Crisis, Recovery, and Resilience: How the McDonald’s Brand Weathered an E. Coli Outbreak

A banner for McDonald's and BERA.ai.

When the CDC issued a food safety alert on October 22, 2024, linking a multi-state E. coli outbreak to contaminated slivered onions in McDonald’s Quarter Pounders, the fast-food giant faced a difficult challenge to its reputation. Consumers reacted swiftly, and the hit to McDonald’s perceived product quality and overall experience led to a two-percentile drop […]

Walmart’s High-Income Shopper Surge: How the Retail Giant is Winning Wealthier Shoppers

For decades, Walmart has been synonymous with low prices and budget-conscious shopping—a go-to destination for families looking to stretch their dollars. But a seismic shift is underway. A growing number of high-income shoppers are filling Walmart’s aisles, signaling a transformation in how the retail giant is perceived. During Walmart’s Q3 2024 earnings call, CEO Doug […]

Brand valuation: how to do it and why

Getting brand valuation right.

Millions are spent every year on brand valuation rankings. They are a nice reminder that brands are a valuable corporate asset. But they produce wildly different results, even for the same brand. For example, take a look at four of the most popular annual rankings: Four brands make every list: Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon. […]

Getting brand strategy metrics right

Getting brand strategy metrics right.

Most CMOs and their CEOs would agree that brand equity is a valuable corporate asset because it contributes to revenue growth, margin, and stability that would otherwise not materialize. If so, growing brand equity with a high ROI should be the governing objective of brand strategy. This requires a brand measurement system that gets brand […]

Getting brand ROI metrics right

Getting brand ROI metrics right.

Most business leaders agree that brand equity is a thing, having a lot of it is an even better thing, and it makes sense to invest in it. If they forget, numerous rankings of “the world’s most valuable brands” come around every year to remind them. But brand owners struggle to quantify the true return […]

Getting brand equity metrics right

Getting brand equity right.

In 1991, almost 60 years after P&G introduced the practice of “brand management,” David Aaker published Managing Brand Equity. He defined brand equity as “the commercial value derived from consumer perception of the brand name of a particular product or service, rather than from the product or service itself.” Marketers loved this because it made […]

Getting brand measurement right

Getting brand measurement right.

In 1931, P&G executive Neil McElroy wrote an internal memorandum that launched “brand management” as a corporate practice. Because “you manage what you measure,” the practice of brand management inevitably led to brand measurement. This is commonly known as brand tracking. Today, almost a century after McElroy’s memo, hundreds of millions of dollars are spent […]