Even amid the turmoil in consumers’ lives, many of the rules of brand growth as espoused by Byron Sharp remain in place; a recent Morning Consult study highlights the role of Brand Love.

Writing for WARC, Victoria Sakal, Managing Director/Brand Intelligence at Morning Consult, details research looking at data from June and July 2020 and the four metrics that comprise the intelligence company’s Brand Love Index: favorability, trust, community impact, and Net Promoter Scores combine to indicate consumers’ positive sentiment, loyalty, and key perceptions toward brands.

Sharp stresses that mental and physical availability lead to brand usage, which in turn drives growth; he also emphasizes that light users are key to driving growth – “a truth reflected in this year’s biggest gainers,” she notes.

The brands which improved most on their Brand Love Index score between March 1, before the outbreak, and the end of July, include Zoom, TikTok, Instacart and Headspace.

Each of these “satisfied some combination of rational needs (groceries without leaving home) and emotional needs (self-care and stress relief) in the context of evolving pandemic-related use cases, which led people to consider them as options,” says Sakal.

“But importantly, their growth was also fueled by light or non-users suddenly experiencing a new need state – again, whether functional (Zoom), or emotional (Headspace, TikTok).

And importantly, none of the categories above are overdeveloped or overcrowded, she points out. “This created an opportunity for these players to quickly establish mental and physical availability around newly-emerging consumer needs.

“Demand rose rapidly and was, in many cases, essential. With fewer competing options, escalating needs and extreme ease of access, these brands enjoyed perfect conditions for becoming top of mind – and heart – among Americans.

Fore more details read Victoria Sakal’s article in full: How Brand Love fuels lower funnel KPIs, even during a pandemic

Sourced from WARC