Is Social Simple Enough?

Is social simple enough? Findings from Siegel+Gale’s

2012 Global Brand Simplicity Index

Russ Meyer, Global Strategy Director @russhmeyer Brian Rafferty, Global Director, Research Insights

Simplicity is…

Useful to me

Transparent/Honest

Easy to understand

Cares about my needs

Innovative/Fresh

Simplicity pays

Copyright Siegel+Gale, 2012. All rights reserved

200%

150

100

50

0

–50

Simplicity Portfolio up 190%

S&Pup 77%

Dowup 70%

DAXup 71%

FTSEup 43%2009 2010 2011 2012

People are willing to pay more for simpler experiences

General insurance

Shipping/Mail

Retail/General

Health insurance

Restaurants

Travel/Train

Appliances

Retail/Grocery

Retail/Fashion

Automotive

Electronics

Fitness

Internet search

Banks/Retail

Travel/Air

Internet retail

Travel/Car rental

Social media

Retail/Health/Beauty

Travel/Hotels

Media

Travel/Booking

Telecom/Cable

Utilities

Telecom/Cell phone

Copyright Siegel+Gale, 2012. All rights reserved

Some industries are simpler than others

Most complex industry

Simplest industry

Copyright Siegel+Gale, 2012. All rights reserved

Most simple global brands: 2012

Copyright Siegel+Gale, 2012. All rights reserved

Search brands vs. social brands

Search brands Social brands

Simple brand Complex brand

0 125

3 26 29 39 69 73 83 103 105 11862 66

Copyright Siegel+Gale, 2012. All rights reserved

Least simple global brands: 2012

Copyright Siegel+Gale, 2012. All rights reserved

Usefulness and transparency are the dimensions where social lags most

Copyright Siegel+Gale, 2012. All rights reserved

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Social media

Internet search

Useful to me

Transparent/Honest

Innovative/Fresh

Easy to understand

Cares about my needs

Search is simple because it’s easy to use and intuitive

“[Bing] gives you direct results.”

“The ease of use and the results you get [from Bing] make it much easier to search.”

“Google makes searching much easier.”

“[Google] is one of the most simple websites out there.”

“Using [Google] is basically built in to what I am doing and any search is easy.”

“Google’s web interaction is intuitive.”

Copyright Siegel+Gale, 2012. All rights reserved

Social is complex because its purpose is often unclear and privacy issues prevail

“Compared to other websites, Facebook’s interface is horrible. It’s amazing so many older people have been able to figure out how to use it.”

“Facebook keeps changing for the worse. They keep changing everything about it which makes it hard to keep up with and very frustrating.”

“Privacy [on Facebook] is not a simple issue. I still can’t figure out how to set my account to the privacy settings I want.”

“Have never found a good explanation of how [Google+] differs/is similar to regular Google.”

“Haven’t figured out how to use my Google+ account, online help inadequate, other social media much more intuitive.”Copyright Siegel+Gale, 2012. All rights reserved

Search brands vs. social brands

Search brands Social brands

Simple brand Complex brand

0 125

3 26 29 39 69 73 83 103 105 11862 66

Copyright Siegel+Gale, 2012. All rights reserved

Beginning October 16, 2012 you may download the full study at siegelgale.com/Pivot2012

To learn more