With the participation of more than 1,400 people during the months of December 2009, Allegro 234 conducted the "Coolest & Gaps Branding Survey".

This survey is the first in which the question about the coolest brand has been opened without a predetermined list [spontaneous, not induced].

Through various media and online blogs, the survey has achieved a high participation level

• 1,444 participants [valid answers]; 10% more than in 2008
• Europe 45%, the Americas 45% and Asia 5% [47 countries]
• 85% of participants working in areas related to branding, marketing, communications and PR

Coolest

The five coolest brands are:

1. Apple [with more than double of mentions than the second one]
2. Coca-Cola
3. Nike
4. Starbucks
5. Virgin

A group of brands that follows the top five, includes Amazon, Google, Corona, Lonely Planet and Marriot

Brands like Vueling, Illy, Burton, REI and Patagonia continue being part of the coolest ones at continental and country levels

Even as these are the coolest brands, participants also recognize that there are things to improve:

• Responsibility: Brands are perceived as not enough attentive to social responsibility and environmental issues
• Services: People is failing [not living the values that the brand promises]
• Price: Brand premium price

Finally, two important issues:

• Communication is only part of the experience [Companies in the telecommunications sector and financial institutions have rarely been mentioned, less than 1%]
• Coolest brand Experiences are those which are giving real value

Gaps

On average, it is recognized that all companies, regardless of the sector they belong to, need to work on their brand experience

• Those working in areas related to branding are more pessimistic than the non-related people
• People fail to decode the message [marketing speaks a language that only they understand]
• The aspirational is difficult to achieve and produces frustration [is sensed a lack of authenticity and realism]

Finally, in regard to the internal branding experience, 57% (80% more than in 2008) of participants believed that it is inappropriate and/or partially adequate in their business

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One of the most boring topics in branding is the brand architecture.

Name, corporate branding, product branding ... sub-products, services, areas of the company ... And the list could continue ad infinitum.

Usually, the discussion about the best brand architecture is base in the model that can be followed:

• Monolithic (single brand... Webjam ...)
• Monolithic modified (the same symbol, different verbal expressions ... GE, GE Electronics, GE Financial Services ...)
• Sub-brands (corporate and product brands... Microsoft ...)
• Endorsed brands (brands with corporate brand signature, each with specific attributes... Marriot ...)
• Hybrids (a discrete number of independent brands ... Disney)
• Corporate invisible (Inditex ... Only commercial brands... Zara, Stradivarius ,...)

No cases tends to be a pure case ... Like Nike:

• Nike
• Nike + names
• Vapor, NikeGolf (Change the visual expression), SQ
• Colemann, Hurley, Converse: Brands ranging specific audiences
• Umbro: Company owned by Nike

I imagine that the system has been designed properly, however I have some questions:

• Why is there a gender brand (NikeWoman)?
• Why are there so many names? If you see soccer shoes, do you need to see that they belong to NikeSoccer?
• Why do we need to see some sort of internal brands (Store, ID Lab ...)? If I'm going to a Nike store, not I realize that it is "a Nike store?
• Who buys a Vapor watch? I know people who bought a Nike Watch

I think (actually I am convinced) that the first point to define a proper brand architecture is that it responds to especific tribes/audiences and not the way business is organized ... This looks like common sense, however, it's usually not common practice.

The brand architecture must help key audiences to reduce their uncertainty, to create particular experiences ... Who cares how a company is organized when you're shopping for one of their products?

... And besides, a boring topic to write ... But not to make comments!