Apple, Ferrari & Jordan: What is the secret to being the best brand on the planet?

euronews (in English)

The world’s biggest brands have missed out on $200bn (€192bn) of revenue in the past year. What could they have done better?

Transcript

00:00Yes, in 2024, we missed 200 billion US dollars in terms of revenue. People need to remember

00:07you, you always have to innovate. Customers are not looking for machines, they are looking

00:12for people.

00:19Welcome to The Big Question, the series from Euronews where we delve deep into some of

00:22the most important topics on the business agenda. I'm Hannah Brown, and today I'm joined

00:27by Gonzalo Brullo, the Global CEO and President at Interbrand. Thank you very much for joining

00:31us. Every year at Interbrand, you publish the Best Global Brands Report. Can you just

00:36give me a quick overview of what it looks like and some of the big takeaways of this

00:39year's report?

00:40Every year, we run the Best Global Brands Report to try to understand what is happening

00:46with the brands around the world, what is happening with the top companies and how they

00:50are trending on a global scale. We have been doing the report over the last 25 years, and

00:56this year is especially important for us because not only we are analyzing the 2024

01:02report, but also we are trying to see what are the key insights over the last 25 years.

01:09Companies are looking for all performance marketing. They are really concentrated on

01:13how I can sell today, today, today. And what we recommend is that the brands, they need

01:18to combine the mixed marketing strategies. It is about performance marketing, but it

01:24is also about how they can build their brand in the long run. Just in 2024, we missed US$200

01:33billion in terms of revenue. And over the last 25 years, if companies were working on

01:41performance marketing and mid-term marketing strategies and branding strategies, they could

01:47grow to US$6.9 trillion around the world. So I think the big insight this year is that

01:56companies must think on their marketing mix much better to make sure that they can really

02:03connect with customers. Customers are not looking for machines. They are looking for

02:08people. They are looking for human connection. They are looking for human experiences. They

02:13are looking for love sometimes in terms of the brands, how they can connect with these customers.

02:25So let's talk about some of the brands in the report. Who is making the top 10 and what

02:30are they doing right to get into that spot? Well, again, this year, we still have Apple

02:35as the number one brand in the ranking. Although the growth this year is a minus 3%, the results

02:41are excellent for Apple. I think Apple is trending well, has been trending well for

02:46the last 11 years. It is all about simplification. I think on artificial intelligence, Apple

02:52intelligence, they are starting probably a bit more careful than other technology companies.

03:01But I think they are doing their moves and I see next year potentially positive brand

03:06value data for Apple going forward. So what is happening right now is that companies that

03:12are investing in AI, they are trending better than others.

03:15On that point, the companies that are investing in AI are doing well. There are three car

03:20brands in the top 10. Is AI linked to their success?

03:24Well, there is 14 brands that are doing very well in the auto world right now at the ranking.

03:30Actually, this year, the most growing brand for the entire ranking is an auto brand, which

03:36is Ferrari. Over the last three years, we have seen huge, amazing improvements on the

03:42auto brands and most of them are doing very well. Although I know that auto brands will

03:48be facing complex times ahead. Why? Because they are spending, as you can imagine, in

03:53terms of electric vehicles, the entire industry is spending more than 500 billion US dollars

04:00on new technology, new factories, new ways of connecting with customers and this is beginning

04:07to be expensive. Of course, the demand is lower on electric vehicles and what is happening

04:12is that companies in the auto world will need to revise their strategies, their spending

04:18and also probably they need to narrow the products offering that they have to the market.

04:24Ferrari is the kind of top climber of the year and that Tesla is kind of one of the

04:29ones with the biggest decline. What are they doing differently to have such different results?

04:34Well, I think Ferrari is more than an auto brand. They really work hard to try to enter

04:41into different segments. Companies that are investing in different arenas or different

04:45categories this year has an increase of 6% versus the companies that are just working

04:51in a single category. So, I think this is quite important in the case of Ferrari. They

04:56are expanding into the entertainment world with new different theme parks. In the ultra-luxury,

05:04lifestyle, hotels world, they are working on a new apparel brand. So, as you can imagine,

05:11it is not only about auto but they are doing something different.

05:15In the case of Tesla, we see a 9% drop. I think Tesla has been the first category killer

05:22on EV around the world with Toyota. Both of them, they were the first ones to enter

05:27into the category historically. As you can imagine, they have this first mover opportunity

05:36but the reality is that today BMW, for example, in the European Union, sells more electric

05:41cars than Tesla. So, what is happening is that the rest of the auto brands are catching

05:47up on EV solutions to its customers. Sometimes, customers are not happy with the timings on

05:56delivery for Tesla. And last but not the least, I think in the last couple of years, I think

06:01the way that Elon Musk presented himself to the public has been very polarizing. But I

06:09think this is beginning to affect the relationship between Tesla, Elon Musk and its customers.

06:18And so, obviously, we've talked about all sorts of different brands that have been on

06:21the report this year. And overall, there has been $3.5 trillion of missed value creation

06:26collectively since 2000. What are these missed opportunities and what can brands do to achieve

06:32better growth going forward? I think today customers are quite clever.

06:37Something that is very cool about the brand is that although you think that you are growing

06:41and you are doing great, there are many brands that are no longer with us in the ranking.

06:47Brands like Nokia. At some point, they were the fifth largest brand in the ranking. So,

06:51what I'm telling brands is that be careful. You need to keep listening always to your

06:56customers, to your employees, to the financial community. You always have to innovate. You

07:01need to find your own iconic moves. What are going to be the two or three things that are

07:05going to be helping you to differentiate? So, you need to work on that. People need

07:10to remember you to make sure that they can buy you in the long run. And sometimes companies

07:15are not investing that much in marketing or in brand anymore. And I think that this is

07:21something that definitely they want to keep playing in the game. They must invest in marketing.

07:26They must invest in brands, not only in the short-term strategy, but also the mid-term.

07:31So, you need to work on parallel, a fast-track way of working with your brands, but also

07:36the mid-term strategies and the trajectory for the future in terms of the ambition, the

07:42purpose of the company. Okay. Brilliant. Well, thank you so much for

07:46those insights and thank you for joining us today on The Big Question.

07:48Thank you very much.

Category

Transcript

Recommended