Cheers to Carlsberg and Carling for Leading on Social Media, While Guinness Tops Offline Conversation

Engagement Labs Announces Rankings of U.K. Beer Brands Based on Online and Word of Mouth Conversations

LONDON, UK – November 16, 2015 – Technology and data company, Engagement Labs (TSXV:EL), creator of eValue Analytics™, today released its ‘Total Social’ data rankings for U.K. beer brands for both online and offline word of mouth (WOM) conversations.

Total Social combines Engagement Labs’ proprietary eValue social media measurement tool and TalkTrack®, the leading measurement source of WOM conversation from the Keller Fay Group, an Engagement Labs company.

eValue Rankings of Major U.K. Beer Brands on Facebook and Twitter:

Source: Engagement Labs’ eValueTM 2015 rankings of U.K. beer brands

TalkTrack Rankings of U.K. Beer Brands WOM Momentum:

Source: Keller Fay Group’s TalkTrack® 2015 rankings of U.K. beer brands

With the highest overall eValue score among the major brands, Carlsberg ranked first on Facebook with an impressive Engagement score of 81.88. The brand’s content also saw the highest number of likes and comments. However, John Smith’s, which secured second place overall, overtook Carlsberg for Engagement with a score of 94.98. Although the brand had a lower following than Carlsberg (and may not be the beer of choice among digital natives), John Smith’s had the highest active user base and highest number of likes per 1,000 fans, proving that the brand had a very active and engaged following.

Heineken placed third with the highest Impact score, 93.35, and the second highest Responsiveness score of the top ten. Despite scoring significantly higher for Impact and Responsiveness than both Carlsberg and John Smith’s, Heineken’s low Engagement score of 10.31 prevented the brand from ranking higher. The brand’s high Impact and Responsiveness scores translated well in offline conversations with Heineken placing second for WOM momentum.

“Beer brands in the U.K. are a perfect example of how quantity of followers isn’t the defining factor in a successful social media campaign,” stated Steve Thomson, U.K. Managing Director of Keller Fay. “As seen with Heineken, despite having the largest number of fans and the highest Impact score, its lack of engaging content hinders its online success. However, we do see Heineken’s widespread reach converting into offline success with its WOM share growing significantly this year. The brand’s activity and reach online is helping to drive real-world advocacy.”

On Twitter, Carling ranked first with an overall eValue score of 80.48, significantly higher than the next ranked competitor, Budweiser. Having ranked first for Responsiveness on Facebook, Carling also managed to score the highest for Responsiveness on Twitter, showing continued dedication to fans across both channels. This positively impacted its offline performance as the brand ranked third for WOM momentum, indicating that the brand’s WOM share increased this year.

Based on the TalkTrack rankings, Guinness placed first for WOM momentum indicating the largest growth in WOM share from the previous year. With the second highest Impact scores on both Facebook and Twitter, the brand’s reach ensured its followers continued to speak about the brand offline.

“While brands like Guinness and Heineken are leveraging their wide-reaching appeal to grow in offline conversations, they are struggling to effectively engage followers online,” noted Thomson. “Carlsberg and John Smith’s are arguably leading the way online, as they focus on the quality of their content to resonate with fans rather than the quantity of their followers. However, the most successful brands both offline and online, such as Carling, achieve ‘Total Social’ success as they understand that focusing on engagement and responsiveness online can contribute to increasing WOM conversations.”

About Engagement Labs

Engagement Labs (TSXV:EL) offers intelligent ‘Total Social’ data, analytics and insights for marketers and organizations enabling them to track, measure and benchmark the conversations happening around their brand or industry both online and offline. These conversations are proven to drive critical business outcomes, including sales, while Engagement Labs’ tools provide data and actionable insight to help guide business decisions and power marketing effectiveness.

Engagement Labs’ eValue™ Analytics tool is the global benchmark for social media scoring. eValue’s proprietary data technology offers real-time analysis to measure a brand’s social media and digital marketing efforts, distilling it down to a single meaningful number between 0 and 100 - an eValue score. Composed of a series of metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), an eValue score measures social media Engagement, Impact and Responsiveness which is benchmarked against 100,000+ handpicked and verified brands. The Keller Fay Group, an Engagement Labs company, is the only firm to regularly measure offline conversation, which independent research finds is a significant driver of sales with twice the impact of online conversation.

Engagement Labs maintains offices in Toronto ON, Montreal QC, London UK and New Brunswick NJ.
www.engagementlabs.com / www.kellerfay.com

For media inquiries please contact:

Steve Thomson
Keller Fay Group
sthomson@kellerfay.com
+44-7769-289590

Kate Tumino / Kenneth Cousins
KCSA Strategic Communications
ktumino@kcsa.com / kcousins@kcsa.com
212-896-1252 / 212-896-1254