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.

Brand Alliance shares 2015 Asia's Top Influential Brands

Source: Brand Alliance. The brand gallery at Marina Bay Sands will be open till 21 August.

Brand Alliance, through its brand leadership platform Influential Brands, has shared the 2015 Asia’s Top Influential Brands, backed by consumer insights derived over 2013 to 2015.

This year, the scope of the Asia’s Top Influential Brands award was expanded to cover over 100 categories, ranging from food and beverage (F&B) and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) to financial services and property development. To determine Asia’s top influential brands, Brand Alliance combined research gained from field consumer insights, analysing the branding qualities, social listening and impact of these brands on consumers through face-to-face and online surveys with more than 4,000 consumers to assess brand favourability and top-of-name recall.

In 2015, Singaporean brands continue to dominate the local landscape. Household favourites such as BreadTalk, MrBean, NTUC FairPrice, Pet Lovers Centre, SK Jewellery and Jumbo Seafood scored high recognition and were perceived favourably by consumers. Other strong Singaporean brands to note include Tiger Beer, UOB Bank and Singapore Airlines, which are highly regarded for their market leadership on both regional and global fronts.

As a result of globalisation and internationalisation, consumers are increasingly well-travelled, with their rising affluence contributing to a greater exposure and acceptance of Asian brands. Based on the consolidated research results, market dynamics have also changed significantly over the past three years, particularly across consumer tastes and preferences, brand dynamics and country-specific brands. 

Geographically, the rise and growth of Chinese brands in Singapore have been among the most notable developments, from no recognition and recall in previous years, to becoming well-known by many consumers in Singapore. Some of these brands have become sizeable players in their respective fields, ranging from smartphones (Huawei [65.7%], OPPO [34.5%]), financial services (Bank of China [66.2%]), e-commerce (Taobao [51.2%]) and airlines (China Eastern [39.3%]).

Southeast Asian brands, particularly those from Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand also made it to the list, particularly in the F&B (PappaRich [62.3%], Thai Express [80.8%]), FMCG (Julie’s Biscuits [76.3%]) and commodities sectors. In line with previous years’ surveys, Hong Kong brands namely Cathay Pacific Airways (77.1%) and Watsons (74.7%) continued to secure their leadership positions within the branding spectrum, with consumers holding these brands in the highest esteem.

“It’s not surprising that these brands are top brands in Singapore,” said Jorge Rodriguez, Director of Strategy at Influential Brands. “These results revealed that there is an evolution on consumers’ perception towards brands and their openness to embrace new brands regardless of the country of origin is greater than ever. The new generation of consumers are including a new set of considerations in their decision process including recommendations from trusted sources and brand credibility alongside the traditional considerations such as value for money and functionality. This is creating great opportunities for Chinese brands to reposition themselves as the new generation of regional and global brands. The Influential Brands logo represents a vote of consumer confidence and approval, as well as a testament to the years of efforts invested in building, maintaining and strengthening the brands.”

The study showed that brands with high recall and positive perception were united in their brand engagement approach. Where the variables were equal (for example, in the F&B categories: location, convenience and price), consumers gravitated towards brands that have built brand presence and likeability via channels of trust and products and marketing activities that meet their expectations. In categories with intense competition, brands with cross-generational appeal, for instance Old Chang Kee, BreadTalk and NTUC FairPrice ultimately topped their categories.

A firm advocate of celebrating brand excellence in Asia, Brand Alliance goes the extra mile this year to hold a first-of-its kind brand gallery in Marina Bay Sands Singapore, showcasing many of Asia’s Top Influential Brands as part of the consumer engagement efforts. Visual panels detailing the stories behind each brand are on display, with on-site Brand Alliance personnel ready to assist those who are keen to find out more. The gallery is open for free admission till 21 August from 11am - 7pm daily at The Shoppes at MBS Level 1 #L1-K1 (next to Carnivore Restaurant).

Source: Brand Alliance. List in no order of preference or ranking.

LinkedIn explores the new norms @Work around the world in new study

Source: LinkedIn.

