2012brand passion report

CZECHS CHOOSE THEIR MOST PASSIONATE BRANDS IN THE NATION’S FIRST EVER

brand passion surveyThe results of the Czech Republic’s first ever

Brand Passion Survey were designed to identify

Czech consumers’ most passionate brands.

More than 1,000 respondents participated in a

nation-wide survey, commissioned by full service

communications agency Passion Communications.

forewordPassion is a very difficult emotion to control, understand and calculate yet that is precisely what we attempted to achieve in the first ever brand Passion report in the Czech Republic. The purpose of this endeavor was to fully understand what Passion means for the market and identify which brands people feel most passionate about. As with every study there were some results that were expected yet many of the brands that made it to the top of their category were definitely unexpected. However, when we further analyzed the reasons which led people to feel passionate about a brand, the winners clearly demonstrated excellence in virtually every parameter. The building blocks for igniting passion was exhibited by all of our top brands and we were able to clearly define them in the study.

When it comes down to making people feel passionate about a brand it is not very different from making a person feel passionate about you. To have someone feel passionate about you requires consistency over long periods of time, the novelty of youthful innovation to spark desire and giving the other person a strong sense of value. In relationships these are usually created with a long term commitment where each partner knows and trusts each other. Secondly, triggering passion by ‘innovating’ the relationship with romantic picnics, night out on the town or romantic vacations. The last piece to the passion puzzle is being able to truly value the times you are together because at some point the person we love will die and we are destined to follow. For brands it is very much the same in that people want to know that the product they purchased 10 years ago, last week and today is the same. They also want these brands to not rest on their laurels and demand innovation with new product lines or at the very least interesting communication. Finally, people must feel they are getting the best value for money. In conclusion, passion is something that must be developed over time but can be ignited with the right product and the right communication. For me the most interesting aspect of the study was that not only that we managed to define the building blocks of passion, the triggers that ignite them but more importantly, the ones that are in our personal lives as well.

Emil Jimenez, Passion Communications CEO

definition of passion

survey sections

methodology

Before unveiling the Czech Republic’s most passionate brands, we first need to explore the definition of Passion, and how companies currently look to trigger Passion in their consumers. The report did not set out to put a monetary value on consumer Passion, nor uncover the value of a passionate consumer over an apathetic consumer, however it did look at how Passion affects purchase intent.

In the qualitative component of the research, we asked respondents what Passion means to them in a brand context. Some of the more interesting responses included:

• “Passion is when I see something, I have to have it” • “Passion is a little mental orgasm. It gives me a zest for life” • “When I feel passionate about something, I feel like jumping and dancing and sharing it with others” • “Passion is a feeling of pleasure. The greater the pleasure, the more I crave it.”

This leads us to believe that, in the case of Czech consumers, brand Passion is something that either a) creates an emotional response, b) entices you to action, or c) is contagious

In Part 3 of the research, we take a look at Passion triggers, meaning what brands do to trigger a feeling of Passion in their consumers. These Passion triggers we define as Passion Points, which differ from Touch Points in the following way:

Touch Points: When a consumer comes into contact with a brand

Can be enriched by creating

Passion Points: When a brand elicits an emotional response from a consumer that fuels a craving to purchase

Traditional consumer Touch Points are automatic and mechanical and add little real commercial or brand value. Passion Points, on the other hand, are moments where a brand consciously seeks to elicit an emotional response from a consumer while at the same time fueling a craving to purchase. Passion Points are far more valuable for a marketer as they are linked to purchase intent, rather than simple impressions or ‘opportunities to see’.

Brendan Donnellan - Passion Communications Managing Director “Passion' is an interesting emotion. Most of our interactions with brands are mechanical and automatic - we see an ad, we try a product, but we don't really 'feel' anything for it, the classical Touch Point. However, every now and then a brand comes along and says something, or does something that makes you respond on an emotional level - surprise, joy, shock, amusement – and creates a purchase craving. These moments are called Passion Points - and this survey is designed to find out which brands are delivering Passion Points to consumers across the Czech Republic.”

