LIC, Britannia and Cadbury top meaningful brands in India: Havas Media Study

Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), Britannia and Cadbury have emerged as the top three meaningful brands in India, states a study undertaken by Havas Media Group. The other nine brands include Sony, Samsung, Parle-G, Unilever, Tata Motors, Airtel, Hyundai, LGE and Maruti. On a global level, Google, Samsung and Microsoft were the top three brands. Interestingly, the findings also show that Indian brands having greatest attachment (highest percentage of people who would care if they disappeared) were LIC, Cadbury and Unilever.

Eighty two per cent Indian consumers think companies and brands should play a role in improving their quality of life and well-being (Asia 77 per cent, global average 70 per cent), while 79 per cent agree that large companies should be actively involved in solving social and environmental problems (Asia 75 per cent; global average 71 per cent).

In terms of sectors, the top three sectors in India were F&B, Auto and IT & Consumer Electronics (ITC), while globally it was Retail, F&B and ITC.

Speaking on the study, Anita Nayyar, CEO, Havas Media Group, India and South Asia, says, "The India findings highlight deep customer involvement with brands, making 'meaningful' the sweet spot of brand strategy in India."

The results from Havas Media Group's 2013 Meaningful Brands statistically demonstrate that meaningful brands outperform the stock market by 120 per cent. It demonstrates, in hard financial terms, how the relationship between people and brands can benefit from measuring, communicating and delivering increased well-being.

Brands can break sector limitations and emerge as meaningful in difficult categories such as Life Insurance Corporation in India. 2013 shows a marked increase in the importance of ITC globally; half of the top ten brands are technological; these act as enablers to empower people to achieve their potential.

The study also highlights that in emerging markets, people place more importance on a brand's impact on their community and environment. At the same time, people in India expect brands to enhance their individual and personal lifestyles. The data shows the majority of top performing brands taking a holistic approach contributing to both.

"More meaningful global brands are likely to come from emerging rather than western markets where brands need to reinvent themselves to reconnect with people, to avoid getting commoditized. This presents huge opportunities for existing and new brands to establish meaningful connections with their customers in India. Here consumers are still warming up to brands and core categories like F&B brands are seen as meaningful. The study is scalable and throws up rich inferences for a strategic outlook. LIC is an outlier being in the insurance category yet completely in sync with Indian touch points, thus its India's 2013 top meaningful brand," opines Mohit Joshi, managing director, Havas Media India.

The study measures 13 dimensions: impact of the brand's 'Marketplace' benefits alongside its impact on 12 different areas of 'Well-being' (Personal and Collective), for a comprehensive view of its effect on quality of life. Unique in scale (700 brands, over 134,000 consumers and 23 countries), it measures the benefits brands bring to people's lives. The Meaningful Brand Index (MBi) forms the core of the Meaningful Brands framework allowing a view of brand results in terms of consumer perception over time.

Browse the entire report below.