Ladies in KSA prefer Apple to Almarai

Apple has beat dairy brand Almarai to become the top brand in the 2019 Women’s Choice Brand Rankings* by YouGov MENA for KSA. With new iPhones and Apple watches last year, the brand generated a lot of noise and has strengthened its appeal among women, YouGov said.

Almarai increased the price of milk in the past year, which generated substantial resentment among consumers. They took to social media to call for boycotts of the brand. Almarai’s perception among women in KSA declined subsequently, pulling it down from 1st to 5th place this year.

Source: YouGov. 2019 Women's Choice Rankings for KSA: top 10.

The rankings were compiled using the Impression score from YouGov’s daily brand tracker, BrandIndex, asking respondents the question “Which of the following brands do you generally have a positive/negative feeling about?” over the past 12 months.

Apple’s smartphone brand, iPhone, is now in 2nd place.

Fast food restaurant chain Al Baik climbed from 7th in last year's YouGov BrandIndex Women's Rankings to 3rd this year.

Dettol has moved up to 6th from 8th last year while Fairy and Alrajhi Bank are new entrants at 8th and 9th respectively. Galaxy (the chocolate brand) made a re-entry into the list at 10th. It had dropped out last year.

Technology brands did not do well. Both WhatsApp and YouTube saw a decline in their rankings, slipping down to 4th and 7th respectively in 2019.

YouGov also revealed the 10 brands that made the largest improvement to their Impression scores over the past 12 months. Telco mada is the most improved brand of the past year among women with a change in score of +11.5, going from an Impression score of 23.2 in last year's YouGov BrandIndex Women's Rankings to 34.7 this year.

Food and beverage brands seem to be resonating well with women in LKSA. Some of the top brands such as Maestro Pizza (+8.7), Coca-Cola (+8.2), Pepsi (+7.4), Kinder (+7.0) and Tasali (+5.9) are in the list of the top 10 improvers.

Source: YouGov. 2019 Women's Choice Rankings for KSA. The brands that improved the most year on year.

Chinese tech giant Huawei is also becoming popular amongst women and has shown a marked improvement in its score (+7.9), becoming the fourth best improver of 2019.

*The 501 brands in KSA in the YouGov BrandIndex were ranked using the Impression score, which asks respondents, “Overall, of which of the following brands do you have Positive/Negative impression?” Scores are net scores, calculated by subtracting the percentage of negative responses from the percentage of positive responses for each brand.

The Women’s Rankings chart shows the brands with the highest average Impression scores between February 1, 2018 and January 31, 2019. The Impression Improvers chart ranks the brands with the highest increase in Impression comparing the scores for the 12 months ending January 31, 2019 and the 12-month period ending January 31, 2018. To be included, the year-over-year variance must be positive. Scores are representative amongst women.

All Impression scores listed have been rounded to a single decimal place; however, YouGov also used additional precision to assign ranks.

All brands had to be tracked for at least six months to be included in the rankings. They had to be tracked for at least six months in the prior year’s period (as well as be currently tracked) to appear in the movers' tables.

Dubai’s flag-carrier airline is the most impressive brand amongst women in the UAE

Source: YouGov. 2019 Women's Choice Rankings, top 10 for the UAE.

Emirates tops the UAE women’s YouGov BrandIndex Women's Rankings* for the 3rd time in a row, and has received the highest positive Impression score of +70.0 among women in the UAE. WhatsApp also holds on to second position this year, while Carrefour moves up one place in the list to 3rd, replacing Apple which has dropped one place to 4th.

The rankings were compiled using the Impression score from YouGov’s daily brand tracker, BrandIndex, by asking respondents, “Which of the following brands do you generally have a positive/negative feeling about?” over the past 12 months.

Last year Emirates paid a tribute to its female employees for International Women’s Day through a video entitled Superwomen flight. The movie showcased an all-female crew operating the flight from UAE to San Francisco, USA. The video created a lot of noise and was received positively.

Another brand that has managed to boost its Impression among women in the UAE is Samsung, which has moved up from 8th to 5th this year. Likewise, Almarai has improved its perception among women since its debut in 10th last year and is now in 9th place.

Baskin-Robbins has improved steadily year-on-year, and is in 6th this year. Facebook, on the other hand, exits the list in 2019.

The past year has been difficult for technology brands. Scores for those in the top 10 list declined year-on-year. Google and iPhone both move down two places from last year to 7th and 8th respectively, and YouTube has seen a consistent slide, from 6th in 2017 to 7th in 2018 and now at the bottom of the list in 10th for 2019.

