Dubai: Home-grown brand Emirates Airlines has claimed the crown as this year’s best brand in the UAE, beating electronics giant Samsung and mobile messaging service Whatsapp.
Market research firm YouGov tracked over 400 brands in the UAE in the last six months and asked consumers if they have “heard anything positive or negative about a brand in the last two weeks, through advertising, news or word-of-mouth.”
Emirates Airlines, which, along with other Gulf carriers, has been embroiled in a row with three American airlines over the “open skies” policy, appeared to have made the most noise, as it garnered the highest “buzz score” of 56.7. According to YouGov, the company’s high-profile sponsorships are the ones that are actually creating an impact among the residents in the UAE.
“Emirates has maintained a prominent sponsorship strategy this year, continuing to build relationships with its passengers by supporting a range of high-profile sporting and musical events,” YouGov said. “The abundance of positive noise also makes it the third highest buzz score improver for 2015, increasing its score by 4.5 points since this time last year.”
The brand rankings are for the first six months of 2015. They are currently being dominated by digital brands, which have consequently bumped some previously high-scoring fast-moving consumer goods brands off the list.
“It’s clear digital-based brands are currently riding high among the public’s opinion, taking up seven of the UAE’s top 10 most positively perceived brands,” said Kailash Nagdev, YouGov managing director.
The second most positively perceived brand among consumers in the UAE is Whatsapp, which earned an overall score of 51.3.
Korean electronics powerhouse Samsung, which topped the 2014 rankings, slipped to the third place with a score of 44.1. Samsung had been holding the crown as the number one smartphone brand, but in the first quarter of the year, it saw its market share dropping to 24.2 per cent.
Nagdev said that Samsung is still ahead of other players in the mobile phone market, but it just couldn't catch up with Emirates and Whatsapp, who have both stepped up their game.
“Samsung has created tremendous positive buzz with the launch of its flagship Galaxy S6 and S6 edge, and still remains ahead of Apple and other consumer electronic brands," said Nagdev.
"However, the exponential growth of Whatsapp’s user base, together with the hype surrounding its acquisition by Facebook, and the continued global sponsorship of top sporting events by Emirates, are simply sustaining more positive sentiment in consumers’ minds - enough to outshine Samsung despite its efforts," Nagdev told Gulf News.
Apple occupied the fourth spot in YouGov’s brand rankings, followed by Google in the fifth place and Facebook in the sixth.
Another home-grown brand, Etihad Airways, made its appearance in the seventh equal position with YouTube. Etihad gained a remarkable buzz score improvement, thanks to “The Residence” and advertising campaign, “Flying Reimagined” that features Hollywood star Nicole Kidman.
“A strong market push from Etihad Airways [as well as Emirates] is clearly paying off, giving the technology power-houses a run for their money. It will be interesting to see how the next six months unfolds as regional competition between the carriers heats up,” said Nagdev.
Samsung’s strong rival, Apple iPhone, which is fast catching up in terms of sales, made it to the eighth place with a score of 34.9. Also making it to the top ten are Dubai-based mega developer Emaar (ninth place) and Dubai Mall (tenth place).
