2021 is set to bring a new set of opportunities and challenges for brands across all industries. We used E-Score Brand to highlight some of the key trends we see coming this year in brand marketing. With 3,000 national brands and 15 years of trends, E-Score Brand is the solution to help you explore the connection between consumers and your brand. 

D2C Brands Rise as E-Commerce Dominates

Online shopping was already on the rise and the pandemic has only expedited its growth, powering a surge in direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands that we expect to continue across many industries. Fielded monthly, E-Score Brand is the perfect tool for businesses to track the changing public perception of their brands – and their competitors – over time. Here, we are checking in on the pre/post-pandemic changes for a variety of D2C brands in the mobile food delivery, fitness, and activewear categories.

Mobile Food Delivery – Door Dash

DoorDash, which is one of the largest food delivery services in the country, has seen solid growth across various age groups. With E-Score Brand we looked at Awareness, Usage, Loyalty, and other important KPIs. Our chart below shows how Boomers have warmed up to the brand and now constitute its most loyal users.

• Awareness of DoorDash among Boomers grew by 20% and was the most significant growth compared to all other age groups. 
• Usage grew most among Millennials with a 15% jump from 2019 and grew by 9% for both Gen X and Boomers. 
• DoorDash has the highest Loyalty among Boomers at 59% will use again, but Millennials and Gen X aren’t far behind at 57% and 54%, respectively.

Fitness – Peloton

Being trapped at home has led to a upswell in D2C fitness activity, but not all brands are benefitting equally. Peloton is one of the hottest fitness brands and in addition to their growing earnings, we found big increases in other KPIs among their key demographic (Fitness & Health Enthusiasts age 25 & over), from 2020 to 2021.

• Peloton grew most in perceptions that it is  A Leader with an increase of 10% from 2020 to 2021.
• Better Than Competitors, Fun, Powerful, and Practical all grew 5% from 2020 to 2021.
• In contrast, competitor NordicTrack is down in Awareness and Usage over the past year.

Activewear – Athleta 

Athleta is looking to position itself as an activewear leader with its focus on inclusive offerings, and excellent timing as the pandemic has caused a spike in both e-commerce and home workouts. The D2C brand’s recent extended-sizing initiative is the direct result of listening to feedback from its key demographic, females age 13+. Using E-Score Brand, we looked at how Athleta compares to the sports clothing category average among that demo. 

• Athleta scores an impressive 41% in High Quality, 8% over the category average.
• Down to Earth is another top attribute for the activewear brand, likely due to its inclusive marketing featuring women of all ages, races, and sizes.

The New Celebrity Brand

Celebrities are trending towards a new approach in brand partnerships where they are taking a bigger stake in their brand through ownership, investment or creative direction. Whether it’s Dwayne Johnson involved in the creation of Teremana Tequila, Ryan Reynolds becoming an owner and spokesperson for Mint Mobile, or Jessica Alba providing nontoxic eco-friendly products through The Honest Company, consumers are connecting with brands through the authenticity and personal access to their celebrity representatives

Brand and celebrity alignment is critical in these arrangements, since in many ways, the celebrity is the brand. Using E-Score Brand and E-Score Celebrity, we looked at how Jessica Alba and her brand, The Honest Company, perform among moms to show where her endorsement power and the company’s target demographic align.

• Jessica Alba has very strong endorsement potential with an Endorsement Score of 59 compared to the spokesperson average of 33.
• The Honest Company’s strongest attributes among moms are Family Friendly, Honest, and Trustworthy, all of which are  above the CPG category average.
• Both Jessica Alba and The Honest Company demonstrate strong alignment in Inspirational with above-average scores of 13% and 6%, respectively.

The D2C movement is only likely to continue growing as the trends of online shopping, social media and celebrity marketing power converge. Whether your brand is D2C or not, E-Score Brand can help you monitor your brand and competitors and track changes over time.

Upgrade

In the next two weeks, E-Score Brand will introduce a series of significant enhancements including:

• Net Promoter Score® (NPS®)
• Ad Recall
• Brand Buzz
• Brand Fandom
• Social Media Engagement
• New Brand Attributes

Look out for our announcement and examples of how they will enhance the brand research marketplace.

Net Promoter® and NPS®are registered trademarks of Bain & Company, Inc., Satmetrix Systems, Inc., and Fred Reichheld