YouGov also revealed the 10 brands that made the largest improvement to their Impression scores over the past 12 months. Coca-Cola is the most improved brand of the past year among women with a change in score of +10.1, going from an Impression score of 7.4 in 2018 to 17.5 in 2019.

Netflix’s original content may be one of the factors impressing women in the UAE as it has become the second-most improved brand with a score of 23.4 this year (up +9.9 from 13.5 last year). Fast-food chains like KFC and McDonald’s seem to be resonating well with women and have also registered improvement.

Newly-opened entertainment venue Warner Bros. World, fabric softener Downy and Chinese mobile giant Huawei are some of the other top improvers. Finally, food brands Lacnor and Sadia complete the list as the 9th and 10th most improved brands.

*The 586 brands in the UAE for the YouGov BrandIndex were ranked using the Impression score, which asks respondents, “Overall, of which of the following brands do you have Positive/Negative impression?” Scores are net scores, calculated by subtracting the percentage of negative responses from the percentage of positive responses for each brand.

The Women’s Rankings chart shows the brands with the highest average Impression scores between February 1, 2018 and January 31, 2019. The Impression Improvers chart ranks the brands with the highest increase in Impression scores when comparing the scores for the 12 months ending January 31, 2019 and the 12-month period ending January 31, 2018. To be included the year-over-year variance must be positive. Scores are representative amongst women.

All Impression scores listed have been rounded to a single decimal place. However, YouGov has used additional precision to assign ranks.

All brands must be tracked for at least six months to be included in the rankings, and must have been tracked for at least six months in the prior year’s period (as well as being currently tracked) to appear in the movers tables.

Mastercard introduces audio brand identity

Mastercard debuts its sonic brand identity, a melody that signifies the latest advancement for the brand. Wherever consumers engage with Mastercard across the globe – be it physical, digital or voice environments - the distinct and memorable Mastercard melody will provide familiarity, the brand said.

The news comes on the heels of the company’s recent transition to a symbol brand - one without the company's name - and is part of its continued brand transformation.

“Sound adds a powerful new dimension to our brand identity and a critical component to how people recognise Mastercard today and in the future,” said Raja Rajamannar, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Mastercard.

“We set out an ambitious goal to produce the Mastercard melody in a way that’s distinct and authentic, yet adaptable globally and across genres. It is important that our sonic brand not only reinforces our presence, but also resonates seamlessly around the world.”

To ensure the Mastercard melody would resonate with people the world over, Mastercard tapped musicians, artists and agencies from across the globe, including musical innovator Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park.

The result is a distinct melody that maintains a consistent global brand voice. In addition, the use of varying instruments and tempos help to deliver the Mastercard melody in several unique styles such as operatic, cinematic and playful and that is open to a number of regional interpretations.

The Mastercard melody is the foundation of the company’s sound architecture and will extend to many assets, from musical scores, sound logos and ringtones, to hold music and point-of-sale acceptance sounds.

“What I love most about the Mastercard melody, is just how flexible and adaptable it is across genres and cultures,” said Shinoda.

“It’s great to see a big brand expressing themselves through music to strengthen their connection with people.”

With voice shopping set to hit US$40 billion by 2022 , according to data from OC&C Strategy Consultants, audio identities are set to connect brands with consumers on a new dimension.



"Audio makes people feel things, and that's what makes it such a powerful medium for brands, said Matt Lieber, Cofounder and President, Gimlet.

“With the explosion of podcasts, music streaming, and smart speakers, an audio strategy is no longer a nice-to-have for brands — it’s a necessity. A sonic identity — the audio calling card for a brand — is now just as important as a brand’s visual identity.”

In the lead up to the 61^st GRAMMY Awards (February 10 US time), Mastercard will launch a new multichannel marketing programme starring GRAMMY-nominated artist Camila Cabello, which will be the first creative output to feature the brand’s sound logo.

Following the US introduction, the Mastercard sound will head to The BRIT Awards in London, UK and then Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. Additional activations and sonic integrations will be announced around the world in the coming months.

Explore:

Watch the Mastercard video featuring the Mastercard sound (after 1.03) and another elaborating on the Mastercard sound

To hear how a corporate melody can be adapted, watch HSBC videos featuring the HSBC sound - the Mindfulness edit, the Connected edit, the Inspiration edit, the Stadium edit, and the Orchestral edit

Garuda has the most brand advocates in Indonesia

Airline Garuda Indonesia has the strongest brand advocates among Indonesian consumers, an analysis from YouGov BrandIndex* has found.

The carrier heads the list with a score of 87.5, followed by Singapore Airlines (77.2) and Bank Central Asia (76.5).

