January 17th, 2016, YouGov
The 2015 annual BestBrand Rankings released by YouGov using our flagship daily brand tracker, BrandIndex, have crowned national airline Emirates, mega food and beverage manufacturer Almarai and world renowned social media giant Facebook as the most positively perceived brands in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt respectively, in 2015.
Using BrandIndex’s Buzz score, which is calculated by asking consumers daily if they have ‘heard anything positive or negative about a brand in the last two weeks, through advertising, news or word-of-mouth’, the Rankings portray the top 10 brands with the highest average Buzz scores and the most positive brand sentiment amongst residents in all three countries in 2015.
It was a tremendous year for Almarai which climbed an impressive five ranks in Saudi Arabia over the last 12 months to take the lead position from Samsung which previously spent three successive years at the top. Samsung was also knocked off pole position in the UAE by national airline Emirates who took back the crown after dropping to second place in 2014.
In Egypt, the Rankings illustrate a firm connection from digital-based brands amongst consumers with Facebook leading positive sentiment from consumers followed closely by Google and YouTube. Digital brands also had a firm grip over positive perception in all three countries taking seven top 10 Rankings places in the UAE, six in Saudi Arabia and five in Egypt overall.
Most notably there's a pronounced appearance from YouTube who is the only brand to debut in the Rankings in all three Middle East countries simultaneously, illustrating its power to resonate positively amongst consumers in 2015.
Airline, finance, food & beverage and property brands dominate the remaining top 10 positions across the three countries. Whilst Emirates is followed most closely by the likes of WhatsApp, Facebook, Apple and iPhone; fellow national airline Etihad Airways makes its debut Rankings entrance in ninth place in the UAE just ahead of Emaar who remains in tenth after entering the top 10 in 2014.
Household food favorites Al Baik and Galaxy feature in the Saudi Arabia Rankings again notching up four successive years in the top 10 whilst Visa still maintains appeal despite dropping three places since arriving in the Rankings in 2014.
The highest non-technological ranked brand achieving positive cut through amongst consumers in Egypt is the National Bank of Egypt, while Galaxy, Almarai, Kit Kat and Banque Misr all feature in the final five in Egypt’s first ever top 10.
YouGov MENA Managing Director, Kailash Nagdev commented, “The dominance of technology brands in all three country Rankings demonstrates the increasing time consumers are spending on digital and social platforms. Most of these digital brands have entered the rankings in the past two years, illustrating the changing media landscape in the region." says YouGov MENA Managing Director, Kailash Nagdev. “Brands who can diversify their marketing strategies and embrace those digital platforms could also stand to win high levels of positive Buzz amongst consumers and follow those with top 10 scores who are already indicating their ability to do so.”