Brands can no longer afford to be vain: they need to be invaluable
Modern societies are built on the promise that every decade will feel like a dramatic growth spurt. But is that the reality?
Compared with the post-World War II decades, when advanced economies routinely expanded at 3% to 5% annually, potential real GDP growth across the OECD has slowed, with several major economies tracking closer to 1%. Small percentage drops, big impact. And while cyclical shocks in recent years have played a role, the underlying slowdown is structural. Historically high debt, ageing populations and geopolitical tensions have all contributed to creating the conditions for stagnation. Structural, meaning it's here to stay.
Perhaps the most intriguing contributor to stagnation in modern society is the productivity paradox. A term first inspired by Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert Solow back in the 80s, who stated, “you can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics.” This anomaly is even more profound today. Despite breakthroughs in AI and tech over the past two decades, aggregate Total Factor Productivity (TFP) growth has slowed down in most advanced economies since the mid-2000s. Tech gains are walled inside elite firms rather than diffusing broadly across traditional sectors.
So growth is hard, really hard. Organic tailwinds are gone; businesses must drive their own growth. Brands that understand this, ironically, stand to gain because the majority seemingly don’t. Many have been seduced by vanity. View me, like me, click on me. It’s easier to measure and report performance that way. The most striking example of this is our Hacking the Attention Economy research with Amplified Intelligence, which demonstrates that 85% of digital ads get less than 2.5 seconds of attention. 2.5 seconds is below the threshold for driving memory effects. Showing the discrepancy between what brands think they’re paying for in viewable impressions and what the audience is actually taking in.
However, in an era of growth slowdown, brands can no longer afford to be vain; they need to be invaluable. Some sustainably successful brands have survived over centuries rather than business quarters by adapting to change, creating enduring value and measuring what matters. The M&S turnaround, which culminated in a return to the FTSE 100 and multiple years of consecutive growth, is a brilliant example of this. The 142-year-old brand, under the mantra of being "positively dissatisfied", overhauled its corporate culture and rededicated the organisation to delivering ‘Remarksable Value’ (product quality and price-lock essentials), rather than constant promotional cycles. The turnaround peaked at a 300% share price uplift - tripling its valuation. Specsavers is another example of an invaluable brand, one that has transcended the optical and audiology category to become a global brand worth £3.6 billion. Should’ve gone to Specsavers has been used for over twenty years and, behind its iconic humour, is a ruthless dedication to owning the mental real estate of eye and audio care expertise. Turning routine healthcare into an automatic reflex rather than a comparison search.
And therein lies some of the differences between a vain brand and an invaluable brand. The invaluable make substitutes feel inferior; they become a default heuristic, offer indispensable utility, and are measured accordingly. They feast on the vain.
A vain brand pays for a fleeting impression. An invaluable brand builds mental real estate.
A vain brand promotes clicks. An invaluable brand is recommended by people.
A vain brand drives traffic. An invaluable brand broadens customer value.
A vain brand seeks mentions. An invaluable brand builds trust.
A vain brand reports on cost efficiency. An invaluable brand reports on profit contribution.
A vain brand delivers channel effects. An invaluable brand delivers commercial outcomes.
Building an invaluable brand may also challenge marketers' mandate in organisations. Beyond managing brand perceptions and the immediate return on media investment, how might the role be more active in provoking and measuring the brand's value creation, such as its pricing power and its ability to capitalise on new pools of demand? Think of it as becoming the armoury for the business. An invaluable brand protects base margins during a downturn (the shield) while giving the company the permission and license to enter new high-margin categories (the sword). Consider easyJet, another brand that recently returned to the FTSE100. The once low-cost airline fought off the damaging effects of the pandemic on the travel sector and bounced back, becoming the UK’s fastest-growing travel business by entering the high-margin package holidays category. Driving record profits and reduced reliance on margin-killing discounts.
So while a vain brand will often contribute to business complacency, an invaluable brand drives greater business resilience. And amid economic stagnation, growth is reserved exclusively for the invaluable.
