US: Biggest Brand Movers – April 2021

The Golf Channel has claimed the crown as this month’s Biggest Brand Mover in the US. Biggest Brand Movers is a monthly analysis, featuring brands that register statistically significant gains across various metrics in YouGov BrandIndex, a tool which tracks the health and public perception of brands and companies.

The metrics in consideration are Buzz, Impression, Ad Awareness, Consideration and Word of Mouth (WOM) Exposure. NBC’s The Golf Channel, which aired saturation coverage of the prestigious Players Championship in early March, rose in each of those five metrics to claim the top spot. The tournament isn’t one of the majors but offers the highest prize fund of any tournament in golf and has a field of players to match.

Three very different brands in the shape of Amazon Prime Video, Merck and El Pollo Loco all tied for the second spot and improved over the last month in four of the five brand health categories. Last month, Amazon Prime Video inked several major sports broadcasting deals as the service acquired rights to air NFL’s Thursday Night Football and MLB’s New York Yankees games this season. The online content giant showed marked growth in the Buzz, Ad Awareness, Consideration and WOM Exposure metrics.

Drug-manufacturer Merck rose in Buzz, Impression, Ad Awareness and WOM Exposure. Those metrics improved in the wake of positive updates about the efficacy of the company’s COVID-19 treatment drug and also in light of a novel vaccine production partnership with competitors Johnson and Johnson - a move brokered by the US President.

Fast food chain El Pollo Loco, which recently begun revamping its restaurants to accommodate changing eating habits, grew in Buzz, Ad Awareness, Consideration and WOM Exposure.

Five brands were tied for the third spot having made gains in three metrics each. Johnson and Johnson climbed in Buzz, Impression and WOM exposure – again, the brand is likely to be seeing the benefits of its Merck partnership and also the national vaccine roll-out.

Reese’s made significant gains in Buzz, Ad Awareness and WOM exposure scores after the launch of a chocolate-free peanut butter cup, which made national headlines. Krispy Kreme registered spikes in those very same metrics, possibly boosted by their offer of free glazed donuts to anyone with a COVID-19 vaccine card.

Paramount Network also improved in Ad Awareness, Consideration and WOM metrics after it launched its own streaming platform. CPG food brand Knorr registered spikes in those metrics too, while OTC drug brand Xyzal made gains in Buzz, Ad Awareness and WOM Exposure.

Methodology: Data for the Biggest Brand Movers in March compared statistically significant score increases across five BrandIndex metrics between February and March 2021. Brands are ranked based on the number of metrics that saw a statistically significant increase from month to month. Metrics considered are:

Buzz - Whether a consumer has heard anything positive or negative about a brand in the past two weeks (net score)

Impression - Whether a consumer has a positive or negative impression of a brand

Ad Awareness - Whether a consumer has seen or heard an advertisement for a brand in the past two weeks

Consideration - Whether a consumer would consider a brand or not the next time they are in the market for a particular product

Word of Mouth - Whether a consumer has talked about a brand with family or friends in the past two weeks

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