The survey was divided into 3 main sections: Part one: Most Passionate Industries Part Two: Most Passionate brands Part Three: Passion Triggers

The research was conducted online during July 2012 using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. The 1,004 respondents were self declared “Brand Lovers” – meaning ‘people who claim to have a positive or very positive relationship with certain brands’. From this population there was F 65:35 M split and most respondents were of average income between the ages of 26 – 40, living in big cities and small towns.

industry sectors top brands by industry

1. Fashion 2. Food & Beverage 3. Cosmetics

Respondents were then asked to name their top three most passionate brands within each industry sector.

1.Fashion 2.F & b 3.cosmetics 4.electronics

orion

top 5 passionate brands

most passionate industry

1st place

2nd place

3rd place

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th

Fashion came out on top suggesting that Czech consumers are most concerned about personal appearance and what clothing and apparel says about them. Interestingly, Czechs identified sports labels as fashion brands, suggesting that they also appreciate clothing that makes them feel comfortable and has a functional benefit.

The Food & Beverage sector featured a high proportion of Czech origin brands, meaning that Czech consumers feel a sense of pride and familiarity in brands claiming to be ‘made in the Czech Republic’. Passion for foods and beverages also hints that Czechs feel an affinity to brands that they have grown up with and enjoyed over time.

The cosmetics industry made the top three ahead of consumer and electronics and the automotive industries thanks in part to the slight Female respondent bias. Regardless, the brands selected in the cosmetics industry are brands that most claimed they ‘could not live without’ and have become part of a daily ritual.

Conspicuous by their absence, no “super luxury” brand made the Top 45 list. We can surmise that this is due to the fact that Czech consumers are more practical than frivolous, preferring brands that a) have fostered trust over time and b) they use for practical purposes daily.

When we asked Czech consumers which industries contained the brands they were most passionate about and Fashion, Food & Beverage and Cosmetics were identified as Czech’s Top Three.

fashion1

agency insight

fashionfashion

# Fashion Brands Top 10

1 Adidas

2 Nike

3 H&M

4 C&A

5 Puma

6 New Yorker

7 Orsay

8 Alpine Pro

9 Takko

10 Baťa

Although Adidas is the No.1 in the category and Nike No 2 the winner between “real” fashion brands is H&M. It appears that the secret to H&M’s success is a high media expenditure in outdoor, an adapted global campaign, low price and well designed styles.

The other fashion brands in the top 10 are all very price competitive – especially Takko while HM, CA, New Yorker, Orsay, Takko and Bata are all considered to be “value for money” brands. Higher end brands are absent from the top 10 which shows that most Czech consumers are functionally oriented. They declare loving fashion but purchase the cost efficient solutions.

An interesting finding is that when it comes to the question “What is the brand you are most passionate about among all categories?” Nike performed better than Adidas yet within the category it was the other way around.

2food &

beverage

food & beverage food & beverage

agency insight

# Food Top 10

1 Coca-Cola

2 Kofola

3 Orion

4 Madeta

5 Nestlé

6 Danone

7 Opavia

8 Milka

9 Olma

10 Emco

When people think about Food & Beverage, whatcomes to mind is ‚sweet‘ and ‚dairy‘.

The top 3 brands have been established in the Czechmarket for a very long time and are highly visible.They invest considerably in media communication,have strong presence in retail, and show catchyadvertising.

Here, we can see a mix of Czech and ‚foreign‘brands. 5 out of the top 10 Food & Beverage brandswere long term established Czech brands – Kofola,Orion, Madeta, Opavia and Olma. Thesebrands have built trust over time and are an integralpart of a Czech consumer’s life. Special mentionmust be made to the relatively young Czech brandEmco with very nice success in just about 10 years.The imported winning are CocaCola, Nestle,Danone and Milka and it’s no surprise becausethese too spend heavily on media and have thereforebecome a part of people´s daily lives.

