Emirates retains top brand title in UAE five years in a row

Emirates Airlines has retained its top position as the best brand in the UAE for the fifth consecutive year.

That's according to YouGov's latest survey that measures a brand’s overall health by taking the average impression, quality, value, satisfaction, recommendation and reputation.

Despite recording a decline of -1.8 in its year-on-year brand health score due to the extended impact of flight restrictions, the Dubai carrier (58.1)  continued to enjoy a stronghold among UAE residents.

Adidas and Nike made their debut in the top 10 list this year at second (50.6) and sixth (46.3) positions respectively.

Samsung moved up two places to third (47.7) despite its own brand health declining by -0.8 points from last year. On the other hand, Almarai moved up four places to fourth (47.3), strengthening its brand perception over the past year.

Apple remained in seventh (45.8) this year despite its score recording a decline since last year. Its smartphone brand iPhone, however, has moved up one place to eighth (44.9) despite its score remaining stable. 

Global technology platform brands including YouTube, Google and WhatsApp have witnessed declines to their scores, and their ranking. YouTube moved down two places to fifth (47.2), Google down three places to ninth (43.5), and WhatsApp moved down eight places to tenth (43.1) this year.

Meanwhile, rankings also showed brands that have improved the most over the past 12 months.

Noon.com stepped into the first spot as the most improved brand of the year, with a change in score of +6.2.

KFC is the second-best mover with a change in score of +4.7, closely followed by Expo 2020 Dubai (change in score of +4.6).

Another e-commerce giant to feature in the improvers list is Amazon.ae (+2.9), along with Amazon’s video-on-demand streaming service Amazon Prime (+2.8).

Loyalty programmes Share (+3.0) and U by Emaar (+2.4) both featured in the top 10 at fourth and tenth respectively.  Red Bull (+2.9), Commercial bank of Dubai (+2.6), Johnson’s (+2.4) are other brands to appear in UAE’s 2021 top ten Improvers list.