Professionals in Singapore have become more confident about speaking up and are becoming more assertive at work, according to new research by LinkedIn, the professional network. LinkedIn’s New Norms @Work study* shows that 58% of professionals would now challenge their colleagues by voicing their opinions compared to when they first started their career. 

One in every two professionals surveyed also disagree that they are “yes employees” — someone who does as he/she is told and is not likely to question authority. Compared with their peers in Malaysia – where 64% of those surveyed said they are “yes employees,” Singaporean professionals are more vocal but trail behind those in Indonesia (37% are “yes employees”).

In Singapore, professionals aged 25-34 – or the millennials – appear to be the most eager to please. Over half or 55% say they consider themselves as “yes employees”, compared to 43% of professionals in the 55-65 age group, suggesting that the confidence to speak up come with more work experience.

“The diversity of opinions in any organisation, if harnessed effectively, goes a long way towards strengthening the quality of decision-making. It will also help to enhance Singapore’s attractiveness as a key regional business hub,” said Cliff Rosenberg, Managing Director, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand at LinkedIn. “Employers need to create an even more conducive environment for employees to feel comfortable about speaking up. Professionals can also share their wealth of expertise on platforms like LinkedIn to benefit a broader group, and to build their professional brands at the same time.”

Some other interesting findings include:

Dressing

While many workplaces have implemented more liberal and casual dress codes, professionals still dress to impress. First impressions do count and close to half (48%) of professionals surveyed in Singapore say that they will dress up more for meetings held during the workday,

Women feel most pressured to impress in the workplace, with 37% believing they get judged more for what they wear at work (the global average is 25%), while men believe they will appear more professional by dressing smartly (46%). Men, however, tend to look for a more prescriptive approach than their female counterparts and prefer an environment that has clear norms of work attire. Overall, there is a clear idea of what constitutes appropriate work wear with 39% of males and 47% of females maintaining separate work and home wardrobes.

Reputation

LinkedIn’s study also suggests that a blemish-free professional brand is extremely important to professionals in Singapore, with some indicating they will go to great lengths to protect their reputations, even if it means being dishonest. One-third (34%) of professionals in Singapore reported that if they were fired from a job, they would make it look like they left of their own accord; 24% wouldn’t mention it at any cost while 1% would even lie about it. Between the sexes, males (34%) are more likely to be upfront and completely honest about the situation, compared to females (27%).

Online profiles

Reflecting the digital savvy of professionals in the country, the online profile photo is now an opportunity to make a good first impression. This is especially so for professional networking sites; 35% of those surveyed in Singapore say they think more carefully about their profile pictures on LinkedIn compared to other social networking sites. Conscious of the need to establish and protect their professional brands, 43% of Singaporean professionals say it is “very important” for them to keep their professional and personal social media profiles separate.

A global comparison of the 19 countries that participated in the study finds that the value placed on one’s professional brand is similar from country to country with some differences across markets:

· Across markets, one quarter of all respondents agreed that women get judged more for what they wear at work.

· In India, one quarter of full-time working professionals reported wearing a suit or formal dress to work the most frequently, compared to only 3% of their counterparts in Sweden.

· Indonesia professionals are the most image-conscious, with the highest number (51%) of professionals there saying they think most carefully about their professional profile picture, compared to only 4% in Japan.

· Professionals are speaking up globally. When asked the one thing they would do now compared to when they started their careers, over half of professionals worldwide reported that they would challenge their boss by voicing their opinion, challenging ideas, etc.

Next steps?

LinkedIn encourages professionals to join the New Norms @Work conversation by sharing their #WorkSelfie on LinkedIn and across social media channels. Visit a blog post for tips on how to take a great work selfie and to learn more about the New Norms @Work global study.

*In April 2015 LinkedIn partnered with Censuswide to survey more than 15,000 full-time professionals around the world. Respondents between the ages of 18-66+ were surveyed in 19 countries including theUS, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, and the UK to unearth mainstays in office culture and gain a better understanding of how full-time working professionals view themselves and are reshaping their professional brand for the modern workplace.