3cosmetics

agency insight

cosmetics cosmetics

Czech cosmetic brand Dermacol performed well ahead of the dominant international brands. Dermacol’s heavy investment in communication is probably the main explanation of its better score compared to Ryor which wasn´t ranked in the top 10. DM drogerie private label Balea also achieved a good result. This is the only private label brand within the two FMCG categories (Food and beverages, Cosmetics) which is present in the top 10 ranking.

# Cosmeticts Top 10

1 Nivea

2 Avon

3 Garnier

4 L’Oréal Paris

5 Oriflame

6 Dove

7 Dermacol

8 Vichy

9 Yves Rocher

10 Balea

consumerelectronics

4

consumer electronics consumer electronics

agency insight

Samsung comes a close No. 2 behind winner, Sony. In addition, Samsung was elected the No. 2 most passionate brand overall among all categories. This is not surprising due to the brands progress over the last years, with the Samsung Galaxy and a high number of other innovative products. Samsung scores much higher than Apple – 38% vs 8% on Passion Points. Apple’s handicap is most likely due to its high price which makes the brand unaffordable for most.

In the Consumer Electronics industry we can see a mix of established, even “traditional” brands such as Sony, Panasonic, Philips, Nokia, along with relative newcomers Samsung and LG.

The only appliances brand present in the top 10 is Whirlpool, which is a brand that has communicated consistently for the past 10 years, using highly creative executions.

# Consumer Electronics Top 10

1 Sony

2 Samsung

3 Panasonic

4 Philips

5 LG

6 Nokia

7 Apple

8 Hewlett Packard

9 Asus

10 Whirlpool

automotiVe

5

agency insightThe automotive ranking is slightly peculiar. While it is expected that Skoda ranks number 1 in passion, the scores do not reflect market share. Skoda’s market share is only about 30%, significantly lower than its ‚passion‘ index. On the contrary, Hyundai scores only 10th position in the passion index, despite being number 2 in terms of sales in the Czech Republic. Skoda is clearly seen as a brand of national pride, hence the figures.

BMW, Audi and Mercedes all did very well in the passion index despite the fact that their market share is comparatively lower. This is likely due to well developed ATL communications and a reputation for quality. All three brands are seen as aspirational though not necessarily unobtainable, perhaps explaining why we don’t see any super luxury vehicle brands in the ranking.

French brands Citroen, Peugoet and Renault seem to be well established in Czech clients‘ minds.

# Automotive Top 10

1 Škoda Auto

2 Audi

3 BMW

4 Volkswagen

5 Ford

6 Mercedes

7 Peugot

8 Renault

9 Opel

10 Citroën, Hyundai

automotive automotive

telecommunications

6

telecommunications telecommunications

agency insightVodafone beat off stiff competition from T-Mobile and Telefonica O2 to claim top spot in the telecommunications sector. No 3 for O2 is a good performance for a company which is sometimes accused of being too dominant. Nokia was ranked higher than Samsung most likely due to its longer history; this is a similar situation as with Hyundai in the car category. People stay loyal to their brands even when they are facing problems.

People first mentioned mobile operators and then producers. This is probably due to operators’ high media investment and retail presence. Just like the Consumer electronics category, Apple does not seem to be a “love brand” to most Czech consumers.

# TelekomunikationsTop 10

1 Vodafone

2 T - Mobile

3 Telefónica O2

4 Nokia

5 Samsung

6 Sony Ericsson

7 Apple

8 Sony

9 HTC

10 LG

internet, media & entertainment

7

internet, media & entertaiment internet, media & entertaiment

agency insight

Facebook came a distant third place after Google and local seznam.cz in the Internet, Media and Entertainment sector. Again, Czech provenance and daily ritual helped seznam.cz stave off the world’s largest social network. Four Czech brands are present in the top 10. This suggests that the entertainment sectors needs to be closer to regular people’s daily lives.

