Basis Global

The fashion funnel has a blind spot.  Nearly a third of shoppers had already chosen their brand before they even started shopping.   If that's true, what exactly is your brand tracker measuring? Our latest research explores what fashion brand trackers should be measuring instead.

Loyalty scores are reassuring. They’re also a bit of a trap. In our new brand tracking report, 77% of laundry detergent buyers say they always pick the same brand. Spirits looks just as loyal on paper, until you see that 49% would switch for a cheaper option. Same high loyalty score. Very different risk. A loyalty number tells you how loyal people look right now. It doesn’t tell you what would make them leave. That gap is where the interesting work is. Drop me a message if you want to dig into your own numbers.

Fashion is up this week. Tomorrow we publish what actually drives choice in fashion, what most trackers miss, and what we'd measure instead. Then a new category every week.

We surveyed 4,000 buyers across 18 categories, and the thing that stuck with me is how differently people buy depending on what they're buying. Choosing a car looks nothing like grabbing a snack. Yet a lot of brand trackers ask both buyers the same questions and treat the answers the same way. That's the idea behind our new report. Brand doesn't work the same way everywhere, so measuring it the same way everywhere misses the point. If you run brand tracking, I'd genuinely love to hear whether this matches what you see in your own categories. Report is in the comments.

Our Head of Client Strategy, Chris Hope, explains in his new piece for ResearchLive why a single brand tracking framework can't capture how people choose brands. Drawing on findings from our 2026 Brand Tracking Report, One Size Fits None, we asked 4,000 buyers across 18 categories how they really make decisions. The results show that different categories demand different approaches to measurement. Because when it comes to brand tracking, one size fits none. Read Chris's piece: https://hubs.ly/Q04p1HgZ0 Explore the report: https://hubs.ly/Q04p1rpV0

74% of grocery shoppers say they always choose the same store. Most trackers read that as loyalty. The data tells a different story.   We surveyed 4,000 buyers across 18 categories. In grocery, the metric that looks strongest on a standard tracker is often masking the biggest risk. The brands that figure out which one are the ones that don't get caught off guard when a competitor runs a promotion.   The grocery snapshot is out today. What actually drives choice in this category, what most trackers miss, and what we'd measure instead.

Grocery is up first. We work with some of the world's biggest grocery brands, so it seemed like the right place to start. Tomorrow we publish what actually drives choice in grocery, what most trackers miss, and what we'd measure instead. Then a new category every week.

Last week’s #B2BIgnite event by B2B Marketing was like a breath of fresh air. After a year of doomsday predictions about the insights and marketing industries, and then another year of people talking about AI like it’s a nervous tic but not really saying anything at all, B2B marketers are ready to get excited about stuff again. We at the Basis Global B2B team were happily chatting to people at our stand most of the day, but each of us got some time out to see some fantastic speakers. Here’s our recap: 1️⃣ Jacque Wallace saw Joel Harrison’s presentation on the rise of consumer-grade entertainment in B2B We’re in an attention economy. B2B brands are competing with any and all content that the individual could choose to engage with, not just other B2B brands. When creating something, marketers need to ask: would someone choose to watch this? Producing "consumer-grade entertainment" in B2B is about drawing on the fundamentals of good storytelling: a protagonist, high production quality, and serialised content to invite people in and move them (not just transfer facts). This won't rescue an empty proposition, but if there's a real idea and a commitment to delivering quality, it's a cost-effective way to stand out when everyone sounds the same and you want your brand to be the one buyers remember when they're (finally!) in market. 2️⃣ Tom Percival saw Francisca Leitão Borges’ fireside chat about B2B storytelling Many B2B brands face the challenge of trying to talk about their complex, technical products, but comms are most effective when they’re more compelling to the audience. It needs to grab their attention away from much more interesting things. We should be thinking more about “humanisation." Stepping in the customer's shoes before putting out content and asking questions like “would I really say this to a friend?” are important in developing a story-centric strategy. Cisco’s most effective content features their own employees telling stories in their own words, e.g. engineers in a casual, unscripted environment. 3️⃣ I saw Ryan Almond’s presentation on bringing together brand and ABM in one campaign In the AI age, demand is the part of B2B marketing strategy that is being most transformed. What’s left is brand and ABM. Henkel executed the “Uniquely Wired” campaign, a brand platform for the data centre, telecoms and electronics sectors. It included hypertargeting at the account and individual level, and was crucially underpinned by a relevant sector message and coherent brand story. Specific channels that were effectively used – and which I was glad to see making something of a comeback – included OOH (e.g. baggage reclaim and airport-vicinity spots during an industry event), and personalised direct mail bundles. On the OOH, Ryan mentioned the use of eye tracking to measure impressions, and my favourite quote of the day: “It sounds a bit creepy but it looks great on a dashboard.” 🤌 Really looking forward to next year’s event!

I know good work when I see it, and this report is some of the best we've ever produced. The team spent months asking a question that sounds almost too obvious: does brand actually work the same way in every category? And the answer, backed by 4,000 buyers across 18 categories, is no. Not even close. What drives someone to buy a beer is completely different from what drives them to pick an insurance policy. What loyalty means in laundry is not what loyalty means in spirits. And yet most trackers treat all of it the same. I find it genuinely fascinating. And I think if you work in marketing, brand, or insights, you will too. The full report is live and free. Honestly just read it. Link in the comments.

One tracking framework. Every category. That should make you nervous. Nearly 7 in 10 laundry buyers chose without comparing a single alternative. In broadband, only 36% did. Same survey, same question, and the answers aren't close. Most trackers measure both the same way, so the signals that actually move a category never surface. Finding one of five. Swipe.