Best of Attest in 2018

This year alone, we’ve published over 220 blog posts, which have been read 250,000 times. Four to five times a week we published articles on research strategy, consumer behaviours and emerging trends. All this has helped us keep marketeers and brand experts up to date with 12 months full of practical consumer insights.

That’s a lot of content, and we know you don’t have time to read it all (even though we know you want to). So we’ve brought the best articles together into one post for you.

As we approach the end of the year, we take a look back at the most popular (most read) blog posts from each of the last 12 months.

All in one handy place, here’s the very best of Attest in 2018.

January: The 11 Biggest Challenges Facing Brands in 2018

Read 19,920 times

All the way back in January we kicked off the year with this crowdsourced article. Looking for both reflections on the past and predictions for the future, we spoke to 12 brands spanning the online and offline spaces in sectors varying from fashion to pharmacy.

Experts commented on everything from rising prices in the post-Brexit-referendum landscape, to facing off fiercer competition than ever and reaching the emerging Millennial market. We learnt that every brand has distinct challenges to tackle, a fact that’s more true than ever as we look forward to 2019 and the changes it will inevitably bring.

February: So Haute Right Now: How Louis Vuitton are Killing it on Social Media

Read 6,797 times

Following a first place position in our Luxury Brand Index way back in Q1 of 2018, we dug a little deeper into the success of the quintessential French fashion house. Bucking the trend of other luxury retailers, for whom the perception is that luxury goods should be kept as a privileged pursuit – away from the mass appeal of social media, Louis Vuitton have embraced social media as a way to reach their audience.

21 million consumers follow the fashion house’s Instagram account, and along with a wise choice of influencers including Emma Stone and Chloe Moretz, the brand have managed to translate their luxe brand into appeal and aspiration for the social media generation.

March: 5 Templates to Get Your Brand Messaging on Point

Read 1,973 times

“Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room” (Jeff Bezos), and you surely want consumers to be saying good things about you to their friends and family, spreading their endorsement of your brand far and wide.

There’s no understating the importance of brand, and this article proved a real hit, offering up plenty of practical help in your brand-building journey. Get your branding right and consumers will pay for your name, as well as your products and services. These 5 templates are a great place to start…

April: The Healthy Snack Brands Nibbling Away at the Industry

Read 2,725 times

With two quarters of detailed data on the snacks industry – including the brands winning share of mind, highest NPS in the sector and levels of purchase intent for the top brands – we noticed the shift towards healthier versions of the country’s favourite snacks. From crisps to ice cream, the snacks industry is undergoing a health overhaul.

The rise of veganism, increasing provisions for those with food intolerances and the introduction of the UK sugar tax has all contributed to a shift in the market, which consumers have both fuelled and responded positively to. Now there seems to be a new puffed crisp-alternative on the market every few weeks, spelling positive things for the health snack industry moving into 2019.

May: Britain’s Dream Job: The Top 10 Brands the UK Wants to Work For

Read 4,126 times

The UK’s number one dream employer, it was discovered, is Apple. In fact, half of the top 10 brands named were technology companies, with Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Samsung also represented. This is a great sign for technology companies wanting to be top of mind for graduates fresh out of their computer science and technology-focussed degrees.

Aside from being at the cutting edge of innovation, consumers also named brands where they felt the benefits and staff discounts would be desirable: including John Lewis, Cadbury and Next.

June: Bring Home the Vegan Bacon: Consumer Opinions on the Rise of Veganism

Read 4,875 times

Speaking of the rise of veganism, at the beginning of the summer our deep dive into the UK’s opinions on the rising trend captured the imagination of readers. We surveyed 250 consumers to establish how they feel about ditching their Sunday roast dinners in favour of a nut roast. In fact, the trend is by all accounts mainstream now, with only 12% of the population unwilling to give up meat and animal by-products at least some of the time.

The growing market we identified represents a huge opportunity to both established brands wishing to launch new vegan-friendly lines, and vegan-only brands entering the market for the first time.

July: 10 Brand Health Metrics You Need to Know

Read 17,381 times

Here at Attest, we’re trusted by brands big and small when it comes to tracking Brand Health. Dozens of brands use our platform to track their brand quarter on quarter or month on month, both within the UK and internationally.

It’s only by keeping your finger on the pulse of the market that you’ll know whether the changes you make to your brand – a rebrand, a new campaign or any other impactful consumer-facing strategy – have a positive effect on the most important brand health metrics.

Here we explained the top 10 metrics your brand should consider tracking to understand the changing sentiment around your company better. From Net Promoter Score to Unprompted and Prompted Brand Recall, these are the metrics that will illuminate the successes of your strategies.

August: How to Create More Useful Consumer Segmentation Models (with Examples)

Read 18,296 times

This article offers some invaluable advice if your brand is looking to improve the consumer segmentation models it uses. Strike the perfect balance between too narrow and exclusive and being too wide to be useful at all.

Build your segmentation models based on real consumer insights and avoid the fate that befalls brands who base their segmentations on outdated or inaccurate demographics. This will allow your brand to optimise communications for reaching the consumers that actually matter most, not just the ones who look like your customers on paper.

September: Media Consumption Report

Read 3,847 times

Back in 2017 we ran our first ever Media Consumption Report, surveying 1000 UK consumers to report on the country’s media habits and preferences. In 2018 we re-ran the survey, and produced a detailed report on the changes over the preceding 12 months.

We also asked how consumers predict they’ll behave in the next 12 months, including the media providers they’re most likely to move away from in the near future. Essential reading.

October: WTF Do Things Like Statistical Significance, Confidence Levels & Margin of Error Mean? Your No BS Guide

Read 373 times

We all know it: the world of consumer insight is full of jargon terms and confusing names that sound like they belong more in a science lab than a marketing team. Case in point: statistical significance, confidence level and margin of error.

We’ve cut through the crap to offer this guide, explaining the key terms and whether they actually mean anything for the consumer insights projects you want to run. As it turns out, not all your research needs to be statistically significant. This article explains when and how to apply these key terms.

November: Breaking the Mould in 2019: Brands and Trends to Watch Next Year

Read 354 times

In November we welcomed Damien Lane of Episode 1 Ventures, Meriwether Beckwith of Oxford Capital and Daisy Stapley-Bunten who founded Startups Magazine, to our office for a one-off webinar. Together with Attest’s co-founder and COO, Tony Hunter, they discussed the brands and trends they expect to blossom in 2019. As experts in the field of startups and scaleups, they had lots to talk about.

This article pulls together the key themes discussed in the webinar, including the rising importance of personalisation, the popularity of brands focussed on well-being and satisfying the needs of customers.

December: 2019 Consumer Trends to Watch

Watched 4,221 times

To round-off a jam-packed year of consumer insight, we pulled together our largest ever research sample to bring you the key changes we’ve seen occur from 12 months of gathering consumer data. Not only this, we also noted the trends that are primed to take hold in 2019, straight from the sentiments and behaviours of 16,000 consumers.

The webinar, hosted by our Marketing Director, covered everything we’ve learnt from 2018’s key trends and identified those with the momentum to continue into the new year. It’s the perfect way to prepare your brand for the next 12 months, and to complete our Best of Attest roundup!

To discover more of Attest’s content, see the rest of our blog here.