Influence. Brands crave it, but who are the real influential brands?
On February 4, Ipsos, The Globe and Mail Media Group, ACA, Publicis and the CMDC presented the 2019 Ipsos Most Influential Brands in Canada study for some of Canada’s top brand marketers. Over 100 brands were evaluated in the study, which examined multiple dimensions to determine the top brands in Canada. Google led the pack in the top spot, with Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft and Apple rounding out the top five.
While Steve Levy (Ipsos Canada) says brand influence can be difficult to build, he named the five dimensions driving influence (but stressed it’s different for each brand).
1. Engagement
2. Trustworthy
3. Leading edge
4. Presence
5. Corporate citizenship
Attendees also heard about brand marketing trends in sessions moderated by The Globe and Mail. Mary DePaoli EVP and Chief Marketing Officer (RBC), in conversation with Sean Stanleigh, Head of the Globe Content Studio, named reputational risk as one of the biggest challenges facing brands and pointed out that having a strong and lived brand purpose can help make decisions that mitigate this risk.
The second session of the day was a fireside chat between Mike Giepert, Executive Creative Director of Wealthsimple and Skip the Dishes CEO Kevin Edwards, and was moderated by Susan Krashinsky Robertson, Retail Reporter at The Globe and Mail. With the focus of the conversation on how brands are keeping up in the age of change, both Mike and Kevin’s discussion stressed the importance of being able to react quickly to brand opportunities when they arise.
Mike Giepert mentioned that when Wealthsimple was launching a new product, their team made the strategic decision to not spend money on a new campaign. Instead, they gamified sharing the product on social. This choice led to 100,000 downloads prior to the product’s release.
Key Takeaways
- Influential brands are worth much more
- Brands that provide assistance have an edge
- Listen to customers and encourage authentic dialogue
- Privacy is taking a back seat to convenience
- Everyone seems to be competing with everyone; it’s a more complex landscape
- To be very influential you need to generate generational harmony where multiple generations find value in your product or service
- Never forget the context in which brands live
