At Kantar Ignite 2025, industry experts said boldness to stand out, authenticity and building culturally vibrant, creatively effective brands are key to igniting growth.
‘Your brand is your company’s most critical asset. It must be treated like one – by all stakeholders including your C-suite.” This message from brand strategist Ryan France at Kantar Ignite Auckland is sage advice for marketers navigating economic headwinds, AI disruption and consumer caution.
France’s insights from 20 years of Kantar BrandZ – the world’s most extensive brand equity study – also revealed almost one-third of local brands are shifting towards performance marketing when building brand equity is critical. He says marketers must be bolder as those perceived to be both more ‘different’ and ‘meaningful’ than competitors grow brand value by a much larger amount.
“BrandZ evidence helps challenge your board to support marketing as a measurable investment and not a cost to be cut when times are difficult. Strong brands are quite simply more resilient and people are willing to pay more for strong brands.”
Boldness isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity
This overarching take-out from Ignite was the golden thread from a day gathering visionary speakers and inspired marketers.
Attendees described Ignite as “a commercial accelerator,” “a creative catalyst” and “a strategic compass for marketing and brand leaders navigating uncertainty.”
France delivered powerful presentations. Kantar head of creative Irene Joshy, Auckland FC CEO Nick Becker and brand and advertising strategist David ‘DT’ Thomason joined him in the speaker line-up.
From Becker commanding courageous leadership and bold actions – “Be different, be authentic, have a plan” – to an interactive Kantar Live showcase of the power of real-time insights, the event delivered powerful storytelling, strategic provocations and tangible takeaways.
Ignite isn’t just about inspiration, it’s about impact
Creative effectiveness generates 4.7 times greater ROI, but the key to effectiveness is homing in on an enduring insight that can fuel brand differentiation, says Irene Joshy.
“The journey to an enduring insight starts with identifying the brand’s role and meaning (to consumers) in the real world. It is through culture that brands make meaning – people culture, the category culture and the brand’s own culture and ethos.” The result? Culturally vibrant brands that grow six times in share and pricing power.
DT convinced attendees to keep things simple because “boldness comes from focus. I have an expression: ‘Let’s just do that.’ Sounds lazy, but it is actually very bold, very liberating and very effective. It’s all about carefully choosing the one thing that will be most interesting and different.”
In times of complexity, clarity is a competitive advantage
Marrying the culture in creativity with DT’s key message of keeping things simple underpinned by BrandZ evidence will reimagine marketing to align with consumer values. At Kantar New Zealand, we’re successfully helping brands of all sizes in all categories apply these principles to foster profitable growth.
If you’re ready to ignite your brand to new heights, please connect with [email protected] and [email protected] – and let us know if you’d like to be top of the invitation list for Ignite 2026.
