InterbrandFirst, let’s look at the financial institutions:

Rank
2009	2008	Brand		% change
22	15		American Express	-32
32	27		HSBC	-20
36	19		Citi Bank	-49
37	37		JP Morgan	-11
38	38		Goldman Sachs	-10
53	55		Axa	-7
57	42		Morgan Stanley	-26
72	41		UBS	-50
81	82		Allianz	-5
94	100		Visa	-5

Financial Services: integrity as brand differentiator

Never before has the value of brands eroded as fast as it did in 2008-2009. “As a group, financial services brands have lost a third of their value in a matter of months”, writes Interbrand. As can be concluded from the above ranking, UBS (-31 positions), Citi Bank (-17) and Morgan Stanley (-15) suffered the most in Interbrand’s Top 100.

Brands are all about trust, which is was the factor shaken the most as a result of the financial crisis. So what are brands in the financial sector to do to regain consumer trust? “Future financial leaders will still provide the same types of service, but deliver them in a more consistent and thoughtful manner – and always with integrity. This, in the new world, will be the real differentiator”, concludes Interbrand.

Automotive in decline

Along with the financial institutions, the automotive sector is confronted with changing consumer perception – and, ultimately consumer demand. New demand for cars can be summed up as: smaller, greener and more efficient. The days of the gasoline-gulping V8s and V10s are gone, never to return. As the world approaches peak oil, the need for alternative energy sources will continue to grow. Automotive brands have to respond to that new reality – or suffer the consequences. One of those clear victims is Harley Davidson, which saw its brand value plunge by 43%. As a not-so-environmental-friendly brand that relies heavily on its strong heritage, it’s not easy to re-invent. Brands who have established a more innovative image over the years, suffer the least: Hyundai (-5%), Honda (-7%) and Toyota (-8%). Also in ts report, Interbrand included an interesting picture of the demise of the Ford brand since 2000, which indicates that Ford saw its brand value decline from $35 billion to $7 billion.

Media warning: here comes Google

In record time, Google has risen to the top of the Interbrand chart. In 2009, Google now commands a number 7 position, with a brand value increase of 25%. “The common theme is low price and high functionality with added transparency,” Interbrand writes. These should be dire lessons for media companies. Content still is king, but the source of information is rapidly shifting from being centralised (the media) to being decentralised (with the help of all the technology and services Google provides).

Interbrand states: “The media sector landscape is being redefined by non-traditional players, and is facing pressure from all sides. Technology companies such as Google, Twitter, and Facebook are entering the conten creation and delivery arenas and giving users the power to dictate their means of media formation and consumption, threatening to render the old media brands obsolete.”

Source: Interbrand site & magazine

Schmidt painted a long term picture between 10 and 15 years to an audience at the Royal Television Society in Cambridge: “We’re going to go all out on all of them to ensure that if you have great content, as people in your society do, then you can decide if you want it to be advertising supported or if you want people to pay a subscription”, Schmidt said. He also claimed that Google has already generated between $5 and $6 billion through its AdSense model. Schmidt: “Our goal is to make large amounts of money for our content partners.”

Unlike Bebo and MySpace who have started to commission their own content, Schmidt said Google will not go into content: “We are a technology company.”

See full report at Broadband TV News

Until this time, Richard works for QNH Interactive. Managing director Bart Termorshuizen from QNH Interactive: “In the past year, Richard has specialised in this relatively new field of expertise. In his role as communications manager at Rabobank Nederland, he was responsible for project content sharing. This involved syndication of video content from Rabo SportTV on external platforms, with an objective to broaden reach for the video content. With QNH Interactive, we have developed the first branded channel in the Netherlands on YouTube. This has generated more than a million video views for Rabobank.”

“Branded channels means thinking outside-the-site”, says Richard van den Boogaard. “The strategy is straightforward: bring content to platforms that attract many users, rather than using display advertising to drive traffic to a brand site.” Aside from a branded channel on YouTube, QNH Interactive was also closely involved in realisation of a commercial hyve and hyves gadget, as well as a pilot with Brabants Dagblad (part of Mecom).

Richard van den Boogaard will offer this expertise to other brands and media owners but remains available for QNH Interactive on a project basis.

See the entertaining vid from Gary Vaynerchuk below.

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