Brand Relevance Index
Measuring brand health through customer obsession and innovation—not just awareness.
Traditional brand tracking measured awareness, consideration, and preference—metrics that tell you if people know your brand, not if they care about it. Prophet's Brand Relevance Index flipped the model. Instead of asking "How well-known are you?" it asks "How indispensable are you?" The framework measures whether brands create obsession, not just recognition. Relevance beats familiarity.
Customer Obsession
Does the brand understand what customers truly need and consistently deliver it? Obsession means the brand anticipates desires before customers articulate them.
Measures: How well does the brand understand you? Does it make your life better?
Ruthless Pragmatism
Does the brand make things easier, simpler, more convenient? Pragmatism is about removing friction and delivering utility without compromise.
Measures: Does the brand make things easier? Is it reliable and dependable?
Pervasive Innovation
Does the brand continuously evolve and lead its category? Innovation isn't just product—it's business model, experience, and culture.
Measures: Does the brand constantly improve? Does it set trends others follow?
Distinctive Inspiration
Does the brand stand for something meaningful beyond its products? Inspiration creates emotional connection and cultural impact.
Measures: Does the brand inspire you? Does it align with your values?
The genius of the Brand Relevance Index is that it measures behavior and emotion, not just memory. Awareness doesn't drive growth—relevance does. You can be the most famous brand in your category and still lose to a more relevant competitor. Prophet proved that the brands winning on these four pillars consistently outperform on revenue and customer loyalty.
Traditional Brand Tracking
- Brand awareness (aided/unaided)
- Consideration rates
- Brand preference
- Perceived quality
- Purchase intent
Brand Relevance Index
- Customer obsession (understanding needs)
- Ruthless pragmatism (removing friction)
- Pervasive innovation (continuous evolution)
- Distinctive inspiration (emotional connection)
- Indispensability (can't live without it)
Prophet publishes an annual study ranking brands by relevance score. The list consistently features brands that prioritize customer experience and innovation over traditional advertising spend. Recent top performers:
The Brand Relevance Index was created by Prophet, a global brand and marketing consultancy based in San Francisco, and launched in 2015. The framework emerged from Prophet's research into what separated winning brands from declining ones in an era of digital disruption.
Traditional brand metrics—awareness, consideration, preference—weren't predicting business outcomes anymore. Prophet discovered that brands succeeding in the 2010s shared four qualities: deep customer understanding, relentless focus on utility, continuous innovation, and cultural resonance. They formalized this into the Brand Relevance Index and began publishing annual rankings.
The study surveys thousands of consumers and scores brands across the four pillars. It's become a reference point for CMOs trying to understand whether their brand equity is actually driving growth or just vanity metrics.
Mid-2010s Disruption: Legacy brands were losing to digital-first upstarts. Uber, Airbnb, Netflix, Spotify—these companies didn't win with bigger ad budgets. They won by being more relevant. They understood customer pain points, removed friction, and kept innovating. Traditional brand tracking couldn't explain why household names were getting crushed by startups no one had heard of five years earlier.
The Death of Brand Loyalty: Customers stopped caring about legacy. If a new brand delivered better value, they switched instantly. Brand equity built on decades of awareness meant nothing if the experience was worse. Prophet realized that "top of mind" didn't matter anymore—"essential to my life" did.
Customer Obsession as Strategy: The 2010s saw companies like Amazon and Apple dominate by obsessing over customer experience. Bezos's "customer obsession" principle wasn't marketing speak—it was operational religion. Prophet formalized this into a measurement framework. Brands that scored high on customer obsession and innovation consistently outperformed on revenue growth and stock price.
Why It Endures: The Brand Relevance Index works because it measures what actually drives buying decisions in the modern era. Customers don't choose brands because they're familiar—they choose brands that make their lives better. The four pillars capture the behaviors that create indispensability: understanding needs, removing friction, staying ahead, and inspiring loyalty. Traditional brand equity is dead. Relevance is the new equity.