YouGov’s rankings are a form of net promoter score and analyse which brands have the highest proportion of current and former customers recommending them to a family member or friend. The top 10 features a number of automotive brands. Toyota in 4th (75.9) while Honda appears twice - with Honda cars in 6th (75.2) and Honda motorcycles in 8th (74.4).

The list comprises of both global brands – such as Google in 7th (74.6) and Apple in 9th (74) place, and fashion retailer Nike scoring 10th (73.1). Local players include Traveloka in 5th place (75.4).

In terms of customer advocacy improvement Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) is out on top (+10.7 points), ahead of cosmetics brand Maybelline and insurance company Prudential. The two brands came in at joint 2nd, each up by 10.1 points.

Ervin Ha, Head of Data Products, YouGov said: “Recommending a brand to friends and family is great indicator of how well a brand is performing, and Garuda has emerged a true winner in this regard. Capturing the attention and advocacy of consumers in a market as extensive as Indonesia is no easy feat, but Garuda has soared to the challenge.”

Source: YouGov. The top 10 list of brands most recommended by Indonesian consumers.

*The YouGov BrandIndex Brand Advocacy Rankings were calculated by measuring recommend scores among each brand’s customers for the twelve-month period through October 2018. Scores are calculated by subtracting the negative responses from the positive responses. Respondents were drawn from YouGov’s online panels of 6 million consumers across 38 markets. The index looks to give brands a good indication on how well or poorly they have been doing in terms of their customer service, as well as quality of services and products provided.

Influential Brands unveils award winners for 2017

Influential Brands has named six CEOs Top CEO of the Year at the 5th edition of the CEO Asia Conference held in Singapore on 7 November. The 2017 conference, themed The Future of Business in Asia, was held in collaboration with knowledge partner Deloitte Singapore, education partner, SIM, and official car Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.

Among the awards* presented at the event were Top CEO of the Year, Top Influential Brands, Outstanding Brands, Influential Artist of the Year and Influential Woman of the Year. Some 400 C-suite executives from over 100 leading companies across the region including Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and China attended the event. 

Source: Influential
Brands.

Jorge Rodriguez, MD, Influential Brands said, “All awardees of the Top CEO of the Year awards are business leaders from Asia representing diverse sectors from the consumer industry. Chow Tai Fook is a prominent leader in (mainland) China and Hong Kong, Thai Beverage is a market leader in Thailand and in the region, NTUC FairPrice is a dominant player in the grocery sector in Singapore, Success Resources is the global market leader in people development, Hatten Land is a developer with an award-winning portfolio of integrated residential, hotel and commercial developments in Melaka and finally, ONE Championship has expanded to become the Asia’s largest martial arts event company.

"The six Top CEO awardees have demonstrated not only their capacity to lead their organisations but also their ability to understand clearly what consumers expect from them."

Rodriguez added that three factors will drive business success.

- Dynamic connections: consumers will decide how, when and where to buy

- Meaningful branding and innovative products: consumers will be drawn to a brand that has a purpose and is always innovating its products

- Right associations and partnerships: consumers will find the most efficient way to get what they want hence brands must increase brand exposure and leverage on strategic partnerships

"Influential Brands exists for these reasons of fostering dynamic connecting, building channels for brand education and facilitating partnerships and opportunities in Asia," he said.

Thirty-three brands were named in the Top Influential Brands awards and another four as Outstanding Brands. Old Chang Kee was recognised under Influential Brands Hall of Fame for its appeal to consumers across generations. The brand has been a winner for five consecutive years under the Influential Brands Top Influential Brands award category.

Two new individual awards were introduced this year. Iskandar Jalil, Singapore's celebrity potter, won the inaugural Influential Artist of the Year award. The first Influential Woman of the Year award went to Christine Tan, anchor for CNBC's Managing Asia programme.

“The role of the CEO exists at the intersection of the external environment and the internal organisation. In today’s disruptive marketplace, it is not possible for CEOs to shield their organisations from ambiguity,” said Philip Yuen, CEO, Deloitte Southeast Asia and Singapore.

“At Deloitte, we harness our organisation’s broad capabilities to deliver forward-thinking and fresh insights for every stage of a CEO’s career through Deloitte’s CEO Programme – supporting CEOs in their strategic agenda to manage the complexities of their roles, tackle their companies’ most compelling challenges, and adapt to strategic shifts in the market. In this spirit, I would like to congratulate the award winners and wish them continued success.”

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the official car for the event, introduced the Rolls-Royce Ghost and the Wraith, a two-door coupé, at the award ceremony.

