Cairo, Egypt – 18th January 2016: Social media giant Facebook is the most positively perceived brand in Egypt according to the 2016 Annual 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.
Facebook has maintained its position as the most positively perceived brand in Egypt for two years in a row. With Egypt constituting the largest Middle East fan-base of the platform at 27 million active users and growing the social media giant looks to be maintaining positive affinity with consumers.
Following closely, Google and YouTube take second and third place respectively showcasing the volume of positive appeal technology megabrands are achieving in the country this year so far. Both brands continued to help empower users in 2016 via such initiatives as a Google doodle for International Women’s Day and a meeting between Pope Francis and 11 YouTube creators to promote understanding and empathy.
Memaar Al Morshedy enters at fourth place in BrandIndex Rankings for 2016. This year the real estate developer ran an advertising campaign specifically targeted at young financially independent males still living at home. The campaign was used to showcase a new premium project with affordable prices to reveal the appeal of living independently compared to some of the situations Egyptian adult males find themselves living in at home.
Moving up two places to sit at fifth position in the annual rankings, iPhone is still a favourite among Egyptian consumers. With the much anticipated launch of the iPhone 7 handsets in 2016, that included the introduction of water-resistance and an improved camera to the phones noticeably welcomed by consumers.
The National Bank of Egypt drops from fifth to sixth place. The oldest commercial bank in the country made headlines in 2016 for offering savings certificates in dollars to attract the savings of Egyptians working abroad.
Galaxy sits at seventh after falling two places this year despite running a number of campaigns including a money give away on Facebook and Instagram. The initiative surprised customers with cash prizes of up to $10,000 inside their Galaxy chocolate bars at stores in the country.
Almarai stands steady in eighth place. MENA’s largest food and beverage manufacturer, which serves 100,000 retail outlets daily across the region, continued to launch a range of advertising campaigns in 2016 to support its array of dairy, juice, bakery, poultry and infant formula products, including a new Ramadan campaign to encourage the act of giving.
Kit Kat coming in at ninth place is a brand new entry to the Annual BestBrand Rankings for 2016. According to Think With Google which publishes the top 10 most watched adverts on YouTube every month, Kit Kat won the hearts of consumers in March 2016 in third place with its mouth-watering campaign to launch KitKat Senses with Hazelnut in the region.
Rounding out the rankings Huawei, a new addition, has come in at number 10. The technology company has seen huge growth throughout 2016 in Egypt. Huawei has focused on products that meet the needs of various social segments, in particular the Y family of products which meet the needs of the middle class youth demographic and smart phones novices, have been hugely successful in Egypt, the Huawei Y5II and Y3II achieved sales of 42,000 mobile phones during the first 50 days following their release in the market.
“Several brands included in YouGov’s top-10 brand rankings successfully leveraged campaigns and activities promoting themes around personal empowerment and social responsibility to boost brand perception among the Egyptian population.” said Scott Booth, Head of Data Products MENA at YouGov.
