New York, NY – June
2018 / Newsmaker Alert / The
hospitality
& theme parks industry ranked #10 out of 15 industries studied
in MBLM’s Brand Intimacy
2018 Report, which is the largest study of brands based on emotions.
Universal Theme Parks came in first in the industry, followed by Disney
Parks and Marriott. The remaining brands in the Top 10 for the hospitality
& theme parks industry were: Hilton, Holiday Inn, Ritz Carlton, Four
Seasons, Days Inn, Sheraton and Hyatt.
Brand
Intimacy is defined as a new paradigm that leverages and strengthens the
emotional bonds between a person and a brand. For the third year, MBLM’s
study revealed that top intimate brands in the U.S. surpassed the top brands
in the Fortune 500 and S&P indices in revenue and profit over the past
10 years.
“Brands
in the hospitality & theme parks industry are being commoditized and
disintermediated. They continue to struggle in effectively building intimate
bonds with consumers,” stated Mario Natarelli, managing partner at MBLM.
“Yet, there is enormous opportunity for this industry and it involves focusing
on experiences that create and foster emotional connections. Companies
need to provide customers a reason to commit to their brand that goes beyond
price point, amenities or a membership program.”
Other
notable hospitality & theme parks findings in MBLM’s Brand Intimacy
2018 Report include:
-
The category’s
Brand Intimacy Quotient was 20.3, well below the industry average of 27.1
-
Fulfillment,
which relates to performance, was the archetype most associated with the
category, and Marriott was the best performing brand for fulfillment
-
Women
and those 35-64 years old preferred Universal Theme Parks
-
Millennials
chose Disney Parks, which also ranked highest for fusing
-
Universal
Theme Parks, which ranked #1, had considerably improved its intimacy score,
41.1 this year, compared to 29.4 last year, while Four Seasons’ score declined
to 16.7 this year, compared to 23.8 last year
MBLM also
released a comprehensive article entitled, “Can
Hospitality Brands Find a More Intimate Future: Uncovering opportunities
for brands to building stronger connections with consumers.” The article
includes an analysis of two major players in the industry – Marriot and
Airbnb. It also provides a number of considerations impacting the way consumers
bond with hospitality and theme parks, including:
-
More than
technology for technology’s sake: Hotels are scrambling to invest and leverage
technology to enhance the consumer’s experience
-
The experiential
factor: Hotels are focusing on unique experiences since millennial and
Generation Z audiences tend to value experiences overall material goods
-
Brands
that endure: The age of a brand impacts its ability to build intimate bonds
with consumers. Younger brands need more time to build nuanced relationships
with consumers
-
Loyalty
is dead – Loyalty programs are not impactful anymore and brands looking
for success would be better off investing in efforts to funnel more customers
into the fusing stage, when a person and a brand are inexorably linked,
than expecting repeat business from loyalty programs
In addition
to the release of the findings and article, MBLM also hosted a webinar
entitled “Explore Rankings of the Most Intimate Hospitality & Theme
Park Brands.” A recording of the webinar can be found
here.
To
view the hospitality & theme parks industry findings, please click
here. The full Brand Intimacy 2018 Report and the Ranking Tool can
be found here.
This
year’s report contains the most comprehensive rankings of brands based
on emotion, analyzing the responses of 6,000 consumers and 54,000 brand
evaluations across 15 industries in the U.S., Mexico and UAE. MBLM’s reports
and interactive Brand Ranking Tool showcase the performance of almost 400
brands, revealing the characteristics and intensity of the consumer bonds.
Methodology
During
2017, MBLM conducted an online quantitative survey among 6,000 consumers
in the United States (3,000), Mexico (2,000), and the United Arab Emirates
(1,000). Participants were respondents who were screened for age (i.e.
18 to 64 years of age) and annual household income ($35,000 or more) in
the U.S. and socioeconomic levels in Mexico and the UAE (A, B, and C socioeconomic
levels). Quotas were established to ensure that the sample mirrored census
data for age, gender, income/socioeconomic level, and region. The survey
was designed primarily to understand the extent to which consumers have
relationships with brands and the strength of those relationships, from
fairly detached to highly intimate. It is important to note that this study
provides more than a mere ranking of brand performance and was specifically
designed to provide prescriptive guidance to marketers. We modeled data
from a total of 54,000 brand evaluations to quantify the mechanisms that
drive intimacy. Through factor analysis, structural equation modeling,
and other sophisticated analytic techniques, the research allows marketers
to better understand which levers need to be pulled to build intimacy between
brands and consumers.
About
MBLM
MBLM
has invented a new marketing paradigm, Brand Intimacy, delivering expertise
and offerings across three areas of focus: Agency, Lab and Platform. With
offices in seven countries, our multidisciplinary teams help clients build
stronger bonds and deliver optimized marketing outcomes and returns for
the long term. To learn more about how we can help you create and sustain
ultimate brand relationships, visit mblm.com.
Media
Contact:
Rubenstein
PR
Kati
Bergou
212-805-3014 |