Paul Harris, Asia Pacific Regional Director for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars said, “Rolls-Royce has always been the choice for industry titans, and the movers and shakers of the business world. To maintain our pinnacle position means also constantly evolving and integrating cutting-edge technology to create the best in luxury. We are supporting Influential Brands’ CEO Asia Conference as it is a unique platform to support the regional business arena, while showcasing our brand of luxury to highly-successful individuals.”

Deloitte has also released a white paper, Scaling Edges – A Pragmatic Pathway To Broad Internal Change, in conjunction with the event. In the paper, the consultancy advised companies to reconsider how they innovate today, typically by flooding the market with new, marginally improved products or services, to "innovating at an institutional level" instead in the era of the "Big Shift", what Deloitte terms the current environment where we are experiencing increased globalisation and rapid advancements in technology. 

"This change requires firms to rethink even the primary objective of why they exist and drastically change their management mindset; in today’s rapidly changing landscape, a focus on scale efficiencies is not enough. Though transformative change is required, it is admittedly far from a simple task," Deloitte said in the executive summary of the paper.

Pragmatic Pathways is a new framework for digital transformation that in essence says: 

- Focus on edges rather than the core of a company, as change agents can better identify projects which are most likely to achieve significant and sustainable returns. 

- Leverage external resources rather than internal support to scale in edge projects to circumvent scrutiny and organisational resistance to change.

- Accelerate learning rather than focus solely on short-term outcomes to make edges conduits of transformation.

Details:

Top CEO of the Year 
 
Seah Kian Peng, CEO, NTUC Fairprice Co-operative

Dato Colin Tan, Executive Chairman & MD, Hatten Land

Chatri Sityodtong, Chairman, One Championship

Richard Tan, Chairman, Success Resources Singapore

Kent Wong, MD, Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Company

Thapana Sirivadhanabhakdi, President & CEO, Thai Beverage Public Company 

Influential Woman of the Year 
 
Christine Tan, Anchor, Managing Asia, CNBC

Influential Artist of the Year 
 
Iskandar Jalil, Master & Veteran Potter

Hall of Fame 
 
Old Chang Kee

Top Influential Brands
	Brand Name		Category	Country
1	Raffles Hotel		Heritage Hotel	Singapore
2	Gardens by the Bay		Tourist Attraction	Singapore
3	Lee Hwa Jewellery		Premium Jewellery	Singapore
4	Din Tai Fung		Asian Restaurant	Singapore
5	BreadTalk		Bakery	Asia
6	NTUC FairPrice		Supermarket & Online Grocery Retailer	Singapore
7	Watsons		Retail Loyalty Card & Personal Care Store	Singapore
8	MindChamps		Pre-school Education	Singapore
9	Orange Clove		Caterer	Singapore
10	ERA		Property Agency	Singapore
11	Spectacle Hut		Multi-Brand Designer Optical	Singapore
12	Gain City		Air-con & Home Appliance Retailer	Singapore
13	Huawei		Mobile Phone	China
14	Delsey		Luggage	Asia
15	De Longhi		Premium Coffee Maker	Asia
16	Canon		Camera	Asia
17	Grab		Taxi Booking App	Asia
18	Lazada		Online Market Place	Asia
19	Jean Yip Group		Beauty Centre	Singapore
20	My First Skool		Pre-school Education	Singapore
21	Sunshine		Bread	Singapore
22	SCS		Butter	Singapore
23	CP Group		Frozen Food	Asia
24	Gardenia		Bread	Singapore
25	Skylight		Abalone Premium Gift	Singapore
26	Bonjour		Bread	Singapore
27	Katrina Holdings		Bali Thai, So Pho, Streats	Singapore
28	JobStreet.com		Online Job Search	Asia
29	Central Food Retail Group		Grocery and Convenience Retailer	Thailand
30	Chow Tai Fook		Premium Jewellery	Asia
31	Joy City		Shopping Mall	China
32	Beijing Tong Ren Tang		Traditional Chinese Medicine	China
33	Telkomsel		Telecommunications	Indonesia

Outstanding Brands
	Brand Name		Category	Logo Display
1	Choc Spot		Confectionery Retailer	Outstanding Brands -  Singapore
2	Curry Times		Local Cuisine	Outstanding Brands -  Singapore
3	Prata Wala		Asian Restaurant	Outstanding Brands -  Singapore
4	KIODA		Korean Concept Store	Outstanding Brands -  Malaysia

Explore:

Learn more about Deloitte's Scaling Edges methodology

Read the WorkSmart Asia blog posts about:

The 2015 Top Influential Brands and the winners in 2014

The Rolls Royce Dawn Black Badge

*Criteria for the awards in 2017 include:

Top CEO of The Year

A selected group of six CEOs will be recognised for their exemplary achievements in five areas:

Brand leadership: Leads an organisation that owns prominent brand(s) with strong brand power and high brand equity in the eyes of external and internal stakeholders. Brand power is assessed by Influential Brands' constant market monitoring via surveys and social media listening.