Google’s victory is a reward for the company’s recent efforts of growth in the Czech market and challenging Seznam. Its highly emotive mass media campaign most likely strongly contributed to its high “Passion” score.

# Internet &Media Top 10

1 Google

2 Seznam.cz

3 Facebook

4 YouTube

5 iDNES.cz, MF Dnes

6 O2

7 T-mobile

8 TV Nova

9 Mozilla Firefox

10 Prima, Prima Cool

banking & finance

8

$

# Banking &Finance Top 10

1 Česká spořitelna

2 Komerční banka

3 mBank

4 ČSOB

5 Era Poštovní spořitelna

6 Air Bank

7 Fio banka

8 GE Money Bank

9 Zuno

10 Raiffeisenbank

banking & finance banking & finance

The financial services sector results are remarkable for the high score of the newcomers. The top 3 biggest banks, ČS, KB and ČSOB took the 1st, 2nd and 4th positions but mBank - at the 3rd position - is definitely a big success for an internet bank which launched its activities in the Czech market less than 5 years ago. Its last campaign, based on consumer insights, seems to be a good example of how to get Czech consumers liking.

Era Poštovní Spořitelna 5th position is also a good result for a rejuvenated brand. The most recent banks, Air Bank (6th), Fio (7th) and Zuno (11th) made strong showings and their marcoms may be an inspiration even for the biggest banks.

agency insight

part two top 45 most passionate brands

Next we asked respondents what their No. 1 most passionate brand is, regardless of industry.

The Czech Republic’s #1 most passionate brand according to respondents is Nivea, with 21% of respondents listing the brand as either their favorite, or one of their favorite, brands. In qualitative research, many of the top reasons cited for this include the fact that the use of Nivea was part of their daily ritual, the products are high quality, reasonably priced, and the brand has built trust over time.

Nike came 2nd with 19% of people citing it as one of their most passionate brands. Consumers were most passionate about Nike because of the perception of guaranteed quality. Many cited that Nike makes them feel like engaging in an active lifestyle and that the brand is worn by inspirational figures.

Adidas comes a close 3rd with 18% of the votes. Again, respondents cited quality as a leading brand Passion trigger. Adidas also scored highly in the fashion index, meaning that people perceive the brand as a fashionable and relevant to them.

Consumer electronics giant Samsung came in 4th with 16% of the votes. Samsung’s simple design, good price and long-lasting performance resonated well with respondents. Samsung was also praised for its commitment to delivering consumer innovations – the right product at the right time.

Škoda Auto came 5th with 15% of respondents listing it as one of their most passionate brands. As you would expect, Škoda is seen as a point of national pride, a symbol of Czech engineering. Respondents cited the fact that Škoda is often the brand of their first car, a ‘rite of passage’, and is both dependable and well-priced.

# Top 45 Passionate Brands

1 Nivea

2 Nike

3 Adidas

4 Samsung

5 Škoda Auto

6 Sony

7 Avon

8 Nokia

9 Panasonic

10 H&M

11 C&A

12 Garnier

13 Vodafone

14 L’Oréal Paris

15 T-mobile

16 Audi

17 Coca-Cola

18 Puma

19 BMW

20 Oriflame

21 Google

22 LG

23 Telefónica O2

24 Philips

25 Kofola

26 New Yorker

27 Volkswagen

28 Orion

29 Madeta

30 Nestlé

31 Dove

32 Orsay

33 Seznam.cz

34 Ford

35 Apple

36 Danone

37 Opavia

38 Česká spořitelna

39 Dermacol

40 Milka

41 Olma

42 Vichy

43 Emco

44 Mercedes

45 Alpine Pro

#1 most passionate brand in the czech republic

part three best ever brand moments

Some things that brands say or do trigger passion in consumers. We

have seen that this Passion is contagious and spreads to those

around the consumer. When asked exactly

what activities brands do to trigger this

Passion, respondents replied:

brand triggers Finally, we asked people to recall theirbest ever brand experiences. The responses are grouped into the following Top 5 experiences.

