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Jane
Perrin
Managing Director
ACNielsen
Global Services
Clare
Nishikawa
Manager, Global Reports and Communication
ACNielsen
Global Services
How powerful is a brand name? Is it strong enough to cross
borders? To cross oceans? To cross categories? Is a brand
name strong enough to sell a related product or even sell
an unrelated product?
The concept of “branding” a product began as early
as the sixteenth century, when tavern owners realized that
to create repeat purchases of their products, it was important
to link consumers to their brand. By burning their name onto
their barrels (actually “branding” the package),
these tavern owners distinguished their product from cheaper
imitations and created a mechanism that would set their product
apart in the minds of the consumer.
From this early definition, marketers have made the art of
branding an integral part of a brand’s evolution. The
intent of this study is to take a look at that evolution and
to focus on those global brands that have evolved beyond their
original product categories, launching successful product
entries in both multiple categories and countries. These are
the global mega brand franchises we will focus on in our study.
In compiling this
report, ACNielsen researched over 200 consumer packaged goods
(CPG) brands from more than 50 global manufacturers. To be
classified as a global mega brand franchise, the criteria
were as follows:
- In order to be a mega brand franchise, a brand had to
have products that were marketed under the same brand name
in at least three different categories (based on ACNielsen’s
category definitions).
- To be a global mega brand franchise, a brand had to meet
the brand franchise criteria above in at least three of
the five geographical regions. In addition, the brand had
to be sold in at least 15 of the 50 countries studied.
It is important to note that a brand was only considered to
be in a category if three or more countries identified it
as being so. (For example, if Brand X was in the Cheese category
in only one country, Cheese was not counted in the total number
of categories in which the brand was present.)
Over 60 Global Mega Brand Franchises
Identified
Within the consumer-packaged goods categories measured, there
were 62 brands that met the global mega brand franchise criteria.
One key finding of the study is that there are more global
mega brand franchises in Personal Care than in Food, Beverages
& Confectionery. Over 50 percent of the 62 global mega
brand franchises were found within the Personal Care &
Cosmetics categories…32 brands from 12 manufacturers.
Food, Beverages & Confectionery manufacturers ranked second,
with 23 of the 62 brand franchises. Seventeen manufacturers
marketed these 23 brands. Interestingly, 15 of the 23 brand
franchises on the list were based on some derivative of the
manufacturer’s current corporate name.
There were only three Home Care brands on the list. In both
Health Care and Pet Care, there was only one brand franchise
identified.
Although most manufacturers focused their brand franchises
within one of the five product areas (Personal Care &
Cosmetics; Food, Beverages & Confectionery; Home Care;
Health Care; and Pet Care), two additional brand franchises
qualified based on categories that were in different segments
(Gerber and Ivory).
Nivea and Nestlé Brands Are in the Most Categories
Beiersdorf’s Nivea brand ranges across 19 different
Personal Care & Cosmetics categories. Similarly, the Nestlé
brand includes products in 17 different Food, Beverages &
Confectionery categories.
Few Brands Were Available in Every Country
Only nine of the 62 global mega brand franchises were found
to be available in every one of the 50 countries included
in the study. Through ACNielsen’s local teams, Nivea,
L’Oréal, Revlon, Nestlé, Dove, Lipton,
Pond’s, Gillette and Oral B were identified as being
present in every country.
Four Manufacturers Stand Out With Multiple Global Brand Franchises
Of the more than 50 global manufacturers studied, L’Oréal,
(with four brand franchises), Johnson & Johnson, (with
five brand franchises), and Unilever and Procter & Gamble
(with six franchises each) were the manufacturers with the
most global mega brand franchises. Within their marketing
portfolios, these four manufacturers have extensively developed
their key brands across both categories and countries.
Six Manufacturers Have Brand Franchises in Multiple Areas
Only six of the 32 manufacturers with global mega brand franchises
had brand franchises in more than one product area.
Unilever was found to have four brand franchises within Personal
Care, as well as two in Food, Beverages & Confectionery.
- Colgate-Palmolive was found to have a brand franchise
within each area of Home Care and Personal Care. In addition,
Palmolive branded products were found in both Home Care
and Personal Care.
- Nestlé had two brand franchises within Food, Beverages
& Confectionery and another within Pet Care.
- Procter & Gamble had five brand franchises within
Personal Care. In addition, as mentioned above, one of their
brand franchises (Ivory) had products in both Personal Care
and Home Care.
- Sara Lee was found to have a brand franchise within Personal
Care and another within Food, Beverages & Confectionery
- Novartis had only one brand franchise, but as mentioned
above, the Gerber brand name was seen within Personal Care,
Food, Beverages & Confectionery and Health Care [See
chart 1].
One interesting commonality,
though not surprising, is that most of these brand franchises
first began their expansion at "home." Once the brand expansion
proved successful, the global expansion of the mega brand
franchise could begin. There are some exceptions, however,
where a brand has grown into new categories outside of the
home country. Unilever, for example, recently launched a Dove
brand of shampoos in Korea, extending this brand beyond the
traditional skin categories. With the success of this local
expansion, the shampoo is now sold in more than 30 countries.
Common Marketing Threads
One key question resulting from this study is this: Why do
manufacturers create mega brand franchises? Some marketers
would argue that by extending the brand across categories,
you dilute the brand’s image; others would claim that
by extending the brand you continue to reinforce the brand
in the minds of the consumer. Looking across the 62 global
mega brand franchises found in this study, there are some
common strategic marketing threads that become apparent.
- Reinforcing the brand as expert: By extending a brand
name that is synonymous with a particular expertise to categories
that can benefit from that same expertise, manufacturers
maintain the essence of the brand and reinforce the consumer’s
brand perception. (For example, Gerber means babies…Gerber
has put their name on a wide range of products for babies
and toddlers, capitalizing on their corporate expertise.)
- Maximizing consumer trust in the corporate name: When
a brand is a derivative of the corporate name, manufacturers
are using the consumer’s trust and recognition of
their corporate name to extend to a range of product categories.
In fact, 22 of the 62 brand franchises in our study are
some extension of a parent name (e.g., Nestlé). This
number would be even larger if we included those brand franchises
that have been acquired by another company (e.g., Nabisco,
Gerber).
- Extending brands that reflect a lifestyle: Manufacturers
have created brand franchises that focus on a particular
consumer lifestyle need (e.g., weight loss) and have extended
that brand name across a range of products within multiple
categories that benefit from the brand’s lifestyle
image (e.g., Weight Watchers).
- Licensing the brand name: By licensing a brand name to
manufacturers outside of the corporate expertise, manufacturers
are able to use the expertise of others to extend their
brand name into alternative product categories (e.g., Sunkist).
One interesting commonality, though not surprising, is that
most of these brand franchises first began their expansion
at “home.” Once the brand expansion proved successful,
the global expansion of the mega brand franchise could begin.
There are some exceptions, however, where a brand has grown
into new categories outside of the home country. Unilever,
for example, recently launched a Dove brand of shampoos in
Korea, extending this brand beyond the traditional skin categories.
With the success of this local expansion, the shampoo is now
sold in more than 30 countries.
One Final Note...
It should be highlighted that every successful brand name
is not destined for expansion into new categories. Although
marketers may argue that if you have a strong brand name there
is no reason not to extend it, some manufacturers have taken
a more focused branding approach. Their belief is that by
remaining focused, consumers are then able to clearly relate
the brand to the 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.
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