Emirates wins UAE’s Best Brand status for second consecutive year

WAM -- 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 airline most notably caught consumer attention with brand Ambassador Jennifer Anniston reappearing in a new advertising campaign for 2016, and 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 according to YouGov data. In 2016, 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, is in third place 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.

Emaar has continued its rise in Buzz, with an impressive jump of four places in the rankings to sit at sixth position. The real estate brand has generated far more Buzz than any of its competitors within the 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 is the ground breaking on construction of The Tower at Dubai Creek Harbour, the brand-new icon that will be the world’s tallest tower when completed in 2020.

"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."

WAM/Moran