Skip to main content
  • Agency

    Agency

    We are the Brand Intimacy Agency, dedicated to creating ultimate brand relationships.

    Learn more about us

    MBLM

    • About
    • Leadership
    • Careers
    • Industry Solutions
    • News
    • Blog

    Our Offices

    • New York
    • Toronto
    • Dubai
    • Seoul

    Latest News

    collage of look alike tarot cards: The Retreater, The App Obsessed, The Budget Splurger, The Gamer, The Seeker

    MBLM Unveils 2024 Trendcasts

    Harnessing Brand Intimacy Data to Dimension New Behavioral Profiles

  • Services

    Services

    We deliver branding, marketing and digital services that create brand intimacy.

    View all services

    Essence

    • Research & Insights
    • Naming
    • Brand Strategy
    • Brand Architecture
    • Brand Identity
    • Design Systems
    • Brand Management

    Story

    • Messaging
    • Campaigns
    • Social Media
    • Content Creation
    • Brand Launch
    • Merchandised Content
    • Presentations
    • Videos
    • Infographics

    Experience

    • Web Design
    • Web Development
    • Digital Marketing
    • SEO
    • Analytics / Measurement
    • Technology & Integration
    • Platform
    • Events & Environments

    Featured Service

    tone and manner service icon

    Tone and Manner

    A brand’s tone conveys its personality, semiotics and style.

  • Work

    Work

    We create intimate brands that engage and endure.

    View all cases

    Featured Work

    Symplr - 100 Days to Multiply Impact case study

    Symplr—100 Days to Multiply Impact

     

    3Pillar - Make incredible case study

    3Pillar—Breaking Through the Noise

     

    NFL - Total Wellness case study

    NFL—Strong Minds, Stronger Playersg

  • Brand Intimacy

    Brand Intimacy

    MBLM’s Brand Intimacy Study uses artificial intelligence to assess how the world’s leading brands perform based on the emotional connections they form with consumers.

    Explore the study

    Study

    • Brand Intimacy Study
    • Report
    • Rankings
    • Industry Rankings
    • Features

    Resources

    • Articles
    • Book
    • Overview
    • Model & Methodology
    • Glossary
    • Sources

    Featured

    Brand Intimacy feature Trendcasting

    Trendcasting

    See how we forecasted new consumer trends for 2024 based on our latest Brand Intimacy findings.

  • Platform

    Platform

    Modern marketing and sales software for the world's leading brands.

    More about our Platform

    Software Tools

    • BrandOS
    • PresentationOS

    Resources

    • Specifications
    • FAQs

    Featured Platform Case

    Championing Brand Central PayPal Case Study

    PayPal—Championing Brand Central

Get in touch
  • Agency

    Agency

    We are the Brand Intimacy Agency, dedicated to creating ultimate brand relationships.

    Learn more about us

    MBLM

    • About
    • Leadership
    • Careers
    • Industry Solutions
    • News
    • Blog

    Our Offices

    • New York
    • Toronto
    • Dubai
    • Seoul

    Latest News

    MBLM Unveils 2024 Trendcasts

    Harnessing Brand Intimacy Data to Dimension New Behavioral Profiles

  • Services

    Services

    We deliver branding, marketing and digital services that create brand intimacy.

    View all services

    Essence

    • Research & Insights
    • Naming
    • Brand Strategy
    • Brand Architecture
    • Brand Identity
    • Design Systems
    • Brand Management

    Story

    • Messaging
    • Campaigns
    • Social Media
    • Content Creation
    • Brand Launch
    • Merchandised Content
    • Presentations
    • Videos
    • Infographics

    Experience

    • Web Design
    • Web Development
    • Digital Marketing
    • SEO
    • Analytics / Measurement
    • Technology & Integration
    • Platform
    • Events & Environments

    Featured Service

    Tone and Manner

    A brand’s tone conveys its personality, semiotics and style.

  • Work

    Work

    We create intimate brands that engage and endure.

    View all cases

    Featured Work

    Symplr—100 Days to Multiply Impact

    3Pillar—Breaking Through the Noise

    NFL—Strong Minds, Stronger Playersg

  • Brand Intimacy

    Brand Intimacy

    MBLM’s Brand Intimacy Study uses artificial intelligence to assess how the world’s leading brands perform based on the emotional connections they form with consumers.

    Explore the study

    Study

    • Brand Intimacy Study
    • Report
    • Rankings
    • Industry Rankings
    • Features

    Resources

    • Articles
    • Book
    • Overview
    • Model & Methodology
    • Glossary
    • Sources

    Featured

    Trendcasting

    See how we forecasted new consumer trends for 2024 based on our latest Brand Intimacy findings.

  • Platform

    Platform

    Modern marketing and sales software for the world's leading brands.

    More about our Platform

    Software Tools

    • BrandOS
    • PresentationOS

    Resources

    • Specifications
    • FAQs

    Featured Platform Case

    PayPal—Championing Brand Central

Get in touch
Press Releases - October 15, 2019

Apparel Remained in Top Half of All Industries Studied in MBLM’s Brand Intimacy 2019 Study

The apparel industry again ranked seventh out of the 15 industries studied in MBLM’s Brand Intimacy 2019 Study, which is the largest study of brands based on emotion. Brand Intimacy is defined as the emotional science that measures the bonds we form with the brands we use and love. Nike dominated the industry for the third year in a row. This year, it was followed by Victoria’s Secret and Levi’s. The remaining brands in the top 10 for the industry were: Ralph Lauren, Adidas, American Eagle Outfitters, lululemon athletica, The North Face, Puma and Gap.

Nike’s second quarter fiscal 2019 revenue (for the quarter ending on November 30, 2018) was $9.4 billion, a growth of 14 percent.[1] This correlates to MBLM’s Brand Intimacy 2019 Study findings, which showed that top intimate brands in the U.S. significantly outperformed the top brands in the Fortune 500 and S&P indices in both revenue and profit over the past 10 years.

“Apparel again was a mid-ranking industry in our annual study,” stated Mario Natarelli, managing partner, MBLM. “Given the personal nature of apparel, we believe this industry could greatly improve its performance by fostering stronger emotional connections.”

Additional notable apparel findings in MBLM’s study include:

  • Apparel had an average Brand Intimacy Quotient of 30.9, which was almost as high as the cross-industry average of 31.0
  • Fulfillment, which is related to performance, was the archetype (a pattern that is consistently present among intimate brands) most associated with the category (last year it was indulgence), and Nike was the top apparel brand for fulfillment
  • Nike ranked #1 in the industry and led with men, women and millennials; whereas, consumers over 35 preferred Levi’s
  • Nike also led among users with incomes under $100,000, but users with higher incomes preferred Adidas
  • Levi’s, lululemon athletica and Under Armour have all fallen in rankings since last year
  • 23 percent of the industry’s customers were in one of the three stage of intimacy: sharing, bonding and fusing

In conjunction with the industry findings, MBLM also released an article analyzing Nike, entitled, “Nike: Just Doing It.” Nike’s Brand Intimacy Quotient has consistently risen, indicating that the brand is continuously improving its effort to build strong emotional bonds with customers. Looking at Nike’s archetypes is more of a mixed bag. This year, the brand showed decline in its associations with fulfillment, ritual, nostalgia and indulgence, and improvement related to identity and enhancement. Nike improved in sharing and bonding, the first two stages of intimacy, and declined in fusing, the ultimate stage. In addition to its innovative products, Nike’s mobile focus, brand campaigns and continued support of social causes (issues of race, gender and sexual orientation) are likely contributing to its strong appeal with millennials. Further, among intimate users, the brand has significantly improved its price resilience metrics. Sixteen percent of Nike’s users said they would be willing to pay 20 percent more for the brand’s products, up from nine percent in 2018 and higher than the industry average at 11 percent.

To view apparel industry findings, please click here. To download the full Brand Intimacy 2019 Study or explore the Data Dashboard, click here.

Methodology & Sources

During 2018, MBLM with Praxis Research Partners conducted an online quantitative survey among 6,200 consumers in the U.S. (3,000), Mexico (2,000), and the United Arab Emirates (1,200). Participants were respondents who were screened for age (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 research provides more than a mere ranking of brand performance and was specifically designed to provide prescriptive guidance to marketers. We modeled data from over 6,200 interviews and approximately 56,000 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 their brand and consumers. Thus, marketers will understand not only where their brand falls in the hierarchy of performance but also how to strengthen performance in the future.

To read a more detailed description of MBLM’s approach, visit its Methodology page.

[1] Nike News

Share

Facebook X LinkedIn Mail

Press Release

Download PDF

Related News

collage of look alike tarot cards: The Retreater, The App Obsessed, The Budget Splurger, The Gamer, The Seeker MBLM Unveils 2024 Trendcasts
The cover of 'brand indifference' magazine with the headline 'Sensational scoops on sad splits'. MBLM Unveils New Research on Brand Indifference
Agency
  • About
  • Leadership
  • Services
  • Industry Solutions
  • Work
  • Careers
  • News
  • Blog
  • Contact Us
Brand Intimacy
  • Report
  • Rankings
  • Industries
  • Features
  • Book
  • Articles
  • Resources
Platform
  • BrandOS
  • PresentationOS
  • Technical Specs
  • Platform FAQs
Offices
  • New York
  • Dubai
  • Toronto
  • Seoul
Facebook
X
LinkedIn

© EMBLEM LLC

22 West 27th Street, #4 New York, NY 10001 USA

T: +1 212 979 8200
PRIVACY POLICY

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED