Benchmarking global brand strength for a top 10 audit and accounting firm

Overview

One of the world's top 10 global audit and accounting firms wanted to understand the strength of its parent brand across international markets. The firm sought to benchmark its performance against key competitors, the Big Four, and the broader competitive landscape within each market.

Phronesis partnered with the client to deliver a two-wave global brand study across 16 countries, surveying both users and non-users of the firm's services.

Objective

Assess the firm's competitive position across global markets by evaluating:

• Brand strength across every stage of the funnel, from salience and familiarity through favorability, consideration, and usage
• Brand associations across 13 performance-related imagery attributes and the personality traits defined in the client's brand strategy
• Perceptions of the firm's three core service lines: Audit & Assurance, Tax, and Advisory
• Net Promoter Score (NPS) across both users and non-users to measure advocacy and word-of-mouth influence
• Recall of marketing communications for the client and its competitors across key channels

Approach

Surveyed 2,900 decision-makers and influencers involved in selecting audit, tax, and advisory services across 16 international markets.

• Wave one included 1,800 respondents across 10 priority markets in Europe, Latin America, and Asia
• Wave two added 1,100 respondents across five Southeast Asian markets and one emerging market in West Africa
• Focused exclusively on mid-sized organizations, with revenue thresholds adjusted by purchasing power parity for each market
• Delivered surveys online in each market's primary language, with English also available where appropriate

Business Outcome

• Benchmarked brand performance against local competitors, global competitors, and the Big Four, providing a clear view of strengths, weaknesses, and strategic priorities
• Identified where prospects dropped out of the brand funnel, enabling targeted improvements to sales engagement, messaging, and client outreach
• Used key driver analysis to pinpoint the brand attributes with the greatest impact on improving favorability
• Provided insights that shaped the firm's global marketing strategy and led to the expansion of the study into a third international wave