Innovate to survive: Why UK brands need to up their game
The 2020 BrandZ list of the UK’s most valuable brands came with a stark warning of impending doom, or at best irrelevance, for some of the country’s biggest names. But is such pessimism premature?
It seems that British companies are starting to lose their sparkle, certainly if Kantar BrandZ’s latest ranking of the UK’s most valuable brands is to be believed.
For so long a much-cherished rallying point of pride, this country’s reputation for innovation and creative thinking has taken a serious knock in recent years, a process hastened by the coronavirus onslaught.
The thought of a widening innovation gap between the UK and its overseas rivals will come as a nasty jolt to some in the marketing sector, but it has far graver repercussions for the pace of recovery and points to a potentially damaging loss of consumer confidence.
As the report accompanying the BrandZ list explains, innovation is a crucial value driver, which leads to greater trust and lays the building blocks for stronger equity.
“In our data we can see that the brands that are perceived to be the most innovative are the ones that are growing the fastest,” says BrandZ’s global head of research, Martin Guerrieria.
As he explains, that’s a process that goes beyond investing in research and development, and is as much about communicating, improving and changing customer perceptions. If you act differently as a brand, your consumer base will respond.
