News Analysis: How famous are you?

The research, titled 'ITV fame ratings: the chemistry of fame', is the latest phase of ITV's 'Values of fame' marketing programme. Adopting methodology created by Bartle Bogle Hegarty in the US, it measures the fame of 130 brands in the minds of UK consumers.

The study also examines what makes a brand famous, identifying five elements: 'connection', or a brand's likeability; 'talkability', which gets brands into casual conversation; 'familiarity', which creates awareness and knowledge; 'universal meaning', which spreads awareness among the wider population; and 'standout', which differentiates a brand from its competitors.

The most important is universal meaning, which accounts for 37% of a brand's fame, while connection is the element that distinguishes a brand's perceived fame from its real popularity.

Brands scoring high on connection, including Andrex and Oxo, are significantly more famous than is perceived. The opposite is true for Ford, Lloyds TSB, Barclaycard and Victoria Beckham.

In a comparison between David Beckham and Pepsi, the England captain unsurprisingly came top for standout and talkability. He matched Pepsi on universal meaning, but the brand performed better on familiarity and connection. This reveals that Beckham's fame is not endorsed on a personal level, and he is not that well liked.

Two competing brands, Barclays and Halifax, tied overall with 60.4 points each. Halifax, however, outscored its rival on talkability and connection, suggesting that it is liked more.

The crux for brand owners is how fame rankings affect their ability to sell product. The research demonstrates that there is a direct link between a brand's fame and a consumer's intent to purchase. There is a similar link between fame and advocacy, where people tell friends how good a brand is.

Advertising impact

When consumers evaluate a brand's fame, the most important element is advertising, cited by one in three people. TV advertising was ranked highest for impact, cited by more than half. The next most important medium, press, was mentioned by only 8%. As a broadcaster conducted the research, cynics might query these findings, but ITV insists that the 3180 respondents were not prompted on their answers and were unaware of who was behind the research.

The explanation, reputedly backed by neuroscience, is that TV works particularly well in planting sensory associations in people's minds. These bypass the conscious processing part of the brain and feed into long-term memory.

Examples are the Andrex puppy, Oxo family and Ferrero Rocher ambassador.

Future research

The next stage in the research, 'Fame metrics', is due out in the summer.

This will demonstrate the effect of TV advertising on a brand's profit.

It will measure return on investment from ads in different media and the optimum ratio of advertising, and assess how brands should react during market downturns.

Advertising and media agencies have generally reacted warmly to the research.

'The highlighting of the value of universal meaning in building brands reminds us how important it is to target a wider audience, not just core consumers,' says Andy Roberts, Starcom's EMEA managing partner.

Coronation Street was one of the brands in the study, and Roberts is keen to see an analysis of the fame attributes of popular TV shows. 'You could use the analysis to select programmes for advertising that would enhance a brand's fame in elements where it is weak,' he says.

Conversely, Roberts would like to see how advertisers' fame has enhanced the credibility of the shows they sponsor. He suspects Heineken has done much to enhance Sky's coverage of rugby.

In case you were wondering, the most famous of the 130 brands in the sample was Cadbury. Coronation Street, the show it sponsors, was not far behind. A coincidence, or are they in fact contributing to each other's fame?