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MAKING: Nike’s green app (or the art of applying science to brand marketing)

July 28, 2013
CSR, Mobile
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As I read about Nike’s MSI and the launch of its Making app, I can’t help make the connection with Havas Media’s MBI, which I wrote about recently.

Simply put, the MBI (Meaningful Brand Index) measures consumers’ perception of a brand’s influence on society, environment, economy, health and emotional wellbeing. And as the latest research shows, the more positive impact a company is seen having on consumers’ lives, the more fans they will garner nowadays.

That’s where Nike comes in as it seeks to apply science to the art of supporting a cause dear to our (consumers’) hearts: protection of the environment.

The MSI (Materials Sustainability Index), Nike tell us, is the result of 7 years of effort spent by the corporation on cataloging ‘the best publicly disclosed information related to the environmental impacts of materials’.

As Nike opens up its MSI through its Making app to all apparel designers and creators out there, open-source style, it simply seeks to reinforce its long-term commitment to protecting our environment. That’s got to help the brand perception too…

Don’t get me wrong – Nike’s eco-friendly initiatives are commendable (and have delivered results e.g. their 2010 World Cup soccer jerseys recycled from plastic water bottles). However, the cynic in me can’t help wonder what the take up of this app will really be, and how meaningful and long-term an impact it will have on our environment.

The lack of immediate tangible results or visibility on how involved Nike will be long term in supporting designers who take on the green challenge, is I guess what makes me question how effective the app is going to be. Here is to hoping this is not just a marketing ploy.

For now, I will let you form your own opinion on what Nike’s long term goal may be as you watch the sexy video they released just over a year ago, and the somewhat more down-to-earth video on the making of the app released earlier this month.

Can you really take the marketer out of the do gooder?

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Is the MBI score the new NPS? I would say so.

June 16, 2013
2013 outlook, Brand performance
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I have just come across an article on Forbes that outlines the results from Havas Media’s 2013 Meaningful Brand Index.

The MBI measures consumers’ perception of a brand’s influence on society, environment, economy, health and emotional wellbeing – in other words, the higher a brand in the MBI, the more positive impact it is seen having on consumers’ lives.

In this year’s results, tech giants Google, Samsung and Microsoft are the top 3 (interestingly Apple hasn’t made it to the top 10 – a sign that perhaps we are suffering from Apple fatigue?). And according to Havas Media: ‘’What the results tell us is that tech companies have done some powerful things over the last few years to focus on people’s lives and they’re starting to reap the benefits of that.’’

I couldn’t agree more.

However, this brand ranking takes on another dimension when read in conjunction with the following stat:

“The majority of those surveyed worldwide say they wouldn’t care if 73 percent of brands no longer existed tomorrow, and only 20 percent of all brands are viewed as having a positive role in consumers’ lives.” (Just to put this into perspective: 134,000 consumers were interviewed in 23 countries on 700 brands.)

If that statement doesn’t shake things up in the corporate world, then what will?

In short, as a brand you ‘d better play an active role in improving your consumers’ lives if you want to stay ahead of the pack – and more to the point, stay in business in the years to come.

The current economic climate has further reinforced the need for brands to play a meaningful role in our day to day lives and the community at large, and stop taking our custom for granted. Recent research shows that consumers are expecting brands to help solve the issues society faces and provide tangible proof of their efforts – that’s where CSR and Fair Trade come into play (ref. WARC Trends Toolkit 2013 report).

Finally, as I ponder over the correlation between the MBI score and Net Promoter Score (the score we give a brand on how likely we are to recommend it – a key performance indicator for most brands), I would say the higher the MBI ranking, the higher the NPS – which means all brands efforts should focus on the former to help increase the latter.

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