Part 3 | The Categories Technology | Telecom Providers As the provider of communications services for the 2012 London Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games, BT increased its profile worldwide. The brand invested in developing fiber-optic broadband infrastructure in fast growing markets to offer customers globally managed IT networked services. BT generates an increasing percent of its revenues from outside of the UK. The need to compete effectively also produced these other corporate hookups: the purchase of 70 percent of Sprint by the Japanese telecom SoftBank and T-Mobile’s acquisition of MetroPCS. Insight The second screen phenomenon The second screen phenomenon is a key driver of the Age of Data, especially on the consumer side. Fueled by growing device ecosystems and a wide array of video programming, consumer data consumption has grown geometrically. Key to this is simultaneously viewing—people watching TV while using a tablet to interact with the TV show or communicate about it with friends. Similarly, data consumption in the business community has grown in leaps and bounds, as whole industries (e.g. Healthcare) move their operations to digital platforms situated in the Cloud. David Keefe Senior Client Director Landor Associates David.keefe@landor.com 108 <strong>Brand</strong>Z Top 100 Most Valuable Global <strong>Brand</strong>s 2013 Regional variations <strong>Brand</strong> <strong>value</strong> changes varied by geographic region. MTN, a South African multinational brand, rose 23 percent in brand <strong>value</strong>, the greatest appreciation in the <strong>Brand</strong>Z telecom category. The brand, which operates throughout Africa and in parts of the Middle East, enjoyed strong revenue and earnings growth following a 15 percent increase in subscribers and a 58.5 percent hike in revenue derived from data. China Mobile, China’s most valuable brand, <strong>across</strong> all <strong>categories</strong>, increased 18 percent in <strong>value</strong>. As the expansion of telecommunication networks continued to accelerate in China, China Mobile won more 3G subscribers than its rivals with its aggressive marketing strategy. Responding to a dramatic increase in mobile data transmission, the brand launched its Wireless City Wi-Fi data plan in more than 300 cities last year. It is also expanding its 4G network. Russia’s largest telecom, MTS focused on operational improvements that helped drive a profit increase. In a strategic initiative to leverage its retail presence of 4,200 locations and extend financial services to Russia’s large population of unbanked consumers, the brand has recently increased its interest in MTS Bank, the majority of which is still owned by their common parent Sistema. Europe’s economy depressed results for Deutsche Telekom, Orange, and Spain’s Movistar, while Japan’s NTT DOCOMO felt the effects of slow growth in Japan. Differentiation and trust Telecoms implemented strategies to differentiate and compete effectively against each other and over-the-top challengers. These operators, such as Skype, Google, and increasingly appbased brands like Viber and WhatsApp, enable consumers to make free calls over telecom networks. Some of the telecom providers—Verizon and BT are good examples—attempted to transform from being conduits of data into diversified technology businesses, providing software solutions, data integration and consulting services. These kinds of offerings potentially embed telecoms more deeply into the lives of customers. The rise of telematics is an important related opportunity for telecoms. Telematics is about the Internet of things, the automatic gathering, storing and transmitting of data between smart machines. Telecoms benefit from this development because they are the conduits of the data, but they also face a larger opportunity. Telematics is a growing factor in healthcare, automotive, insurance, education and other businesses. Insurers, for example, use telematics to record individual driving habits and set customized rates based on the data. Telecoms potentially can play a role in the entire process, including the data gathering, transmission and data analysis stages of telematics. Consumer focus In addition to the business-to-business telematics opportunities, telecoms also sought new revenue-generating businesses on the consumer side, in the growth of the smart home concept, for example. Using mobile phones, consumers can regulate the heating and cooling of their homes or adjust the settings of appliances. Each interaction draws down data and drives revenue for a telecom. Second screen, or simultaneous viewing, was one of the biggest trends driving consumer use of data. The term describes the growing habit of watching TV on a large screen while interacting about the broadcast on a small-screen device, perhaps messaging within a social network. Recognizing this trend, AT&T introduced a program it calls Mobile Share, in which customers pay for talk and text on a phone but can share any data on all their mobile devices for no extra charge. Verizon led with an offering it calls the Share Everything plan. Verizon also advanced its 4G LTE network. Leaders strengthen their brand equity The essential and pervasive nature of communications in our lives has shown up in the <strong>Brand</strong>Z research in the dramatic increase in brand equity strength among the top telecom brands. Eight years ago, the top brands were less characterful, desirable and distinct one from another. Today, the Top 10 most valuable telecoms are much more “meaningful,” (appealing and meeting needs), “different” (unique in a good way and trend setting) and “salient” (famous, stands out) than other brands in the category. In these key aspects of brand equity that drive sales, the Top 10 telecoms also outperform the Top 100 Most Valuable Global <strong>Brand</strong>s overall. Source: <strong>Brand</strong>Z BigData, over 2 million consumer interviews regarding over 10,000 brands in 30-plus countries Key aspects of brand equity Meaningful Different Salient Top 10 Telecoms brands All Telecoms brands All Top 100 brands Average brand = 100 Insights <strong>Brand</strong>Z BigData 96 97 104 115 120 131 128 131 145 Action Points 1. Tell a story Story telling is important for all brands, but particularly those in a category for a long time defined by a short story about pipes delivering voice and data. Tell a more up-to-date story. The story needs to be clear so people understand it, compelling so people want to act and credible, meaning that it sounds right coming from the brand. 2. Be different In a commoditized business, tangible delivery of brand experience is requisite. It’s like an airline. Consumers expect the plane to fly and get them there on time. There are tangible, rational deliverables that are required. Then there’s service around how the customer gets connected, the in-store experience. Then there’s account management and any loyalty incentives. Differentiate your service to drive brand <strong>value</strong>. 3. Stress service People’s lives are busy enough. They want an experience, a promise that they’ll get everything—cable, phone and Internet. When the experience meets their expectations they won’t think of the provider as a utility. They’ll connect with the brand. Spotlight How consumers use mobile phones varies by country Across the world, people use their mobile phones mostly for its primary purpose, to make calls. The frequency with which people use other functions varies by country. The camera is always important. After that, differences may reflect the equipment available to consumers as well their daily priorities. Recreational use seems higher in the BRICs. Cell/mobile phone functions used recently US Text messaging Camera Email Picture messaging Web browsing Games India Games Camera 9% Bluetooth 15% Text messaging Camera MP3 Player Bluetooth Radio Brazil 21% 19% 19% 21% 18% 15% Speaker phone Radio Games MP3 Player 29% 26% 25% 24% 21% 20% Source: Global TGI 2012 32% 38% 35% 52% 109
Part 4 | The Fast Growing Markets 110 <strong>Brand</strong>Z Top 100 Most Valuable Global <strong>Brand</strong>s 2013 112...Brazil 126...Russia 116...China 122...India Part 4 The Fast Growing Markets 111
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