Brand Building & Growth

Definition

Growth is an ingrained part of business – if you are not growing you are dying. However, market share growth is exceedingly difficult. Markets are more competitive than ever and marketers must work very hard (and spend a lot of money) for their brands to merely retain their market share.

Brand competition and growth is largely about building two market-based assets: Mental and Physical Availability.

Brands that are easier to buy, for more people in more situations, have greater market share.

Key Findings

Most markets are near-stationary, with minimal movements in market share from year to year.
The big difference between competing brands is in the number of customers who buy them at all; their penetrations. Big brands have markedly larger customer bases than do smaller brands.
To grow you must substantially increase your customer base – the number of customers who buy you.
Most buyers of a brand are very light buyers. Buying only 1x in a time period is typically the most common purchase rate. Even big brands – category leaders – have mostly light customers.
When brands grow, the biggest movement comes from the very light or non-customers
Normal growth is:
- Getting more of all types of customers
- Changing the size, not the nature of your customer base
- More people buying from you in any time period
The Pareto rule is not an 80:20 rule but 50-60:20. Only 50-60% of sales come from the top 20% of customers. Sales contributed by heavy buyers are much less than previously thought.
Targets to grow through substantially (or only) increasing purchase frequency are a fantasy.
Targeting only a segment of customers can’t deliver substantive growth.
You compete practically ‘head on’ with all of your competitors
Your buyers are loyal, but polygamous, buying from your competitors as well as you
You mean little to most of your customers

Best Practice

Marketing is important – to reach numerous light customers who hardly think of you at all
To grow you must target the entire market
Continuous reach is vital
Branding is paramount
Differentiation is not central to strategy to grow

Reports (40)

Marketing Commentary (46)

Videos (8)

Videos

Showing 8 results

How can big brands continue to grow?

September 2021

In today’s Question of the Week, Dr Arry Tanusondjaja answers the question: how can big brands continue to grow? Arry discusses brand growth for big and small brands, across different categories. He outlines the key growth levers for big brands, and explains why you need to consider growth of the category, rather than just focusing on your own market share objectives.

Which metrics should be prioritised when building Distinctive Assets?

May 2021

In today’s Question of the Week, Senior Marketing Scientist Ella Ward discusses the importance of both Fame and Uniqueness in building Distinctive Brand Assets. Ella provides tips for increasing Fame and explains why consistency is key to protect your assets in the long term.

Will investing more than your brand’s Share of Voice increase its Share of Market?

February 2021

When the goal is to maintain Share of Market (SoM), it is commonly understood that a brand’s Share of Voice (SoV) should be proportionate to its SoM.

But what about when a brand wants to grow its SoM? Should it invest above its ‘fair’ SoV?

The short answer is yes… but!… In today’s Question of the Week, Senior Marketing Scientist Kelly Vaughan discuses the relationship between SoV and SoM, why we need to reconsider how we define ‘over and under spending’ and highlights that spend is only one piece of the puzzle.

How do you distinguish between frequency and penetration?

July 2020

Average purchase frequency and penetration are measures of the loyalty of a brand’s customer base as well as how big the brand’s customer base can be. When a brand successfully grows its market share, we see penetration increase more than loyalty. This shows that growth requires improving the brand’s reach into the entire base of category buyers and that you need to nudge the propensity of all potential buyers. Marketing Scientist Alicia Barker answers: How do you distinguish between frequency and penetration? And what time frame should we use to break down usage penetration?

How do you identify and prioritise category entry points?

June 2020

In this Question of the Week, we investigate what makes a buyer think of a brand when approaching new categories. Marketing Scientist David Thorpe answers: How do you identify and prioritise category entry points? And, how do you determine which CEPs are actually worth investing in?

What impact can we expect on sales and brand perception from on-pack changes?

June 2020

Although short-term redesigns often result in increased sales due to being linked with seasonality effects or increased Physical Availability, we caution marketers to be careful: no change should be so great that it ruins your brand’s identity. Knowing and maintaining your brand’s Distinctive Assets are the recipe to success. Senior Marketing Scientist William Caruso answers: What is the impact on sales and brand perceptions from on-pack changes? What is reasonable to expect in terms of short-term sales and long-term brand impact?

Can you use the Laws of Growth to block or stop the growth of a new competitor?

May 2020

We are a big brand in our category and a major company has recently entered the category with a new brand – how can we block them?

ANA CEO Bob Liodice interviews Byron Sharp

28 September

Bob Liodice, CEO of the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) sits down with Institute Director, Professor Byron Sharp for a one-on-one ahead of the 2017 TVB Forward Conference.