Brand expansion (local and international): Demonstrates an ability to build strong partnerships and takes calculated risks in his/her pursuit of business expansion and market leadership. Proven track record creating new brand concepts within their existing marketplace or taking the brand to uncharted territories in Asia and beyond.

Financial performance: Assessment of business performance based on revenue and other indicators (i.e. new countries, new partnerships, point of sales, etc).

Innovation: Infuses and empowers innovation from within the organisation. Embraces new technology in line with new industry developments and allocates time/resources in research and development (R&D) as an important activity in his/her business.

Personal integrity: Living according to values has earned him/her immense respect from staff, competitors, advisers, family and wider community. Coupled with the ability to communicate ideas, this creates the potential to influence others.

In 2016, the recipients for this segment included:

George Quek, Chairman of BreadTalk Group

Anthony Tan, Co-Founder and CEO of GrabTaxi Holdings

Dr Michael Tan, Co-Founder and Group CEO of Fullerton Healthcare Corporation

Richard Eu, CEO of Eu Yan Sang International

David Chiem, Founder, CEO and Chairman of MindChamps Holdings

Alain Ong, CEO of Pokka International

Influential Woman of the Year award 

In line with the Champions of Excellence programme, the Influential Woman of the Year 2017 Award recognises one woman for her exemplary achievements in three areas: influence, business leadership and personal branding. An intensive assessment based on the following criteria was conducted:

Influence: Demonstrates an ability to infuse a special energy that leads to the generation of a greater impact as a result of her work, presence, values and decisions. Coupled with the ability to communicate ideas, this creates the potential to influence others.

Business leadership: Leads and or fronts an organisation that owns a prominent brand(s) with strong brand power and high brand equity in the eyes of external and internal stakeholders.

Personal branding: Living to values has earned her great respect from staff, competitors, advisers, family and wider community.

Influential Artist of the Year award

One artist will be recognised for his/her exemplary achievement in three areas: influence, contribution to the promotion of arts and culture and personal integrity.

Top Influential Brands awards

The 33 awardees will be brands enjoyed and loved by consumers in Asia. The selection is backed by more than five years of consumer insights and surveys covering Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and China and more than 5,000 respondents. The Asiawide study was conducted via both face-to-face and online surveys. More than 50 categories from Online Marketplace and Food and Beverage (F&B) to Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), Electronics and Beauty & Wellness were covered. The top five brands from each category qualify for this award. 

Outstanding Brands awards

Outstanding Brands was created two years ago to identify, feature and celebrate growth brands that sparkle and have shown resilience and growth in changing times. A brand must not only be noteworthy in its own category, industry or domain, it must show significant growth in revenue year-on-year for the past two years or more. It cannot be in receivership and must have a clear business expansion plan. 

Singapore embraces tech, homegrown brands in 2016

Source: Yougov Brandindex. Brand rankings for 2016.

The YouGov Brandindex rankings for 2016 reflect a love affair with local as well as digital brands in Singapore. Singapore Airlines, DBS bank and The Straits Times newspaper are in the list, as well as WhatsApp, and the Apple iPhone in the top three. Other tech brands include Facebook, Google, e-commerce marketplace Qoo10, and YouTube.

Brands were rated using BrandIndex’s Buzz score* which asks respondents, “If you've heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, through advertising, news or word of mouth, was it positive or negative?”

The Buzz Rankings chart shows the brands with the highest average Buzz scores* between January and December 2016.

Source: Yougov Brandindex. Buzz brand ranking improvements from 2015 to 2016.

The Buzz Improvers chart ranks the brands with the highest increase in Buzz comparing scores in years 2015 and 2016. Both scores are representative of the general population.

The top Buzz improvers were Malaysia Airlines (formerly called Malaysian Airlines), AirAsia and Huawei. Huawei in particular went from negative territory in 2015 to positive digits in 2016, while brand-next-door Malaysia Airlines' rankings are still negative, but doing better. Perception for both Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia were likely affected by planes lost in 2014, and show a long tail effect on brand reputation. While Malaysia Airlines' flight MH370 has yet to be recovered at the time of writing, AirAsia did go from a low positive score in 2015 to a much higher one in 2016, showing it is possible to rebound.

