Dubai: Forget the bling... UAE consumers prefer everyday brands as being the most “authentic” rather than prestige labels, according to a multi-market survey, whose findings were revealed late on Monday, showed.
Carrefour was the top pick for UAE consumers, while another hypermarket operator Lulu came fourth while Spinneys took 14th place. Etisalat took the second spot, followed by Samsung in third place. Du placed fifth in the survey carried out by communications agency Cohn & Wolfe.
There were top positions for Emirates NBD (7th), Emirates airline (8th), Sharaf DG (11th) and the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (12th). Other UAE-based brands that made the Top 20 rankings were ADCB (13th), Dubai Islamic Bank (16th) and Etihad Airlines (17th).
“The top rankings in each of the markets we did the survey — and the UAE consumer responses were no exception — showed several long-standing brands with local roots,” said Geoff Beattie, global head of Corporate Affair at Cohn & Wolfe.
“The ‘everyday’ relationship consumers had was what counted the most in being seen as authentic, tied to how closely brands were able to deliver on what they promise. And that meant there were no places for the big, shiny aspirational brands.
“But a brand like McDonald’s was able to feature quite high despite the debate over healthy eating trends and being unpopular in many ways ... respondents felt McDonald’s was able to deliver consistently on the promise of value.”
Another bit of a surprise in respondent preferences was that none of the social media giants featured in the top rankings. Beattie believes that concerns over data privacy had a lot to do with that.
“The survey was conducted just after summer last year when the whole issue of personal data and how it might be used by the social media/tech companies was at a peak,” Beattie said.
“Those concerns were there among American respondents, those in the UK and even among the Chinese. Clearly, social media companies need to reassure users that those private details are not made available without limits. But there were no such concerns over tech hardware brands with Samsung and Apple well represented in the rankings.”
At the global level, McDonald’s topped the survey followed by Samsung, Apple, Carrefour and KFC, even though “it was not the most popular authentic brand in any of the 12 countries surveyed”, according to the Cohn & Wolfe report.
Apart from the UAE, the survey was also held in the US, the UK, India, Indonesia, Germany, Hong Kong, China, France, Italy, Spain and Sweden. In each country, feedback was solicited from 1,000 respondents apiece cutting across demographic and income levels.
So, what does a brand need to do to be rated as “authentic”? According to the Cohn & Wolfe methodology, seven factors were put into play:
1.) Communicates honestly about the products/services;
2.) Acts with integrity at all times;
3.) Communicates honestly about its environmental impact and sustainability measures;
4.) It’s clear about — and true — to its beliefs;
5.) Is open about its partners and suppliers;
6.) Stands for more than just making money; and
7.) Has a relevant and engaging story.
Interestingly, supermarket brands were rated as displaying the “most authentic” character across the global survey. Even in a market like Germany, “value supermarket chains such as Lidl, Kaufland and Aldi dominated at the expense of megabrands like BMW or Mercedes,” Beattie said.