The top 10 brands people are buzzing about in APAC

This post is sponsored by YouGov.

YouGov has announced this year’s Best Brand series – the annual Buzz Rankings. This is the seventh year we’ve produced these rankings in APAC and we’ve discovered some notable highlights compared with the past few years:

In Australia, Netflix holds the top spot for the third year in a row; Bunnings rose to second place from fifth last year; while ALDI jumped four places from seventh place to third. The top 10 brands in Australia this year are almost identical to last year’s, except for confectionery manufacturer Cadbury which made into the top 10 for the first time coming in ninth.

In China, Huawei has shown the biggest improvement in Buzz over the year and takes top spot from Alipay this year. Multinational information technology company HP enters the top 10 for the first time securing 10th  place.

Local brands also performed well in Hong Kong and occupy the top three spots of the list this year. Ecommerce brand HKTVmall secures first place for the first time, while loyalty programmes Octopus Rewards and MoneyBack came in second and third. Insurance company AIA enters the top 10 this year, taking ninth place.

In Indonesia, Shopee continues to be the top Buzz improver. This year, the eCommerce brand not only enters the country’s top 10 for the first time, but also occupies first place, surpassing Garuda Indonesia, a brand that has dominated the top spot for the past four years. Digital payment service providers GO-PAY and OVO also make into top 10 for the first time, securing the seventh and 10th spots respectively.

Shopee’s performance was also outstanding in Malaysia. Like Indonesia, the brand is the top Buzz improver for the second year in a row. It also jumps five places, taking the top spot in Malaysia this year. Chocolate malt beverage Milo is a new entry to the top 10, coming in at fifth place.

Shopee’s marketing efforts have also paid off in Thailand, coming in first on the Buzz’s improvers list. It also appears in the top 10 for the first time, placing fourth. Shopee also beat fellow eCommerce player Lazada which dropped to fifth place this year. The top three brands in Thailand remain as YouTube, 7-Eleven and Facebook.

In Japan, travel attractions Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo DisneySEA, and Universal Studios Japan, which entered the BrandIndex tracking list last year, secured the first, fourth and sixth places this year. UNIQLO and Rakuten Card remain in second and third.

In the Philippines, Samsung topped the list for the third consecutive year. Snack food brand Oreo entered the top 10 for the first time securing eighth place, while Lazada became the top Buzz improver this year and entered the top 10 securing 10th spot.

Singapore’s top 10 brands remain unchanged from last year with slight movements. National carrier Singapore Airlines came in first for the fifth year in a row, while video-sharing platform YouTube moved up two spots to fifth place, and DBS jumped one place to seventh.

In South Korea, Kakao Bank and LG are the top two brands three years in a row. There were also some new entries to the list this year, including Samsung in third, Tylenol in eighth, and SK in 10th. The top 10 list is dominated by local brands with seven out of the 10 being home-grown Korean brands.

The top 10 in Vietnam was also occupied by local brands with six out of 10  being Vietnamese brands, including Vietnam Airlines in second, eCommerce company Tiki.vn in fourth, retailer The gioi di dong in fifth, retailer Dien May Xanh in seventh, packaged food manufacturer Hao Hao in eighth, and retailer Vinmart in 10th.

In Taiwan, Free Card, the loyalty programme from PX Mart, remained at the top. Several automobile brands entered this year’s list after their addition to BrandIndex tracking list last year, namely,  Mercedes-Benz in second, Toyota in third, BMW in fifth, and Audi in 10th place.

Ervin Ha, head of data products at YouGov Asia Pacific, said: “BrandIndex is the first and most comprehensive service that measures the fundamentals of brand health every day. It continually tracks the impact of marketing and advertising campaigns on key business drivers. BrandIndex gives marketers access to the critical insights necessary to make rapid and informed decisions.”

YouGov BrandIndex’s Buzz Rankings showcases the brands with the highest average Buzz scores between January and December 2019 by asking 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?”

Scores are net scores, calculated by subtracting the percentage of negative responses from the percentage of positive responses for each brand.

(View the full BrandIndex Buzz Rankings here)

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The writer is Ervin Ha, head of data products, YouGov Asia Pacific.