The UK’s biggest brand movers: Product launches drive new purchases
Several of this month’s biggest winners on YouGov’s BrandIndex metrics launched new products – but will the sales boost be long-term?
Lipton Ice Tea appears to have played its cards right this spring as it ticks nine out of 13 boxes in the YouGov BrandIndex metrics to top the Biggest Brand Movers chart for May.
Biggest Brand Movers is a monthly analysis of brands across various YouGov BrandIndex metrics, which measure consumer perceptions on an ongoing basis. The rankings reflect the brands that have registered statistically significant upticks across the most metrics.
Lipton Ice Tea witnessed spikes in media metrics (word-of mouth exposure, buzz), brand health metrics (quality, value, impression, reputation, satisfaction and recommend) and the lower purchase funnel metric of current customer. The PepsiCo-owned brand released two caffeine-free products recently – Strawberry & Mint and Orange Blossom – but some of these spikes may be cyclical. The brand registered uplift across some metrics in spring of 2020, too.
Lola’s Cupcakes, which launched a special range of products to mark Eid festivities to accompany its usual Easter offerings, claims the second spot after registering significant gains in ad awareness, word-of-mouth exposure, buzz, impression, reputation, recommend and current customer.
Thatcher’s Gold comes up third after having witnessed gains in a range of metrics. The cider brand appears to have benefitted from a recent ad campaign in the UK, as well as the reopening of pubs, as it rose in ad awareness, word-of mouth exposure and buzz. The brand also witnessed an uptick in its impression scores in April.
Much like the previous month, brands from the bar and restaurant category continued to enjoy strong representation in the list as the UK’s lockdown regulations have loosened. Walkabout, Harry Ramsden’s and Costa Coffee claimed the fourth, fifth and seventh spots respectively, with each brand enjoying a significant uptick in buzz scores.
Aussie-themed pub chain Walkabout showed positive movement in almost all brand health metrics as it registered upticks in quality, impression, reputation, satisfaction and recommend. The brand’s ad awareness scores also rose. Fast-food chain Harry Ramsden’s witnessed a spike in word-of-mouth exposure and also did well in brand health metrics – namely quality, value, impression and recommend.
Costa Coffee, which offered customers beverages at 50p as part of a 50th birthday promotional campaign, grew in the media metrics of ad awareness and word-of-mouth exposure (but not buzz). The brand also ticked the satisfaction and current customer boxes.
Tesco Clubcard places sixth on the chart after having witnessed growth in many brand health metrics, including quality, value, impression and satisfaction. It also ticked the purchase funnel metric of consideration and the media metric of word-of-mouth exposure.
Energy firm E.On, which has recently introduced two tariffs to “help people become more sustainable”, registered gains in quality, value and impression. The brand also witnessed a spike in buzz and purchase intent scores.
Amid reports that it will launch more flights in May, EasyJet Holidays gained in value, impression and satisfaction metrics under brand health. The brand also tracked up in the purchase funnel metrics of purchase intent and current customer scores. Home appliance brand Leisure Cookers closed out the list with a stellar show in purchase funnel metrics, witnessing growth in consideration, purchase intent and current customer. The cookware brand’s impression and satisfaction scores also grew.
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The Marketing Week view
The obvious theme of Covid restrictions easing is once again apparent in the list of Biggest Brand Movers – as it was in the last edition – with Walkabout, Harry Ramsden’s and Costa Coffee among many pub, restaurant and cafe brands to benefit from allowing customers through their doors. But there’s another interesting common thread among three of the brands in the top 10 – new launches.
Top-placed Lipton Iced Tea, second-placed Lola’s Cupcakes and eighth-placed E.On all added to their product portfolios in the period. And, while they didn’t exactly roll out new products, it could be argued Costa and easyJet Holidays had big product news too – an anniversary price promotion and new flight availability, respectively.
All earned a boost in their lower-funnel metrics, with four out of five of these brands seeing increases in current customers according to YouGov’s data. E.On was the exception, but it did see an increase in purchase intent, which is almost as good given the long buying cycles in the energy market, where consumers are often locked into 12-month contracts.
What’s perhaps even more interesting is that, further up the funnel, not one of these five brands saw any increase in awareness or consideration, while three saw no uplift in purchase intent. So what does this show, and does it matter?
One possible interpretation is that consumers jumped straight to the bottom of the funnel in greater numbers and made purchases without thinking a great deal about it. All fine and dandy then? Maybe, but there’s also a chance these new launches have sparked a short-term growth in trial of these brands, but without laying groundwork for future sales growth.
New products, like promotions, have a habit of catching consumers’ attention, and through a neophilic impulse they often want to try them out. But the big question is whether this translates into an ongoing boost to profitable sales. For that to be the case, the product has to serve an unmet customer need, while the brand has to continue to invest in activity that builds awareness and consideration, continually bringing in new customers at the top of the funnel. It’s also worth pointing out that adding to your product lines tends to increase marketing costs.
That’s not to say this snapshot proves these five brands are going about things the wrong way – but it is something all companies should keep in mind before deciding a new product is the right move.
Methodology
Data for the Biggest Brand Movers in May compared statistically significant score increases across all BrandIndex metrics between March and April 2021. Brands are ranked based on the number of metrics that saw a statistically significant increase from month to month. Metrics considered are:
Media metrics
Awareness: Whether or not a consumer has ever heard of a brand
Ad awareness: Whether a consumer has seen or heard an advertisement for a brand in the past two weeks
Word of mouth: Whether a consumer has talked about a brand with family or friends in the past two weeks
Buzz: Whether a consumer has heard anything positive or negative about a brand in the past two weeks
Brand health metrics
Quality: Whether a consumer considers a brand to represent good or poor quality
Value: Whether a consumer considers a brand to represent good or poor value for money
Impression: Whether a consumer has a positive or negative impression of a brand
Reputation: Whether a consumer would be proud or embarrassed to work for a particular brand
Satisfaction: Whether a consumer is currently a satisfied or dissatisfied customer of a particular brand
Recommend: Whether a consumer would recommend a brand to a friend or colleague or not
Purchase funnel metrics
Consideration: Whether a consumer would consider a brand or not the next time they are in the market for a particular product
Purchase intent: Whether a consumer would be most likely or unlikely to purchase a specific product
Current customer: Whether a consumer has purchased a given product or not within in a specified period of time