Turning to the US consumers who could name at least one brand, our results hold other concerning news for marketers. The brands mentioned again and again, head and shoulders above all others, were Amazon and Walmart. Across all three issues, the two retail giants dominated, with Tesla earning a second-place finish in the environmental category. (See Table 3.)
While Amazon and Walmart both have a variety of purpose-driven programs and campaigns – to protect the environment and promote diversity and the community – it seems clear that they also benefitted simply from being the brands that many consumers rely on for their everyday needs and therefore think about readily.
* Number of respondents who mentioned the brand
In the end, we should not be surprised that, when no salient brands stand out in consumers’ minds, they default to the names they know the best and rely on every day. Amazon and Walmart – as well as brands like Target and Apple – get credit simply for showing up in people’s lives. With so many seemingly identical or remarkably similar purpose claims and efforts competing for people’s attention every day, nothing is standing out – and the effects are a kind of marketing static in which broad brand awareness becomes a deciding factor.