A Meyocks survey showed that American consumers rated Patagonia highest on its propriety Mean More® score, which measures customer disappointment with having to use another brand. The clothing and eco-friendly lifestyle brand topped a list of 13 other recognizable brands. In contrast, consumers would be least disappointed if they couldn’t use Facebook among the brands evaluated.

The study also found that consumers would be more disappointed to give up their favorite restaurant or college football team than iconic brands such as Apple or Nike. Given the emotional connections people have with a favorite restaurant experience or college football team, it’s perhaps not surprising they’d be more disappointed to give those up than most brands.

Meyocks uses a measure of disappointment – the Mean More score – to judge the strength of a brand. Our analysis suggests that Mean More scores are more strongly correlated with revenue growth than willingness to recommend scores. Mean More scores may be a better indicator of brand strength because it’s a more emotional/visceral dimension than the willingness to recommend.

The difference between the brands’ Mean More score and their willingness to recommend scores revealed some inconsistencies as well. Nike and Apple, for example, had a larger gap between the two scores than other brands which could indicate a vulnerability for those brands.

To learn more about the Mean More score as a way to measure brand strength, read our thought paper

What is the Mean More® score?

The Mean More score measures disappointment of being unable to buy or use a brand. In doing so, it focuses on the emotional loss of going without a brand rather than more traditional measures of satisfaction or likelihood of recommending.

How to calculate the Mean More® score


1

Identify the brand a consumer uses in a category. For example, ask “What auto insurance do you have?”

2

Quantify the disappointment of having to use a different brand by asking “On a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 being extremely disappointed and 0 being not disappointed at all, how disappointed would you be if you could not use (brand)?”

3

Aggregate the disappointment ratings over a group of customers. That is your Mean More score.

Why is a Mean More score important to your brand?

The Mean More scoreis more strongly correlated with revenue growth than other metrics such as an overall brand rating or willingness to recommend.It is more challenging to receive a higher Mean More score, indicating that the metric is capturing something different – and more important – than other brand measures.

Your brand’s Mean More score is an insightful metric to understand the strength of your brand. Learn more about the Mean More score by reading our thought paper.