Other highlights included:

+Quick service (QSR) restaurants and casual dining brands were all US brands, McDonald's, Starbucks and Subway. Bakery BreadTalk, McDonald's and local eatery EAT did best on Buzz improvements. In 2015 BreadTalk was caught repackaging another brand's prepackaged soy milk as its own home-made product, causing consumer unhappiness. This followed on from the bakery introducing a new "commemorative bun" while the nation was coming to terms with the death of Singapore founding father Lee Kuan Yew in March 2015. The product's name was a pun on the Lee family name, and proceeds were to go to charity.

+In the area of finance, DBS, DBS subsidiary POSB Bank and OCBC won out. Paypal, UBS and IG Markets made the most gains in Buzz, UBS and IG Markets from low positive scores. For insurance, NTUC Income, Prudential and Great Eastern are in the lead. Etiqa, Tenet Sompo - whose parent company comes from Japan - and Zurich Life made the most gains, all from low positive scores.

+For social media, Singapore prefers WhatsApp, Facebook and YouTube. 'Other' Internet brands Google, LinkedIn, MSN and KakaoTalk were the Buzz improvement winners for the year. LinkedIn is 5th in the top five social media brands, whereas MSN and KakaoTalk made modest gains over smaller Buzz scores. Yahoo and Jobstreet were in the top three. Fastjobs, Baidu and Craigslist are the top Buzz improvers for the year. Baidu and Craigslist are still in negative territory however.

+The mobile space was a clean sweep for Apple with Apple's iPhone, Apple and the Apple iPad being the three brands named. Huawei, Nokia and OPPO demonstrated the most Buzz improvement, while Blackberry and Motorola came in at 4th and 5th on the Buzz improvement list gonig from more negative scores to nearly positive scores.

+News had its own Brandindex category in Singapore. Daily The Straits Times, Mediacorp's regional broadcaster Channel NewsAsia and Mediacorp's Today newspaper were in the top three, while online community Stomp, business publication The Edge and free Tamil language daily Tabla! made the most improvements in Buzz. Stomp and Tabla! are also owned by the same parent company as The Straits Times, Singapore Press Holdings.

+The fashion retailers list saw single-brand fashion retailers H&M, Uniqlo, and G2000 as the best known brands. Bershka saw a jump in Buzz gains.

+Airlines for travel that were the most well-known included Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Cathay Pacific. Malaysia Airlines, Air Asia and Air China did best on Buzz improvement. While Malaysia Airlines did best, it is still in negative territory whereas Air Asia went from negative to much more positive scoring. Air China and China Eastern Airlines made improvements but Buzz scores remained negative.

+Singapore hotels ironically included Airbnb as the lead brand, although it is an e-marketplace for private property. Shangri-La and Fullerton rounded out the top three. Hilton made the the most Buzz improvements for 2016. In December 2015 the false ceiling above the driveway at the hotel collapsed, damaging cars and sending people to hospital; the negative associations carried over to 2016.

+The e-commerce/m-commerce category saw e-marketplaces Qoo10 and Carousell followed by global e-marketplace Amazon take the lead. Amazon is not actually in Singapore, although it had announced plans to enter the market in Q117. It was later announced that the launch would be postponed. Lazada, e-supermarket Redmart and Hipvan grew in popularity over the last year. Lazada's 2016 score is lower than that for fashion e-tailer Zalora and Groupon - bought by Fave in March 2017 - which came in fourth and fifth place respectively.

*All Buzz scores listed have been rounded to a single decimal place; additional precision was used internally to assign ranks.

Thailand is very much into digital communications

Source: YouGov Brandindex. The Brandindex rankings for brands in Thailand for 2016.

The YouGov Brandindex rankings for 2016 reveal a liking for digital brands in Thailand. Facebook, Line and 7-Eleven are in the top three, with YouTube and Google in the top 10. Other tech brands include Apple iPhone and e-commerce marketplace Lazada.

Brands were rated using BrandIndex’s Buzz score* which asks respondents, “If you've heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, through advertising, news or word of mouth, was it positive or negative?”

The Buzz Rankings chart shows the brands with the highest average Buzz scores* between January and December 2016.

Other highlights included:

+Automotive brands were all Japanese brands, namely Toyota, Honda (cars) and Mazda.

+Internet brands Facebook, Line and YouTube were the winners for the year.

+The mobile space had Apple and the Apple iPhone as the top two brands. Samsung ranked third while the Samsung Galaxy came in 5th.

+In the area of personal care, Nivea, Vaseline and Colgate won out.

