It is difficult to watch or read the news without hearing about political divisions in the US. Whether
they’re talking Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, or the Green Party, there seems to be a lot
of disagreement out there. However, we here at MSW●ARS Research have discovered factions you
may not have even known existed until now – with consumer categories. As a fun repurposing of the
data we collect using our Brand Strength Monitor platform, we are getting to the bottom of
this – one category at a time.
Throughout the 2016 US Presidential Election season we’re sharing some “voting” results. Instead of the
traditional red state/blue state/swing state format, we’re looking at “voting” results for some of
the more than 60 categories on The Brand Strength Monitor Dashboard to determine which brand would
win an election versus its category competitors.
Instead of simply looking at the “popular vote” across thousands of respondents, we decided it would
be a lot of fun to look at results by state Electoral College votes – similar to how the US actually
elects its president every four years.
Thus far, we have included maps for the following categories:
This week, the category is Internal Analgesics.
This category is highly competitive and involves a lot of well-known brands. However, even though brands like Bayer, Excedrin, and Motrin garner a lot of votes across the nation, this category’s electoral map is basically a three-way fight among Aleve, Advil, and Tylenol. No one brand is able to achieve the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency, so this would be going to the House of Representatives for further review.
- Aleve is the current leader with 259 electoral votes and wins in over half of the states (26 out of 50).
- This includes wins in states with large populations such as Texas and New York.
- When looking at the different regions of the country, Aleve has a presence in all of them, but they do particularly well in the South. If not for close losses in Tennessee and Florida (a win in either would have clinched 270 for them), then Aleve would be looking at a clean sweep in the South.
- Aleve’s success outside of the South is also plentiful, but not as convincing. For example: They are able to win Michigan, but not the rest of the eastern Midwest, which all go for their closest competitor.
- Advil is a very close second place to Aleve with 235 electoral votes and wins in 18 different states.
- Regionally, Advil racks up three wins on the West coast with California, Oregon, and Washington, as well as a strong performance in the eastern Midwest with wins in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin.
- They are also able to split the Northeast with Aleve by taking Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, among others.
- The most “out-of-place” win for Advil, geographically, appears to be with their narrow win in Florida in the Southeast.
- Tylenol comes in third with 41 electoral votes spread across six different states.
- They do much better in the popular vote than their electoral college vote would suggest, but they come in a close second (or third) in a lot of larger states – instead of winning them.
- Geographically, there is not much of a story for Tylenol other than their ability to win three of the four “four corners” states in Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. The rest of their wins are scattered in the South (Tennessee), Midwest (Nebraska), and in Alaska.
- In what is probably a case of a low base size generating a random winner, Motrin IB picks up Washington D.C. and its three electoral votes. However, a win is a win, and it is good enough to get them on the board.
- As previously mentioned, this data is a by-product of what we standardly collect in our TBSM (The
Brand Strength Monitor) platform. It is the ONLY independently validated measure of brand
value – available for a fraction of the cost of almost all brand health studies these
days.
- Each month, we collect 1,000 respondents for each category, which standardly include roughly the following demographic breakouts for brand choice and category penetration:
- Females: 500
- Males: 500
- African-Americans: ~130
- Hispanics: ~100
- Millennials (Age 35 and Under): ~400
- Non-Millennials (Age 36 and Over): ~600
In addition, the following demographics are also standardly available in many different splits:
- Yes/No Children in Household
- If Yes, Age of Children in Household
- Education Level
- Some High School, High School Diploma, Bachelor’s Degree, Master’s Degree, etc.
- Income Level
- Split 15 ways from $7,500 or less to $200,000 or more
- Marital Status
- Single, Married, Domestic Partnership, Divorced, etc.
- States (as we used in our map above)
- All 50 states + DC, as well as custom regions – if desired
The brands included in this Internal Analgesics exercise are:
- Aleve
- Advil
- Tylenol
- Bayer
- Excedrin
- Motrin IB
- Equate
- Other
MSW●ARS is already tracking this data for the following categories. Let us know if you see
one you are interested in, or if you would like us to begin tracking your category:
- Antiperspirants/Deodorants (Women)
- Antiperspirants/Deodorants (Men)
- Analgesics, Internal
- Athletic Shoes (Women)
- Athletic Shoes (Men)
- Auto Insurance
- Bank Services
- Bar Soap
- Bathroom Tissue
- Bleach or Laundry Whiteners
- Blue Jeans (Women)
- Blue Jeans (Men)
- Body Lotions (Women)
- Body Lotions (Men)
- Bottled Water
- Breakfast Bars
- Cable or Satellite TV Subscriptions
- Caramel/Toffee Snacks
- Casual Dining Restaurants
- Cell Phone Carriers
- Chewing Gum
- Chocolate Candy
- Cloud Data Storage
- Coffee Machines
- Credit Cards
- Energy Drinks
- Fabric Softeners
- Facial Moisturizers for Women
- Facial Tissue
- Fitness Trackers
- Frozen Entrees
- Hair Coloring (Women)
- Hair Coloring (Men)
- Hair Dryers
- Home/Renters Insurance
- Hotels
- Ice Cream
- Kitchen Cleaners
- Laptop Computers
- Laundry Detergent
- Life Insurance
- Light Beer
- Liquid Hand Soap
- Mayonnaise
- Microwave Ovens
- Microwave Popcorn
- Mouthwash
- Online Movies/TV/Video Streaming Services
- Orange Juice
- Packaged Coffee
- Personal Computers
- Products from a Big Box Retailer
- Quick Serve Restaurants
- Salty Snacks
- Sedans
- Smart Watches
- Smartphones
- Streaming Media Players
- Tablet Computers
- Tea
- Televisions
- Trucks
- Yogurt
If you see some data you would like to see expanded upon, please send us a note at sales@thebrandstrengthmonitor.com.
Thank you for reading and we will continue to release maps for new categories as the 2016
US Presidential Election approaches.
