{"id":7327,"date":"2016-12-08T10:32:13","date_gmt":"2016-12-08T10:32:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/groupcaliber.com\/?p=429"},"modified":"2022-01-27T10:45:02","modified_gmt":"2022-01-27T10:45:02","slug":"q4-2016-results-why-do-people-love-lego-and-hate-saxo-bank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/groupcaliber.banyodev.dk\/index.php\/2016\/12\/08\/q4-2016-results-why-do-people-love-lego-and-hate-saxo-bank\/","title":{"rendered":"Q4 2016 results: Why do people love Lego and hate Saxo Bank?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Love and hate are harsh terms that perhaps shouldn\u2019t be used when talking about companies and people\u2019s perceptions of them \u2013 after all, as we said before<\/a>, love\u2019s got no business being used in the world of marketing and, well, business. But when we evaluate companies\u2019 brand and reputation, and their perceived Corporate Character, the main index we look at is the level of trust and affection they enjoy in the marketplace \u2013 and on that measurement, among the 120+ companies we monitor in Denmark every month, Lego always seems to come first and Saxo Bank last. Why is that?<\/p>\n

Of toys and bank accounts<<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

It\u2019s true that most of us are not aware of many Saxo-fans out there, and we don\u2019t mean the musical instrument! Jokes aside, it\u2019s clear that comparing a toy manufacturer with a bank is not exactly fair: people have a personal and playful relationship with games and toys, one that can extend way beyond their childhood \u2013 hence the phenomenon of Adult Fans of Lego. A bank, on the other hand, is considered a \u201cnecessary evil\u201d, a rational service that is not typically associated with strong emotions. This is fair enough and starts explaining the difference in scores between the two companies, but our data shows that there are other toy manufacturers that are not nearly as trusted and liked as LEGO (e.g. Playmobil, ranked 52), just as much as there are other banks that are not nearly disliked and distrusted as much as Saxo Bank (e.g. Arbejdernes Landsbank, ranked 61). So clearly there\u2019s more to it than the difference in sectors and the nature of the product.<\/p>\n

To try and answer this question, we should first explain our methodology in a bit more detail.<\/p>\n

Why it\u2019s important to be trusted and liked<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

At Caliber we believe that companies that are driven by a unique purpose and act with integrity have a strong and lasting character \u2013 in the same way that people do. Our experience and research clearly show that this leads to being more trusted and liked by other people, and for companies this means winning more loyal customers and employees, and more dedicated ambassadors among other stakeholder groups \u2013 helping secure the performance and viability of the business. We consider \u201cdriven by a unique purpose\u201d to be a testament of a strong corporate brand, and \u201cacting with integrity\u201d to be the hallmark of a strong company reputation. These therefore form the building blocks of our methodology, which looks at brand and reputation dimensions as driving trust and affection, which in turn build consideration, preference and advocacy.<\/p>\n

As part of our real-time tracking program we monitor the public perceptions of more than 120 companies in Denmark on a monthly basis on the different aspects of their brand and reputation. Since, as mentioned above, our research indicates that being trusted and liked is the main driver of people\u2019s behavior and goodwill towards companies \u2013 we focus on that as our main index, while also trying to understand how brand and reputation dimensions help build these emotions of trust and affection. Looking at the development of our metrics we can detect key characteristics of those companies who succeed in forming this emotional bond with the public, and those who don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

One interesting thing we find again and again is that a strong brand and a strong reputation go hand in hand when it comes to earning the trust and affection of stakeholders. In fact, 53% of people\u2019s trust and affection towards companies is influenced by an organization\u2019s corporate brand (how authentic, relevant, differentiated and inspiring it is perceived to be), while 47% is explained by the corporate reputation (perceptions of the company\u2019s products, innovation, integrity and leadership):<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nFigure shows percentage of influence of each corporate brand and reputation dimension on trust and affection (sum = 100%). Percentages are result of a multiple linear regression analysis based on the data from the Caliber brand and reputation tracker in September-November 2016 (n = 4.963; Adj R-square = 0,731)<\/em><\/p>\n

What\u2019s more interesting, as you can see in the figure above, is that it\u2019s not the tangible elements \u2013 the company\u2019s actual offering, innovation and leadership \u2013 that matter most to people. Rather, it\u2019s the softer elements \u2013 being able to relate to what it stands for (Relevance), feeling it\u2019s a company that does what it says (Authenticity) and having a sense that it behaves responsibly (Integrity). In other words, when it comes to trusting and liking companies, and therefore wanting to buy their products, invest in their shares, work in their offices or recommend them to others \u2013 the soul of the company matters more than the body.<\/p>\n

Yours, body and soul<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

This of course means that to get their audiences engaged, companies need to convince them not only of their tangible attributes (like the quality of their products or the speed of their innovation) but also of the fact that they stand for something people can relate to, and that they behave authentically and responsibly. Can this help us better understand the vast difference between how Lego and Saxo Bank are perceived? It sure does.<\/p>\n

Lego has been admired by the public for many years not just for its great toys, but also for what it stands for \u2013 a company that inspires and develops the builders of tomorrow, and a company that believes in \u2013 and fights for \u2013 children\u2019s right to learn through play. It has worked hard since its beginning in 1932 to put actions behind these words, making it come across as an authentic company with a strong sense of integrity.<\/p>\n

Saxo Bank, on the other hand, suffers from the lack of a perceived \u201csoul\u201d \u2013 while it\u2019s recognized by the public for being an innovative bank, it scores lowest in Denmark for Integrity and Relevance. This, more than anything else, makes people distrust and dislike it more than they do other banks.<\/p>\n

One day at a time<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

As the saying goes, reputation takes years to build and minutes to ruin. Public perceptions can indeed prove fickle, which is why we monitor them on a daily basis and analyze them weekly and monthly \u2013 to identify how events, activities and stories that reach people affect their perceptions of different organizations. What we\u2019re also learning is that getting the public to trust and like organizations is a complex process with many complementary aspects. It is not a question of one (or several) successful PR event, marketing campaigns or break-through innovation. It is a life-long challenge of the company to develop a strong and lasting corporate character through defining a true purpose, engaging with internal and external stakeholders, and backing up words with real actions. It\u2019s only those companies who can deliver \u201cbody and soul\u201d that will earn their stakeholders\u2019 loyalty and advocacy. We\u2019ll keep following companies in Denmark and elsewhere to see how they develop in this arena \u2013 and will keep an eye out for that day when Lego is no longer the first and Saxo Bank no longer the last\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Love and hate are harsh terms that perhaps shouldn\u2019t be used when talking about companies and people\u2019s perceptions of them \u2013 after all, as we said before, love\u2019s got no business being used in the world of marketing and, well, business. But when we evaluate companies\u2019 brand and reputation, and their perceived Corporate Character, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7523,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"industry":[],"class_list":["post-7327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-knowledge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/groupcaliber.banyodev.dk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/groupcaliber.banyodev.dk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/groupcaliber.banyodev.dk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/groupcaliber.banyodev.dk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/groupcaliber.banyodev.dk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7327"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/groupcaliber.banyodev.dk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7524,"href":"https:\/\/groupcaliber.banyodev.dk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7327\/revisions\/7524"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/groupcaliber.banyodev.dk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/groupcaliber.banyodev.dk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/groupcaliber.banyodev.dk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/groupcaliber.banyodev.dk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7327"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/groupcaliber.banyodev.dk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=7327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}