NEW YORK: Amazon, Colgate and Nokia are the brands most effectively balancing building "desire" with competing on price, a multimarket study has revealed.

Drawing on shopper data from the annual BrandZ rankings, research firm Millward Brown assessed perceptions covering 7,341 products in 22 countries.

Each item was analysed in terms of desirability and price, with the gap between these figures employed to inform an overall "Value-D" index rating.

A total surpassing 100 points indicated that intangible factors played a greater role than cost in shaping attitudes.

Just 7% of consumers solely emphasised financial matters when making purchases, measured against 20% ten years ago.

By contrast, 81% of the panel agreed wider contributors exerted an important influence on such decisions.

"Too many brands fail to fully optimise their power and instead overemphasise price and downplay desire," said Peter Walshe, Millward Brown's global BrandZ director.

"The consumer usually desires a brand first and then considers the price to determine whether to purchase or not."

Some 31% of the featured offerings fell in the "good value" category, rated more highly for appeal than by how expensive they were.

Key characteristics shared by this group - members of which posted an average score of 111 points - included being "friendly", "fun" and "kind".

Another 28% of the sample fitted the definition of "poor value", viewed as relatively cheap but lacking in broader allure.

This selection, associated with words such as "innocent", "different" and "rebellious", received a collective rating of 95 points.

Only 11% of goods and services met the "justified premium" criteria, performing well in both areas, seen as "attractive", "trustworthy" and "creative", and generating a norm of 108 points.

Elsewhere, 30% of Millward Brown's pool were "expensive", boasting attributes like "sexy", "assertive" and "in control", and comparatively large price tags, therefore averaging 90 points in all.

Online retailer Amazon easily led the charts, logging 133 points for desire and a modest 87 points for the amount typically charged, yielding a combined 146 points.

"Amazon.com has mastered the art of being a trusted brand that consumers want to buy goods from," said Walshe.

"Its pricing is perceived to be great value, but it is its brand power that attracts customers in the first place."

Colgate, the toothpaste, was in second with 133 points, drawn from 122 points for desire and 89 points regarding price.

Nokia, like Amazon and Colgate inside the "great value" cohort, claimed third, as these numbers hit 128 points, 122 points and 94 points respectively.

Pampers was the leading product from the "justified premium" segment, lodging 112 points concerning the outlay required by shoppers, and 130 points for desire, translating to 126 points as a whole.

Visa completed the top five on 125 points, the same as Coca-Cola and Microsoft, although the latter two members of this trio registered higher figures when judging desirability and price.

Fast-food chain McDonald's reached 124 points, Nescafé logged 120 points, and Lidl secured 118 points, almost wholly driven by its focus on discounting.

Aldi, Kia, Vaseline, Suzuku, H&M, Dove and Hyundai were the other brands scoring particularly well in this area.

While not making the top ten, BMW, Apple and Sony all held an aspirational appeal, but also seemed expensive to respondents.

Data sourced from Millward Brown; additional content by Warc staff