+The retail list saw 7-Eleven, Tesco Lotus and Big C in the top three.

*All Buzz scores listed have been rounded to a single decimal place; additional precision was used internally to assign ranks.

KSA loves food, communications

Source: Yougov Brandindex. Top ranked-brands for KSA in 2016.

The YouGov Brandindex rankings for 2016 reflect an eclectic love affair for brands. Brands were rated using BrandIndex’s Buzz score* which asks respondents, “If you've heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, through advertising, news or word of mouth, was it positive or negative?”

The Buzz Rankings chart shows the brands with the highest average Buzz scores* between January and December 2016. According to YouGov:

1 Almarai (non-mover)

Source: YouGov Brandindex website. Almarai makes food and dairy products.

The largest vertically integrated dairy producer in the Middle East ignited social media in 2016 with the launch of its film on mother’s milk and its family-focused advertising. The mother’s milk video became the second most shared video on YouTube in the world in one week and came in globally as the 7th most shared video of 2016. This also made the brand the third-most popular fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) brand on Facebook with over 45 million views.

According to Euromonitor's Dairy in Saudi Arabia report, Almarai leads in the cheese, drinking milk as well as yoghurt and sour milk categories.

2 WhatsApp (up three places)

The world’s most popular messaging app has moved up from fifth place in 2015 to second place in 2016. The Facebook-owned app is one of the most popular ways to communicate in KSA.

3 Apple (non-mover)

The release of the new MacBook Pro, iOS 10 Software, the Apple Watch Series 2 and the iPhone 7 with wireless AirPods have not affected Apple’s rank greatly.

Source: ALBAIK Facebook page. Banner for Earth Hour 2017.

4 ALBAIK (non-mover)

ALBAIK has been making the headlines for its corporate social responsibility initiatives throughout 2016. The brand’s Please Park It Right community initiative received the Global SABRE Award as one of the world’s top 40 CSR programmes at end-2015. 2016 saw the kingdom’s leading quick service chicken restaurant hit the headlines for switching off its lights to mark Earth Hour and sponsoring the fourth Saudi Youth Sports Initiative aimed at enriching the lives of youth and contributing to the development of soccer and basketball in Jeddah.

5 iPhone (up one place)

The smartphone brand from Apple introduced water-resistance and an improved camera, which were welcomed by consumers.

6 YouTube (up two places)

Owing to the continued increase in content, as well as the introduction of 4K and 360° video, the world’s largest video-streaming platform continues to grow in popularity in the region.

7 Samsung (down five places)

Samsung is at seventh place after falling from second place in the 2015 rankings. Samsung has gone through a tough period with the company recall of some 2.5 million Note 7 devices following multiple battery issues worldwide, but has still maintained high levels of positive Buzz throughout 2016. The release of the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge Pink Gold version smartphones exclusively for the Saudi market helped boost Samsung’s BrandIndex scores.

8 Saudi Airlines (new entry)

Saudi Arabia’s flagship airline has fallen from sixth place since its debut in the 2016 mid-year rankings. Saudia has announced fleet retirement and renewal for 2017, new flight routes, and the delivery of its first A330-300 regional aircraft which will boost capacity on several of the  Saudi Arabian airline's most in-demand routes. 2016 also saw the carrier win platinum status for Fast Travel implementation from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

9 Toyota (new entry)

New launches, announcements and awards sawToyota land 9th place. In the last six months, the popular car brand achieved success at the 2016 Middle East Car of the Year (MECOTY) Awards, winning recognition for the Best Midsize Sedan and Best Midsize Truck. Toyota also chose KSA to make its GCC debut launch of the new 2016 Toyota Prius. A partnership with Uber also hit the headlines following the announcement the two brands will create new leasing options in which car purchasers can lease their vehicles from Toyota Financial Services.

10 Emirates (new entry)

Emirates has entered the Buzz Rankings in Saudi Arabia for the first time. The airline has capitalised on the positive and downplayed the negative to increase its reach across the region.

Source: Yougov Brandindex. Top Buzz improvers over 2016 for KSA.

The Buzz Improvers chart ranks the brands with the highest increase in Buzz comparing scores in years 2015 and 2016. Both scores are representative of the general population.

The top Buzz improvers were Mobily, Zain and Snapchat. Notably, KFC and Malaysia Airlines went from negative scores to positive scores in in 2016.

Other highlights included:

+Automotive brands Toyota, Mercedes Benz and BMW were in the top three. Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Mazda saw the best improvements in Buzz rankings.

