Cyber attack dents Optus brand value while Telstra thrives: report
Since its much-reported cyber-attack last year, Optus’ brand momentum has suffered as it witnessed a 19% fall in brand value to $3.3 billion, according to the latest Brand Finance Australia 100 ranking. The telecommunications company also saw a near 10-point drop in brand strength.
Managing director of Brand Finance Australia, Mark Crowe, said that without the impact of this “one-off pernicious event”, Optus’ brand value would have increased by 11%.
Its competitor Telstra, meanwhile, recorded a 29% increase to be valued at $13.2 billion as the second most valued brand. According to the report, this is driven by improvements for customer service, ease of dealing with, value for money and word of mouth, along with consideration and recommendation.
Matt Williams, managing director of marking & revenue at Optus. said: “It’s been a challenging couple of months for Optus, so the results aren’t surprising but they are disappointing.
“We are taking steps to rebuild confidence in Optus and we are committed to providing great services, great value, and innovative new approaches for our customers.”
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Woolworths was again named the most valuable Australian brand for the fourth consecutive year, up 18% to $16.2 billion. The ranking suggests that factors including local community engagements, inclusive offerings and climate change initiatives contributed to its strong reputation and loyalty among Australian consumers.
Coles retained its spot as the fourth most valuable brand, with brand value up 10% to $10.9 billion, which the ranking attributed to flexibility, innovation and improved scores for quality and value for money.
The banking sector saw overall growth with a collective 17% increase in value. Leading the way was the Commonwealth Bank (brand value up 28% to $11.4 billion) which has reversed its decline in brand value and regained its place as Australia’s third most valuable brand.
Nab (brand value up 36% to $7.9 billion) and ANZ (brand value up 22% to $7.6 billion) have recorded strong increases to be ranked the fifth and seventh most valuable Australian brands.
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Bunnings scored 88.2 out of 100 and a corresponding AAA brand strength rating. It is noted for its attributes including availability, value for money and range of products.
Crowe said: “Across the world, there’s been significant disruption in labour markets, goods markets, and fuel markets. Despite this disruption, Australian brands have grown quickly as they bounce back from the pandemic-disrupted past. With customers facing significant cost pressures, strong brands have an opportunity to earn a premium return.”
Globally, Amazon has retaken the top spot as the world’s most valuable brand despite its brand value falling 15% this year from US$350.3 billion (A$501.41 billion) to US$299.3 billion (A$428.29 billion).
Apple has fallen to be the world’s second most valuable brand with its brand value dropping to US$297.5 billion (A$425.72 billion).
The Brand Strength Index is derived from Brand Finance’s proprietary Global Brand Equity Research Monitor research, a quantitative study of a sample of over 100,000 people from the general public on their perceptions of over 4,000 brands in over 25 sectors and 37 countries including Australia.
Brand Finance also examines total investment levels to produce its findings – for example marketing, R&D, innovation expenditure. It also include online measures – such as ratings by review sites and social media engagement that can give a more granular understanding of marketing effectiveness. Finally they also include real behaviour – for example net additions, customer churn and market share, to overcome the tendency for surveys to incorporate intended behaviour rather than real.
Over a period of three to four months each year, it collects all this data across all the brands in our study in order to accurately measure their comparative strength.
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Darcy Song was a reporter at Mumbrella, covering media owners, adtech and social platforms. She left in October 2023.
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