCI ranking among beer brands. Takeaway: Leading with ethnic insights can influence across many facets of culture and increase brand value.