Nomaswazi Phumo, Head of Strategy of Leagas Delaney South Africa, outlines why premium brands don’t have a quality problem, but a distinction problem.
Premium brands have become remarkably good at signalling quality. Across categories, the visual and verbal language of premium has become increasingly consistent: minimalist design systems, muted colour palettes, polished photography and familiar promises of craftsmanship, exclusivity and personalised service have become the default expression of what premium looks and sounds like.
These conventions reassure customers that a brand belongs in the premium end of the market. The challenge is that they do very little to explain why one premium brand should be chosen over another; making the issue a commercial one rather than a creative one.
Kantar’s BrandZ research found that consumers are willing to pay an average of 37% more for brands they perceive as meaningfully different. Even consumers who are typically price-led are willing to pay 14% more. This means premium pricing is not sustained by quality alone, it is sustained by distinction.
Somewhere along the way, many premium brands have mistaken category codes for competitive advantage. These help customers recognise the kind of brand they are engaging with. Distinctive brands make one subtle but commercially significant difference, they help customers recognise whose brand it is.
A good local example would be Woolworths. While competitors have matched its product quality in many categories, what remains difficult to replicate is the consistency of the brand. From packaging and product naming to food photography, merchandising and store experience, each decision reinforces the same perception. While none of these elements is particularly powerful in isolation, together they create a brand that is immediately recognisable. That is distinction at work.
If distinction creates value, how do you know when it is beginning to erode?
Your Advertising Communicates The Category Before It Communicates The Brand
One of the simplest ways to assess distinction is to remove the logo from a piece of communication and ask whether customers would still recognise the brand. Too often, premium campaigns rely on category conventions to signal quality rather than distinctive assets that build memory. Beautiful homes, perfectly lit interiors, tailored wardrobes and cinematic photography have become visual shorthand for premium, but they are also available to every competitor. If recognition depends on the logo, the advertising may be reinforcing the category more effectively than it is building the brand.
Your Proposition Could Comfortably Belong To Your Competitors
Premium categories have become crowded with words such as bespoke, exclusive, exceptional and world-class. While these descriptors may once have conveyed genuine differentiation, they now function more as category expectations than strategic positioning. A strong proposition should articulate a perspective on value that competitors cannot easily adopt. If another brand can place its logo above your copy without changing its meaning, your proposition is unlikely to be creating competitive advantage.
Your Understanding Of The Customer Has Become Too Broad
Premium customers are often described as though they share a common definition of success, aspiration or value. They are becoming more diverse. Some seek status, while others seek discretion. Some value convenience above all else, while others are motivated by craftsmanship, heritage or expertise.
Generational shifts, changing definitions of wealth and evolving cultural contexts continue to reshape what premium means. Brands that reduce these customers to a single portrait of affluence often produce communications that feel polished but ultimately generic. Distinction begins with recognising meaningful differences in people before expressing meaningful differences in brands.
Functional Superiority Has Become Your Primary Source Of Value
Superior products, exceptional service and better experiences remain essential for premium brands. They are also becoming increasingly easy to replicate. Competitors improve. Technology closes performance gaps. What was once considered exceptional quickly becomes the expected standard.
This is why the strongest premium brands create value beyond functionality. They attach meaning to their offering in ways that make choosing the brand feel like more than a rational purchase. Customers are not only buying quality; they are buying what that choice represents about themselves.
Consistency Has Been Mistaken For Caution
Many premium brands equate sophistication with restraint. While restraint can create confidence, it can also become an excuse for avoiding distinctive decisions. The most recognisable premium brands are rarely the loudest in their categories, but they are almost always the clearest. They make deliberate choices about how they behave, what they value and what they are prepared to leave behind. Their confidence comes not from saying less, but from saying something that is recognisably their own. Premium brands rarely lose relevance overnight.
More often, they become gradually interchangeable as individual decisions prioritise category fit over brand distinction. A more contemporary visual identity, a more elegant campaign or a more premium retail environment may improve perceptions of quality, but they do not necessarily strengthen preference.
Building distinction requires a broader perspective. It asks whether every decision a customer encounters reinforces the same idea of the brand. Strategy, product, experience, service, communications and design are often treated as separate disciplines, yet customers experience them as one.
Perhaps that is the real challenge for premium brands today. In markets where quality is increasingly expected and competitors can replicate almost everything else; distinction is created by the accumulation of deliberate choices. No single touchpoint creates it, but every touchpoint has the potential to strengthen or weaken it. Or, as we often say at Leagas Delaney, ‘Everything Matters’.
LEAGAS DELANEY
https://www.leagasdelaney.co.za
