UK companies need to rethink their marketing strategies to make messages simpler, research by Siegel+Gale an international branding company.

Siegel+Gale’s fifth annual Global Brand Simplicity Index, launched today, shows that UK businesses are absent from the top 10 companies with the best brand communications.

Research based on feedback from 12,300 consumers in eight countries, 1,750 from the UK, showed that German firms like ALDI, LIDL and Miele had brands that were easier to understand.

The simplicity index measures perceptions about brands’ products, services, interactions and communications. In the UK German supermarkets are chipping away market share, in part because of their clear no-nonsense offering.

“In the UK, it is well documented that German discounters Aldi and Lidl are stealing market share from the bigger supermarkets. This research suggests that one of the key reasons for this lies in the simplicity of their branding,” said the report.

The research also pointed to a new breed of start-ups which are challenging established players and have simplicity at the core of their offering.

Key elements offered by these businesses, according to the report, are empowering people, reimagining experience, removing friction and saving time.

The research found that the world’s most successful start-ups, including AirBNB, Nest and Uber embody these characteristics.