Advocacy, key driver of brand growth according to new European research

Surprising and Delighting Customers Fuels Brand Growth

A new study reveals that brand advocacy is worth five times that of an advertising spend, in terms of creating new and loyal brand users for companies. This European Advocacy Study was conducted by Weber Shandwick and Paul Marsden, previously with Enterprise LSE, the commercial arm of the London School of Economics and now a leading researcher in Brand Advocacy and Word of Mouth. It aims to demonstrate the increasing importance of Brand Advocacy, the act of consumers promoting a brand to their friends or acquaintances, on influencing brand choice, when compared to advertising.

The value of Brand Advocacy was identified across five product categories and four markets in Europe with more than 4,000 online interviews conducted amongst a nationally representative sample of consumers. The results showed a consistent trend, with Brand Advocacy being by far the most significant factor influencing consumer brand choice when compared to advertising.

How many times more effective is Brand Advocacy at stimulating brand sales when compared to Advertising?

Marketing Value	Europe	UK	Germany	Spain	Italy
All Categories	5.3	5.0	5.2	8.9	3.9
TV	4.2	4.8	4.8	4.8	3.2
Mobile	4.8	3.8	6.0	5.1	5.1
PC	5.4	4.8	3.3	10.4	6.1
Auto	6.6	4.3	5.7	20.8	5.4
Spirits	5.0	7.5	6.7	9.1	2.3

How this data was calculated: We took the proportion of brand users prompted to purchase by brand advocacy in all markets and categories researched and divided this by those promoted to purchase by advertising.
Caveats: Estimation calculated using four markets and five categories only. As with any survey-based data, data quality can be subject to respondent bias.

“Across Europe, consumers are on average five times more likely to be prompted to purchase a particular brand as a result of Brand Advocacy than they are by advertising,” said Richard Moss, EVP European Brand Programmes at Weber Shandwick. “Many brands would likely benefit from allocating a proportion of their current advertising spends to initiatives directly designed to stimulate advocacy”.

Acquiring Brand Loyalists with Advocacy

Additionally the research identified that, on average, one-third of brand users were acquired through Brand Advocacy. This was consistent across markets and categories. Interestingly, Brand Advocacy was found to be as important for high-priced categories such as cars, as it was for lower-priced categories such as alcoholic spirits.

Proportion of consumers prompted to purchase by Brand Advocacy

	Europe	UK	Germany	Spain	Italy
All Categories	37.3%	39.9%	29.4%	38.1%	39.8%
TV	24.7%	31.0%	18.5%	22.2%	26.1%
Mobile	32.1%	34.6%	28.9%	24.8%	39.3%
PC	31.0%	34.4%	26.8%	27.5%	35.5%
Auto	48.1%	45.3%	28.6%	56.8%	54.2%
Spirits	46.4%	49.7%	39.8%	55.6%	39.4%

How this data was calculated: We asked people what first promoted their purchase of a brand they recently experienced.
Caveats: Estimation calculated using four markets and five categories only. As with any survey-based data, data quality can be subject to respondent bias.

Converting Browsers to Purchasers

The research also investigated how effective Brand Advocacy is in converting consumers to purchasers. It was shown to be highly effective with 50% of advocacy activities resulting in a sale.

Moss added “When viewed at a category level, advocacy is found to be extremely effective at converting sales, with half of activities on average resulting in purchase. This was true of higher priced categories such as cars, where the greater financial outlay makes advocacy all the more important in providing reassurance. Unexpectedly, however, we found that it is also particularly powerful in converting purchasers in lower-priced (lower risk) categories such as spirits”.

Claimed effectiveness of Brand Advocacy in converting sales

	Europe	UK	Germany	Spain	Italy
All Categories	55.1%	50.7%	53.8%	57.3%	57.5%
TV	50.1%	44.3%	41.3%	60.4%	49.3%
Mobile	55.6%	57.9%	53.4%	52.0%	58.9%
PC	53.1%	50.5%	47.9%	56.6%	56.7%
Auto	42.7%	29.1%	51.4%	48.8%	40.8%
Spirits	71.8%	69.5%	69.5%	67.9%	80.7%

How this data was calculated: We asked active promoters (people who have recommended) whether their advocacy led to a purchase.
Caveats: Estimation calculated using four markets and five categories only. As with any survey-based data, data quality can be subject to respondent bias.

Creating ‘Active’ Advocates or Closing the Advocacy Gap

For Marketing Directors, one of the most compelling findings of this study is the advocacy potential that already exists amongst their existing consumers. The research indicated that on average 4 in 10 users of brands surveyed classify themselves as advocates of that brand. Critically, however, only 2 in 10, half of these, consider themselves active advocates.

Moss continued “It seems likely that many brands in Europe have an advocacy gap; advocates who think positively about the brand, but who have yet to actively promote it. On average, almost half of Brand Advocates are not currently being stimulated to promote the brand, providing a significant opportunity for brand marketing teams to develop plans to prompt this group and leverage their unique brand building skills”.

Proportion of Promoters actually active in a category

Europe	NPS*	Promoters	Passives	Detractors	Promoters Active
All Categories	10	39.0%	31.5%	29.5%	63.6%
TV	9	37.6%	33.8%	28.5%	55.6%
Mobile	1	36.0%	29.5%	34.5%	70.4%
PC	-1	32.5%	34.3%	33.1%	67.5%
Auto	14	41.9%	30.0%	28.1%	66.5%
Spirits	21	45.1%	30.4%	24.5%	59.4%

category averages for NPS and NPS-related advocacy scores based on number of respondents providing feedback on that category (thus avoiding attributing undue weight to small brands).
* NPS (Net Promoter Score), developed by Reichheld, Satmetrix, and Bain & Company, and as described under Research Methodology.

Surprising and Delighting Customers Fuels Brand Growth

The research identified the most powerful activator for Brand Advocacy. A strong correlation was found between Brand Advocacy and the ability of brands to surprise and delight their customers, delivering positive and unexpected brand experiences.

Over 70% of Brand Advocacy in Europe could be attributed to a brand’s ability to surprise and delight. Indeed the research identified that a 10% increase in positive surprise leads to a 16 point increase in Net Promoter Score. With studies by Bain & Company indicating that a 12 point rise in NPS leads to a double digit increase in sales, our findings indicate that surprising and delighting customers is a key driver of brand growth.

The study, which was conducted in Germany, UK, Italy and Spain showed some variation by market, with the Germans being Europe’s leading Brand Advocates, followed by the Spanish. The British and Italians drew third place.

Regardless of country or category, the research has confirmed that Brand Advocacy should now be the key focus for brand marketing and communication departments. A huge opportunity exists to mobilise existing advocates, supporting them with the materials and messages that they need to drive brand sales.

Research Methodology

We conducted 4000 online interviews in November 2007 with nationally representative samples of European adults across four European markets (1000 per market). Interviews were conducted in two major Northern European markets (Germany and UK), and in two major Southern European markets (Spain and Italy). Participants were asked about brand advocacy behaviour in five consumer product categories - mobile phones, cars, spirits, television and personal computers. Participants were asked whether they would recommend brands that they had recently experienced in the five categories - using the standard NPS “would recommend” question on the 11 point NPS scale. They were also asked what prompted them to try the brand, if they had in fact recommended it, and if so what prompted the advocacy, what they said and whether it resulted in a purchase. Finally, we tested the hypothesis, from the psychology of word of mouth, that surprise (positive) is a key driver of brand advocacy.