As consumers continue to rein in spending, brands have become a surrogate for value. The increasing importance of those brands, in a world overrun by commodities, has reached their highest level of consequence since the 1960s.
At least that’s how Robert Passikoff, the founder and president, Brand Keys, sees it. He came to the conclusion after delving into data from the New York-based consultancy’s 2010 Customer Loyalty Engagement Index. In January, Brand Keys polled 33,500 consumers of 518 brands in 71 industry categories. Brand Keys asked consumers detailed questions about how they relate to brands, both emotionally and rationally.
Passikoff said that although the economy didn’t improve much, consumers expect more for their money. That means they want a strong brand for a good price. “With increased standardization and decreased product differentiation,” he said, “a real brand can serve up the value consumers expect.”
One brand that hit the mark in that regard is Hyundai, which moved from the bottom third of the loyalty list to the very top this year thanks to its Assurance plan, which let consumers return their car if they lost their jobs. (Brand Keys found that one of the primary drivers of that consumer loyalty was the feeling Hyundai was the “right brand for me.” That paid off in a year when U.S. auto sales hit a 27-year low; with Hyundai among the few to report an increase of 8 percent.) On the other hand, Chrysler and General Motors, which received taxpayer bailouts in 2009, came in at the very bottom of the Brand Keys list at No. 18 and 19, respectively.
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