The 2008 UK Superbrands

July 21, 2008 · Filed Under branding

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

As always, it is interesting to see what people in the know feel are the UK’s top brands, and the latest results have just been announced. The BBC cover it here and the official Superbrands website can be found here.

The results

Ok, Google have put in an impressive performance here, moving up two places from the 2007 poll. What is unsurprising is that the supermarkets, Tesco, Sainsburys, Asda and Morrisons, have all plummeted, probably due to the fact that food is more and more expensive, and that people are wising up to the fact that these corporate behemoths rip off their suppliers and make way too much profit. Asda dropped 253 places - Tesco 230 - Sainsburys 194. That is a serious fall from grace.

So how is this thing judged?

This to me is always essential to know, and this year, the Superbrands council state that:

” A Superbrand is one that offers customers significant emotional and tangible advantages over other brands”

As well as being judged on 3 other factors:

” Quality, Reliability and Distinction”

A nationally represented group as well as the Superbrands council do the voting and come out with the top 500.

Do I agree with the top 10?

8 out of ten I do. However, I’m not sure Microsoft can be called reliable with the Vistaster or offer emotional advantages! As to Royal Doulton, I really don’t give a giraffe’s breakfast whether I eat off a paper plate or fine china as long as the food is good!
Of course, the big brand missing for me, is my beloved Apple, and that folks is at number 11.

Google is the only web-based brand in the top 50 - Yahoo! coming in at 75 and Amazon UK coming at 285. it is interesting to compare the UK list to a global brand list based on value for 2008:

So, only the big G and Microsoft appear in both top ten. One of the big factors for me at least, is not how well known a brand is but how it behaves, looks and “feels”. A small brand can get a huge following by being, well, small. The unknown, the sort of secret factor of these smaller brands can be a very powerful way of attracting people. Combine that with the power of the web, where the word of mouth marketing can spread virally, the community which can be created, and the two way communication that should be encouraged, and you get a brand which will always be successful, not because of being big and all-powerful, but for being small, and well, cool.

A couple of brands that I feel fall in this category are teapigs tea, Howies clothes, Able and Cole food and IC Berlin specs. These are the brands that impress me, although I am a BIG fan of Google too.