+For restaurants and eateries Al Baik, Al Tazaj and Pizza Hut topped the list. KFC, McDonald's and Hardee's did best on Buzz improvements. In KFC's case, the scoring moved from negative to the low positives.

+Retailers IKEA, Panda, and Jarir were the best known brands. EXtra, Carrefour and Souq.com made the most gains for Buzz.

+The consumer electronics space was dominated by Apple, Samsung and Sony. Nikai, which makes audiovisual equipment and phablets, Black & Decker and JVC demonstrated the most Buzz improvement, the first from a negative score to a positive one.

+In the area of finance, Al Rajhi Bank, National Commercial Bank (NCB, Al Ahli), and Alinma Bank won out. GIB, Saudi Investment Bank and Alawwal Bank made the most gains in Buzz.

+The travel category saw airlines Saudia, Emirates and Qatar Airways as its three leaders. Malaysia Airlines, Saudia and Air France/KLM grew in popularity over the last year, from negative to positive in Malaysia Airlines' case.

Interested?

Watch the Almarai mother's milk video (Arabic). At the time of writing the video had been viewed over 12 million times

Read how Almarai rode on YouTube to reach its target audience in KSA in 2016

Watch the Please Park it Right video from ALBAIK (Arabic) 

FMCG brands viewed positively in the Philippines

Source: YouGov. Brandindex 2016 rankings for the Philippines are heavy on toiletry brands. 

The YouGov Brandindex rankings for 2016 reflect the dominance of bath and body products in the Philippines. In the top 10 are Colgate dental products, Cream Silk haircare, Dove soaps and haircare, Safeguard soaps and washes, and Olay skincare. Bench sells clothing, but also makes bath and body products.

Brands were rated using BrandIndex’s Buzz score* which asks respondents, “If you've heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, through advertising, news or word of mouth, was it positive or negative?”

The Buzz Rankings chart shows the brands with the highest average Buzz scores* between January and December 2016.

Best Brand 2016 compares BrandIndex Buzz scores for over 90 brands in the Philippines, to reveal the brands with the most positive noise in 2016. The Philippines is a recent new addition to BrandIndex, and went live during August 2016.

*All Buzz scores listed have been rounded to a single decimal place; additional precision was used internally to assign ranks.

Malaysians show digital savvy side in 2016

Source: YouGov Brandindex. 2016 rankings for Malaysia are heavy on digital brands. 

The YouGov Brandindex rankings for 2016 reflect a love affair with digital brands in Malaysia. WhatsApp, Facebook and Google were in the top three, followed by e-commerce site Lazada, the Apple iPhone, and YouTube in the top seven.

Brands were rated using BrandIndex’s Buzz score* which asks respondents, “If you've heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, through advertising, news or word of mouth, was it positive or negative?”

The Buzz Rankings chart shows the brands with the highest average Buzz scores* between January and December 2016.

Source: YouGov Brandindex. Top Buzz improvements in Malaysia for 2016. 

The Buzz Improvers chart ranks the brands with the highest increase in Buzz comparing scores in years 2015 and 2016. Both scores are representative of the general population.

The top Buzz improvers were Huawei, KFC and Lazada. Huawei in particular went from single-digit territory in 2015 to double digits in 2016.

Other highlights included:

+Automotive brands Toyota, Honda and BMW were in the top three.

+Quick service (QSR) restaurants and casual dining brands were all US brands, KFC, Domino's and McDonald's. KFC, McDonald's, and Texas Fried Chicken did best on Buzz improvements.

+In the area of finance, Maybank, CIMB and Public Bank won out. Insurance players Prudential, Great Eastern Life and AIA were in the lead, while AIG, Kurnia and AXA made the most gains in Buzz.

+Fashion retailers were more a mix of general goods providers which also offer fashion as well as pure fashion retailers. Uniqlo, JUSCO and Adidas were the best known brands. Adidas, FashionValet - which offers designer brands online - and Puma made the most gains for Buzz.

Telecom, Internet and pay-TV operators that were the most well-known included Digi, Celcom and U Mobile. P1 WiMax, while still in negative territory, and U Mobile did best on Buzz improvement.

+The e-commerce/m-commerce category saw e-marketplace Lazada, online fashion retailer Zalora and e-marketplace Mudah.my as its three leaders. Lazada, Fashionvalet and e-marketplace Alibaba grew in popularity over the last year.

+The mobile space was dominated by Apple's iPhone, Apple and Samsung. Huawei, Blackberry and Motorola demonstrated the most Buzz improvement, the latter two from more negative scores to less negative scores.

*All Buzz scores listed have been rounded to a single decimal place; additional precision was used internally to assign ranks.