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always reassuring. Time-tested brands can
often serve as psychological anchors in turbu-
lent times. People are creatures of habit, and
they seek out comfort, particularly when they
are uncomfortable. Brands that can provide
that comfort (Campbell’s, L.L.Bean), or serve
as signposts to a better future (Charles Schwab,
Apple) will continue to attract loyal customers
even as the retail marketplace continues to
fragment and choices multiply. Sometimes, the
tried and true is the only thing people will try.
5. Share, don’t sell. All social-media
platforms in existence today rely upon one
basic principle: people like to share. Brands,
too, can benefit from sharing—but many are
still too focused on selling. Sharing, for
brands, means connecting customers with
information, ideas and resources that can
help customers improve their lives. The “sell-
ing” is done by associating the brand with
related networks of information that may or
may not have much to do with the brand’s
products. The term of art for this approach is
“curated content,” but it’s really about offer-
ing help to people in ways that don’t feel like
a direct sales pitch—because they aren’t.
They’re just useful pieces of information that
you gave them, with no strings attached—
and for that, they will remember you, all the
way into 2016.
MARCH 2015 • PPB • 85
Owen Shapiro is the author of Brand Shift: The Future of Brands and
Marketing. Shapiro is a market researcher, strategist and speaker and spent
more than 30 years in customer insights and market strategy. He has a
career-long interest in helping launch innovative start-up companies, several
of which have become well-known brands, including Staples, PetSmart,
Sports Authority, Ulta and Five Below. .
TOP 10 MOST VALUABLE BRANDS IN THE WORLD
Company Brand Value Brand Revenue
1. Apple $124.2 billion $170.9 billion
2. Microsoft $ 63 billion $ 86.7 billion
3. Google $ 56.6 billion $ 51.4 billion
4. Coca-Cola $ 56.1 billion $ 23.8 billion
5. IBM $ 47.9 billion $ 99.8 billion
6. McDonald’s $ 39.9 billion $ 89.1 billion
7. General Electric $ 37.1 billion $126 billion
8. Samsung $ 35 billion $209.6 billion
9. Toyota $ 39.3 billion $182.2 billion
10. Louis Vuitton $ 29.9 billion $ 9.7 billion
Sources: Factset; Forbes November 2014