# I feel Passionate about brands... TOP 14

1 Quality

2 Interesting and engaging commercials

3 Good price or discounts

4 Good experience, recommendation and prior satisfaction

5 Innovative, original, unique or new products

6 Design, style and appearance

7 Like ability

8 Rewards, brand contests, benefits and loyalty programs

9 Functionality, practicality and dependability

10 Marketing and PR – promo events, customer activation

11 Service, communication and opened and friendly approach

12 Charity, sponsoring and ecology

13 Entertainment

14 Tradition, well-known brand, Czechness and local products

# My best ever brand experience was when... (TOP 5)

1 I saw some fun brand advertising

2 I received some discounts, gifts, loyalty benefits

3 I was infected by the passion and acclaim of other people

4 The product proved its quality and dependability over time

5 The first time I tried a particular product

verbatims verbatims

• Adidas – my first pair of trainers that I bought for my first salary. I had them for 8 years. Quality and stylish shoes.

• When I first passed my fingers over the Apple logo on my first Macbook...

• How we drove our first born son in our Škoda

• Škoda – first car of my life. Since then I am loyal to the brand, just renewing the models.

• When I opened the roof of Volkswagen cabriolet and rode under the sunbeams.

• When Danone first started selling yoghurts in CZ, an unforgettable taste.

• Muller – cherry-banana milk. After an exhausting day I grabbed this product at a local shop and its taste brought me back to childhood and liberated me from the reality.

• Johnnie Walker... beautiful advertisement in the 90‘s. It made me so passionate about the brand I started buying it even though I didn‘t even like whisky.

• When I first watched colour TV and video from Sony in 1985.

• When I saw my favorite brand Nivea first at my grandmother‘s and then at my boyfriend‘s.

most memorable brand sion points

conclusions conclusions

In most of the cases, the Passion winners are also the market leaders. The list of the categories Passion winners demonstrates this clearly: they are Adidas, Coca Cola, Nivea, Sony, Škoda, Vodafone, Google, Česká spořitelna. All these brands convey a strong image and an emotional bond.

Conclusion: Yes, people are still more likely to buy brands they love and they feel some Passion for than brands with a lower emotional connection.

All the category winners have strong communication concepts and activities.

Conclusion: Knowing that the direct link between creativity and efficiency is often hard to establish, we can conclude that it exists, and that creativity generates business. Just functional benefits are not enough to build a success.

Respondents declare spontaneously that they like advertising and that advertising strongly influences their opinions – it is even the No.1 trigger.

Conclusion: It may be surprising, but consumers are still looking for creative, funny and entertaining advertising.

Learning 1

Learning 2

Learning 3

Learning 7

Learning 6

Learning 5

Learning 4 Luxury brands are absent from the research. Most of the winning brands are mass market, price affordable.

Conclusion: “Passion” for the Czech consumers is more connected to reliability, long-term experience and affordability than to excitement and other extraordinary feelings or dreams. Czech are mostly passionate about what they can afford.

Most of the winners are long-term established brands.

Conclusion: As with pop music stars, Czechs seem to be quite loyal to their favorite brands, even when they are currently losing market position.

Several newcomers got a very good ranking.

Conclusion: Czechs are also open to newcomers, when those arrive with a good and innovative strategy. In the banking sector, the recently established brands as mBank or Air Bank got 5 places within the top ten. Also, the relatively young Czech companies Emco and Alpine Pro got very good scores.

We can see in two cases, that the global leader overcame the local leader. Coca Cola scored better than its local rival Kofola and Google has reached consumers hearts more than Seznam.

Conclusion: It seems that proximity, Czechness and tradition are not the key to absolute success and local brands have to keep an eye on foreign competitors.

Emil Jimenez, CEO Passion Communicationsemil@passioncomm.com

Brendan Donnellan, MD Passion Communicationsbrendan@passioncomm.com

communications

contactsFor more information, or to book in your brand passion consultation, contact: