Meaningful brands for a sustainable future: A new approach to measuring brand value

Both the OECD and the UK Government have recently published measures of the well-being of populations in an attempt to provide a truer account of people's state than using such blunt factors as Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

In its new analysis, Meaningful Brands for a Sustainable Future, Havas Media has re-framed this debate within the context of branding and marketing. The report investigates well-being not in terms of governments and public policy, but in relation to businesses and brands. It applies the theory of well-being, at a personal and collective level, to brand attachment and equity, arguing that more meaningful brands drive business success in the short and long-term.

This research demonstrates that businesses that can successfully connect quality products and services to personal well-being have developed better business practices to make them more responsible partners in society, and are able to derive incrementally higher business success as a result.

Here, Kate Cox, head of strategy at MPG Media Contacts London, takes a look at the results of the research and provides insight into what these might mean for marketers.