The Factors Driving Global Brands

Today's global consumers connect with brand franchises that symbolize trust, offer a specific expertise and group products logically, according to a study released this week by ACNielsen.

'Expertise, Trust, and Logically related categories are the three key attributes driving the creation of Global Mega Brand Franchises,' noted Jane Perrin, Managing Director of Global Services, and the sponsor of the study Global Mega Brand Franchises - Extending Brands Within a Global Marketplace. 'Leveraging some or all of these attributes is a distinct advantage when trying to extend a brand beyond a core product category or home geography.'

ACNielsen's findings are based on an examination of more than 200 brands from more than 50 manufacturers across 50 countries in the fast moving consumer goods industry. The study highlights the 62 brands that meet ACNielsen's criteria in identifying Global Mega Brand Franchises.

Manufacturers in the Personal Care & Cosmetics area seemed particularly adept at building Global Mega Brand Franchises. In fact, more than half of the 62 Brands highlighted in the study were related to Personal Care & Cosmetics. Beiersdorf's Nivea, for example, leverages its expertise in skin care across 19 product categories, ranging from skin moisturizers and tanning lotions to hair cleaning and shaving gel products. Further examples include Johnson & Johnson, Colgate-Palmolive and L'Oréal, who utilize their highly trusted corporate names to extend multiple brands across multiple product categories throughout the world. In fact more than 22 of the 62 brands found on the entire list utilize the corporate name in their brand offerings. Others, like Gillette's Oral B utilize logical product groupings - toothpaste, toothbrush, dental floss, and mouthwash - to build a powerful global mega brand franchise in the minds of consumers.

In the Food, Beverage and Confectionery arena, ACNielsen named 23 brands as Global Mega Brand Franchises. Of these, the Nestlé brand was found in the most categories (17). Nestlé also takes advantage of consumers' trust in the corporate name, extending into such product categories as Breakfast Cereals, Baking/Cooking Aids, Chocolate and Water.

Some manufacturers have established a specific expertise that allows them to extend their brand name across multiple product areas. Novartis' Gerber, for example, capitalizes on its expertise in babies, allowing the brand name to be extended across Personal Care, Food, Beverages & Cosmetics as well as Health Care and even into life insurance for young children.

In the study, ACNielsen defines Global Mega Brand Franchises as brands that are:

• Available in at least 15 of the 50 countries studied (representing 95% of the world's GDP)
  
• Marketed with the same name in at least three categories in three or more geographical regions
  
• Primarily sold in grocery, mass merchandise and pharmacy outlets (ACNielsen's primary global coverage).

'It should be noted that brands can be extremely successful globally without being a mega brand franchise,' concluded Perrin. 'While some marketers may argue that brand extension is the logical outcome for any successful brand, some of the best known brands in the world have become so by being singularly focused on a particular category. Coca-Cola and Marlboro, the top two brands identified within our recent Reaching the Billion Dollar Mark study, are both successfully focused primarily within one product category. It is an interesting marketing debate and one that will evolve over the next decade as manufacturers continue to expand their product lines across both categories and countries.'

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.

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