LONDON: Brands like Facebook, Twitter, and Airbnb successfully deliver on their stated purpose and their expression of a purpose, but new research says they are failing on other measures, including integrity.

The Charisma Consortium surveyed nearly 10,000 consumers across four markets (the US, UK, Germany and Italy), looking at perceptions of 30 global brands across all markets and 10 local brands per market, using Respondi’s global panels for online panel interviews.

The study examined a brand’s resilience across six dimensions: consciousness, purpose, integrity, generosity, courage, and delivery. The Charisma thesis is that brands form dynamic relationships with consumers and that understanding these will allow brands to understand the difference between brief popularity and long-term commitment.

While the top rankings are populated with large tech brands, it is Lego, the Danish toy brand that fulfils all the dimensions.

But millions of users and a great experience are not indicators of future success, the study suggested. Though Facebook, for instance, is understood to have a purpose and the ability to deliver on what it offers, the brand’s integrity has been damaged, it appears, by recent content scandals.

Meanwhile, Silicon Valley maverick ride-hailing brand Uber was found to have a similarly flawed image in consumers’ eyes, one that could prove costly in future.

“Although Uber’s model was well placed to meet a consumer need, their failure to treat drivers fairly or to protect customers, together with the constant exposing of unscrupulous and illegal corporate behaviour, means their brand looks irrevocably damaged” said Keith Wells, Brandwell and Charisma originator.

“The next contender to execute this service concept well will surely signal the death knell for Uber.”

Looking at better performers, however, the cracks in resilience are beginning to show. Even the world’s most valuable brand, Apple, just scrapes into the top ten in the US and Italy, while it sinks to 12th and 16th in the UK and Germany, respectively.

Though consumers admire the brand’s continuous innovation, it performs poorly on delivery and lacks integrity, as well as generosity, the research suggested.

Sourced from the Charisma Consortium; additional content by WARC staff