A research conducted by Brand Finance states that Italian brands are on a growing trend: they strengthened and increased their value, registering an average increase of 12 percent in January 2023. Our brands are also growing well if compared to French and British ones; Italians have performed particularly well compared to Spaniards. But they are struggling to catch up with German brands that post-covid are running faster than others. Moreover, while the monetary value of Italian brands has grown well in recent years, the value of Italian brands is relatively low because it reflects the medium-small size of Italian firms. In fact, while Italian brands are worth almost twice as much as Spanish brands, it is also true that they are worth half or less than half as much as UK and French brands. They are worth less than a third as much as German brands. «To increase turnover and margins, Italian companies should seek to increase the monetary value of brands by strengthening the level of rational and emotional appeal: on the one hand they should further improve the quality and quantity of investments related to product, promotion, distribution and price; on the other hand they should identify and invest on a social purpose that goes beyond profit and is not limited to the too inflated environmental sustainability so as to better engage key stakeholders», Massimo Pizzo, senior consultant at Brand Finance said. Nevertheless, many Italian (luxury) brands are shining.
Gucci is confirmed as the top Italian brand by value generated directly from image and reputation, exceeding 17 billion euros this year thanks to a 10% increase due to the extreme strength of this brand in influencing the choices of consumers and other key stakeholders. Indeed, Gucci, with a score of 86 out of 100, and an equivalent AAA Brand Rating, is one of the 5 strongest Italian brands. Luxury brands are, on average, those with the highest growth over last year. Among them, Lamborghini stands out with an astonishing 149 percent growth, bringing its value to 4,1 billion euros. Prada increased 50 percent in value, to 4.6 billion euros this year. Ferrari, with a score of 91/100 and an equivalent brand rating of AAA+, has been confirmed the strongest Italian brand, reaching the value of 7.2 billion euros. Along with Lamborghini and Prada, A2a, Illy, Aperol and Iliad are also among the Italian brands that have most increased the monetary value generated by image and reputation.
The level of attractiveness of commercial brands is also influenced by the national brand and vice versa. On the one hand, a good image and reputation of Italy encourages purchases of Italian products and investment in the “Belpaese”; on the other hand, strong Italian brands such as Ferrari, Gucci and many others contribute to strengthening the nation’s image, thus promoting country growth.
The Italy brand has strengthened year on year by 2 points. After a slump in 2021 that put Italy at 19th, Italy rose to 10th in 2022, and then this year ranked 9th in Brand Finance’s Global Soft Power Index, the ranking of countries with the greatest ability to influence the choices of other nations without any military or economic coercion. Italy gained one position in Brand Finance’s ranking of the world’s most powerful countries due to the slight strengthening year-on-year and the fall of Russia. Italy’s good performance is mainly due to the great knowledge of our nation among the world’s population, good reputation, and the perception of relevant influence toward the people and governments of other countries.
Mr Pizzo concludes: «Italy is very strong in areas where other countries are unlikely to improve significantly, such as historical cultural heritage and population and values, while it still has considerable room for growth in areas such as governance and education and science, fields in which it is more plausible to make progress. In order to strengthen Italy’s brand image and reputation and thus support economic growth, it is essential to develop a single country branding strategy with a strong focus also on direct communication to Italians, the main detractors of the Italy brand».
