Google rated top digital brand by new Avenue A metric

by Jacquie Bowser, Brand Republic 24-Jun-08, 12:40

LONDON - Avenue A|Razorfish has rated Google, Apple and YouTube as the top three digital brands in the world as it unveiled a new system to measure effectiveness.

Flickr, Netflix, Nike, eBay, Ikea, Coca-Cola and Mercedes rounded out Avenue's top 10 digital brands.

The digital agency compiled its list via what it calls its Brand Gene Scoreboard, which the agency developed to assess the effectiveness of digital brands.

Avenue A|Razorfish researched seven attributes of successful digital brands and created the Gene Scoreboard because it said the "market lacks an effective way to measure how well a brand can take advantage of the interactive and social nature of digital technologies".

The seven attributes include whether the website is fresh, authentic, adaptive, relevant, transformative, social and immersive.

Joe Crump, vice-president of strategy and planning at Avenue A|Razorfish, said: "Digital is the most ruthlessly Darwinian medium in history -- a channel demanding brands to innovate or die at the hands of more nimble competitors.

"Within the user-center world of Web 2.0, it's survival of the fittest. That's why any brand that wants to put digital at the core of its success needs a way to measure the effectiveness of a digital brand."

Using the scoreboard and a five-point scale, where five is best in class and one is failure, a team of 800 Avenue A|Razorfish rated the top 10 digital brands as follows:

Google (4.2)
Apple (4.0)
YouTube (3.9)
Flickr (3.7)
Netflix (3.64)
Nike (3.6)
eBay (3.5)
Ikea (3.4)
Coca-Cola (3.3)
Mercedes (3.3)

The Avenue A|Razorfish list varied significantly from Interbrand's list of the best brands, which put Coca Cola top.

Coca-Cola (3.3 using the Brand Gene Scoreboard)
Mercedes (3.3 using the Brand Gene Scoreboard)
GE (3.1 using the Brand Gene Scoreboard)
Nokia (3.0 using the Brand Gene Scoreboard)
Microsoft (2.9 using the Brand Gene Scoreboard)

Brands six-10 on the Interbrand list (IBM, Disney, McDonald’s, Toyota and Intel) all scored 2.7 or below on the Brand Gene Scoreboard.

"Whether you're helping your clients sell more shampoo or sneakers or credit cards, if your work scores well using the Brand Gene Scoreboard, chances are you've hatched a truly digital brand experience," Crump said. "If your scores are low, I would bet there's room to push the experience to a more interesting place."

Crump's presentation and the Digital Gene Scoreboard can be found on the Avenue A|Razorfish in Cannes Facebook page.