MaryLou Costa

Would consumers buy into “Bank Advisor”?

MaryLou Costa

Financial services marketers should take note of a survey that says consumers want easy to use websites and personal recommendations. I had a brainwave after reading my colleague Michael Barnett’s feature this week on what communications channels influence consumers most when it comes to choosing between financial services brands. There were two statistics quoted in […]

The Asian shopping giant has awoken

MaryLou Costa

With Asian markets delivering new economic growth to brands, it’s worth knowing what makes consumers there different from the European and American shoppers marketers are familiar with. One of the most obvious things a marketer needs to know is who their audience is. In the case of many brands with origins in Europe and the […]

Forget trend setters, it’s all about taste setters

MaryLou Costa

Food and drink brands need to find favour in ’taste setters’ before gaining the approval of the masses. Like most other sectors, food consumers are made up of a small group of early adopters and a large crowd of followers who base their daily selections on a combination of embedded loyalty and personal recommendations from […]

Remodelling the agency relationship for the 3.0 age

MaryLou Costa

The ’always on’, 24/7 digital world demands a fresh approach from brands but the traditional client-agency relationship does not facilitate this, says a new report. MaryLou Costa looks at the new agency models that are emerging to better service the marketer’s needs

MaryLou Costa

Consumers love brands who love the cinema

MaryLou Costa

From pre-trailer spots to co-branded advertising and on-pack promotions, brands have been tapping into consumers’ love of the cinema for years in the hope of transferring that love to the brand. Who doesn’t love going to the cinema? The experience offers so many memories – from summer holiday excursions with mum and dad, to keeping […]

Case study: Asda

MaryLou Costa

It seems that starting a price war pays off. Budget supermarket Asda’s brand value has risen by more than a third from £4.12bn to £5.64bn, moving up seven places to ninth in the Brand Finance UK’s most valuable brands league table.

Case study: The Co-operative

MaryLou Costa

Creating a more unified group of brands has seen The Co-operative Group reach 19th place in this year’s Brand Finance list, up from 24th spot last year. The brand’s value has grown by about a third from £2.2bn to £2.89bn.

Case study: Vodafone

MaryLou Costa

Vodafone, the last British member of the big five mobile networks, has been named the most valuable British brand in 2010, as calculated by Brand Finance.

Case study: Barclays

MaryLou Costa

Barclays’ brand valuation has jumped by more than 50% from £5.24bn last year to £8.12bn, which perhaps may not be reflected in its move of just two places from eighth position last year to sixth in the Brand Finance table. The total company value has more than doubled since last year to £34.73bn. 

Trust no-one…

MaryLou Costa

Consumers don’t trust the banks but this is no great surprise. What is surprising is that they don’t trust anyone when it comes to money, not even trusted retail brands. Making the observation that consumers don’t trust banks is about as earth shattering as someone noting that the sky is blue. You might have thought […]