Published White Papers (click title to viw documents)
ARF First Opinion Research Review
In 2006, the Advertising Research Foundation conducted a comprehensive Research Review on the Brand Keys Loyalty/ Engagement Measurement Methodology.
Click here to read the full ARF Research Review of the Brand Keys Brand Loyalty/ Engagement Measurement Methodology. (1/30/07)
No Beef at Taco Bell
As more people shift to healthier diets, many fast food restaurants have come under scrutiny about what exactly is in their food. The latest fast food being questioned concerns Taco Bell’s beef. Many people are accusing Taco Bell of false advertising with their claim that they serve 100 % beef. In a Federal lawsuit filed against the fast food chain, it is claimed that Taco Bell in fact only serves 35% ground beef, and the rest is nothing but preservatives and filters. The CEO denies these allegations, claiming they serve 88% ground beef, but customers are wondering what the other 12% percent of their meal contains. (WARC.com Feb, 2011)
Netflix Wins in CLEI
Netflix not only defeated its movie rental counterparts, but ranked highest in consumer loyalty out of 529 brands, moving Apple down to second place. With an app for almost every single digital device with a screen, it's hard not to love them.
(WARC.com Feb, 2011)
Age of Delight
Consumers are no longer looking for products and brands that only satisfy them, but for brands that also delight them. Consumers are raising their expectations and it seems as if some brands are having trouble meeting those expectations. Brands such as Netflix, Apple, Walgreens, and Discover are a few of the brands that topped off the top ten most delightful brands in this year’s Customer Loyalty Engagement Index. (WARC.com Feb, 2011)
Delight in Cellphones
Even as the smartphone category grows, Apple continues to come in first place, and is committed to staying there. The company is currently working on a new line of iPhones, smaller than the iPhone 4. Not only will it be half the size of the current iPhone, but also half the price. What will this mean for their current competitors? (WARC.com Feb, 2011)
Trust vs Love
Multiple product recalls of their over-the-counter medications is going to lead Johnson & Johnson to a bad place. Customers value trust and whether customers will be able to trust the brand that recalled millions of products, is still up in the air.
(WARC.com Jan, 2011)
Talk is Cheap
While it is easy to say that one’s strategy is effective and successful, it is important to look at the results of that strategy before going around boasting about how great one is. Brand Keys has taken a look back to examine how closely what we predicted would happen in 2010 actually matched up with market results throughout the year. (WARC.com Jan, 2011)
Going Green
While going green might be a priority in the food and automobile industries, it’s not on many people’s minds when shopping for blue jeans. Blue jean manufacturers that attempted to go green have faced a difficult problem with the eco-friendly “organic cotton” to produce their blue jeans. The eco-jeans lacked the ability to hold shape, quickly causing their demise. According to Robert Passikoff a brand must fit a customer’s expectations to be profitable, and the oddly-fitting jeans were not making blue jeans customers happy. (WARC.com Jan, 2011)
Starbucks moves beyond coffee
The recent downgrade of the Starbucks logo has made many customers furious. The new logo no longer depicts the Starbucks name, only the female siren. The company claims that the change was made because Starbucks will be producing products other than just coffee. With their 40th anniversary approaching, Starbucks CEO, Howard Schultz, thinks this is the perfect time to bring something new to the brand. Robert Passikoff has described the company's logo revamp as "wise", assuming such changes in products occur; but pointless if no other products are actually produced. (WARC.com Jan, 2011)
Optimise Return on
Customer Loyalty
Effective customer loyalty predictors need to consider how
the brand measures up to the consumer’s category ideal. By Robert Passikoff and Amy Shea (ADMAP Jan, 2011)
The French Fry
Despite the debate on where French Fries came from, it’s a fact that they are a very important part of the American Diet. In an attempt to promote healthy eating, Wendy’s has begun to use more natural ingredients when cooking their fries. Will this do anything to boost up their rating, and allow them to compete with America’s Favorite McDonald Fries? (WARC.com Dec, 2010)
Brand Disasters
