As marketing and communications people we all have views on what makes brands stand out in the news – but do people that follow the news see the world in the same way?

New research from FD reveals that more than nine out of 10 Britons have a firm view of the kind of brands that impress them as leader brands by virtue of the way they behave and what they say in the news.

What makes consumers admire brands in the news?

When asked what made them admire brands in the news, Britons were most likely to rate organisations that could be identified as experts on a particular issue or topic (19 per cent). In second place, people said they admired brands that could be seen to drive positive change in their industry (18 per cent).

Staying power was also seen to be important – 17 per cent of people said they admired brands that were always in the news, good times and bad. When it came to the spokespeople that fronted interviews for a brand, audiences associated market leadership with spokespeople whose character and tone of communication was positive (47 per cent), friendly (40 per cent), human (39 per cent) and concise (36 per cent).

A sample of 250 business leaders was also surveyed by FD and they believed it was important for leader brands to drive change (37 per cent), to be dynamic (30 per cent) and to behave in a trustworthy fashion (22 per cent).

Guy Bellamy, senior managing director at FD commented: “In an economic environment where most marketing and PR teams are having to achieve greater ‘bang for the buck’ our new report offfers fresh discussion points on how brands can become news leaders in the way they shape their PR strategy, content and tactics. Also at a time of media proliferation it is appropriate to let leadership be defined by the people that choose which media and news stories they follow – the audience.”

Background
These snapshot findings form part of an FD study into perceptions of brands and leadership in the news, which will be shared at a research event that FD and PRmoment have joined forces to produce, Full details of this event will be announced soon on the PRmoment and FD websites.