Home-grown powerhouse Emirates is the most positively perceived brand in the UAE yet again according to the 2016 BestBrand Rankings – released today by global market research company YouGov.
The 2016 Annual BestBrand Rankings which launched across 24 countries globally, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, are compiled using the Buzz score from YouGov’s daily flagship brand tracker – BrandIndex. Buzz asks residents daily if they have ‘heard anything positive or negative about a brand in the last two weeks through advertising, news or word-of-mouth. Respondents are interviewed on YouGov’s online panel.
The past year saw Emirates face highs and lows, however the airline brand seems to have capitalized on the positive and softened the negatives. The airline most notably caught consumer attention with brand Ambassador Jennifer Anniston reappearing in a new advertising campaign for 2016, Emirates has continued to receive the highest brand Buzz scores of over 400 brands in the UAE this year, retaining its crown as the number 1 brand in the UAE Buzz rankings.
Holding tight onto second place is WhatsApp. The mobile messaging phenomenon is certainly one of the UAE[‘s most commonly used methods of communication (55%) according to YouGov data. In 2016Â Â WhatsApp opened up its services to businesses which attracted Dubai Municipality to use the platform to engage its customers.
The UAE’s premier Hypermarket Carrefour places third after seeing a steady increase in 2016, landing it as the only new entry into the BrandIndex Rankings. The brand has continued to score significantly higher than its hypermarket competitors in virtually every BrandIndex metric throughout the year.
The tech giant Facebook climbs two places to secure the fourth spot in the rankings. With the launch of 360 photos and videos across the platform, new and improved app features and the launch of ˜Marketplace, consumers are continually engaging with the brand. Despite recent controversies with regards to ‘fake news’stories published on Facebook, the brand has managed to avoid the decline seen by some other brands in the sector.
Emaar has continued its rise in Buzz, with an impressive jump of four places in the Rankings to sit at sixth position. In fact the real estate brand has generated far more Buzz than any of its competitors within the real estate development sector. 2016 saw the opening of the Dubai Opera and announcements of multiple upcoming large-scale developments throughout Dubai. One of the most exciting Emaar developments being the ground breaking on construction of The Tower at Dubai Creek Harbor, the brand-new icon that will be the world’s tallest tower when completed in 2020.
Rounding out our rankings climbers the world’s largest video-streaming website YouTube has jumped one place in the BrandIndex rankings since last year. Owing to the continued increase in content, as well as the introduction of 4k and 360° video, the platform continues to grow in popularity throughout the UAE.
On the other hand, both Apple and iPhone fall down the rankings to fifth and eight respectively. With the release of the new mac book pro, iOS 10 Software, the Apple Watch Series 2 and the iPhone 7 with wireless AirPods, Apple have had a year of updated releases, however a great deal of controversy was caused over the past year with the announcement that their latest phone models – the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus – would not carry an audio jack.
Google witnesses this years biggest rankings descent from fifth to ninth place, this could well be caused by the lower levels of penetration for some of the brand’s newer products such as the Google Pixel smartphone or the new 4k-capable Chromecast Ultra.
After debuting in the Mid-Year rankings last year, Etihad Airways also slips from ninth to tenth place, despite a decent amount of buzz being generated through their latest advertising campaigns featuring Nicole Kidman and sponsored events in the past year – the most notable of which was the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
2016 was a year of significant challenge, with some brands seizing opportunity and others finding their historical strengths tested. Emirates in particular managed to weather a difficult economic climate and operational incidents without affecting its position as the ultimate brand in the UAE. said Scott Booth, Head of Data Products MENA at YouGov ‘Intriguingly, Carrefour stands as the only brand in the top-10 neither home-grown nor tech-focused, belying the strength of sentiment toward Majid Al Futtaim’s hypermarket brand in the UAE.