2010 was not a promising year for some brands that just couldn’t pull their weight when it came to delighting customers. BP’s recent oil spill disaster won them the top spot in the 2010 brand disaster list; followed by Toyota and Tylenol, whose recent product recalls are not making customers very happy. (WARC.com Dec, 2010)
Driving Auto Loyalty
Robert Passikoff says to build loyalty, an auto brand must create meaning which excites car owners. It's a complex balance of rational and emotional factors. (ADMAP Sept, 2010)
How to avoid the most
interesting trends of 2010
Robert Passikoff says following the latest fashions isn't enough to boost your brand, you need to understand what the consumer really wants. (Market Leader Q2, 2010)
Assessing the Sweet Smell of Celebrity (HPC Today)
For fragrance marketers, celebrity branding has become the positioning fall-back of first resort. In most cases this is not a labour of love on the part of the celebrity, but merely a new income stream. In light of the fact that only a handful of newly introduced fragrances rise to the surface to become classic, sustainable brands, New York-based Brand Keys, Inc developed an emotionally-based engagement assessment that allows fragrance marketers to predicatively link celebrities with sustainable brand values. (March 2010)
Sense & Scent: Building Emotional Bonds Through Engagments Measurement
The Fragrance Industry has recently acknowledged the need to learn to better measure the emotions, insights and expectations of todays "bionic" consumers. Today, these industry targets are more visually and brand literate than ever before. Making it harder to continue with "Business-as-Usual." Click here to read more on the new generation of fragrance consumers. By Robert Passikoff, PhD and Kerry O'Connor. (11/16/07)
Engagement of the Future: Brand Bonding as Predictor of Future Purchases
This paper describes an innovative approach to brand and media planning that permits marketers to side step their reliance upon traditional GRP (Gross Rating Points)/demographic media planning and to leverage real profitability from consumer engagement, attained via media selection and program mix. By selecting media options and programs for brands on the basis of the media's abilities to better "engage" the consumers, marketers can better connect - and more effectively communicate - with consumers. It can be applied in any region of the world. Presented by Pam Batalis at ESOMAR Latin America 2006 Conference in Rio. (10/26/06)
Should You Take Me Out To The Ballgame?
By Robert Passikoff and Allen Gerber. This paper describes an innovative approach demonstrating the effectiveness and utility of an internationally validated tool that allows marketers to pre-qualify sponsorships - before they make their spending decisions. Presented at the ESOMAR/ARF WAM conference in Montreal, June 2005. (6/21/05)
Developing Winning Strategies for Consumers of All Ages
This paper describes the work conducted by Brand Keys, Inc. and MGN Limited to develop an internationally validated tool that allows marketers to develop winning brand strategies based upon crafting strategies that are able to meet or exceed age-based category expectations. Presented by Robert Passikoff and Kerry O’Connor at the ESOMAR Age Matters Conference in London. (2/2/05)
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Robert Passikoff is my fellow warrior in the fight against creeping commoditization in Brandworld. Anything he writes is worth reading.– Jack Trout, Brand Guru
Passikoff's and Shea's new book is crucial for any marketer focused on ROI.– Joe Plummer, Ph.D., Professor of Marketing, Columbia University School of Business
More confirmation that Robert Passikoff is right! – Don E. Schultz, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus-in-Service, Northwestern University
Bob Passikoff and Amy Shea are passionate believers about helping brands, and this book with its bold and honest assessment of the current brand, advertising and media landscape is proof. Brand Keys' clients literally bank on this validated methodology as a tool that inspires strategy; its uniqueness in a maelstrom of ‘useless’ research product alternatives.....none of which can hold a candle to it; and its infallibility as a predictor of marketplace success. - Robert L Barocci, President & CEO, The Advertising Research Foundation
"Call it brand psychotherapy. Dr. Robert Passikoff has been asking thousands of consumers for decades to talk about their favorite brands. The Certainty Principle has pulled together years of insights to help marketers understand what engages consumers and drives behavior. Considering people's tastes can change faster than a teen can triple tap a text message, such bits of wisdom might just help keep marketers from going insane." — Kenneth Hein, News Editor, Brandweek
