List of most loved brands dominated by tech firms

John Murray

This week saw the release of the Top 100 Global Brand Love List by social analytics firm NetBase, with one or two surprises in terms of the companies both being taken to hearts, and conspicuous by their absence.

Now in its third year, the survey lists the 100 brands that are most cherished by consumers across the world, and the rundown shows that the highest scorers tend to be companies related to the internet and social media.

Over the years, I can’t remember too many times I’ve heard anybody say that they ‘love’ Facebook, but according to the list, the social media platform is indeed the most loved brand in the world.

Mark Zuckerberg’s site finished ahead of e-retail sites Amazon and eBay in second and third respectively, with tech giant Apple in fourth. Snap, the company behind Snapchat, has come from nowhere to take fifth place after rebranding last year.

A tech-heavy top 10 continues with Pokémon Go in seventh, ahead of its parent company Nintendo in 12th. Disney, in sixth, is the only brand in the top 10 that cannot be seen as a tech or internet company, with Etsy, Netflix and Sony completing the list of the most loved.

Taxi booking service Uber is another new entry in 11th, and T-Mobile is one of the biggest movers, with a 164% increase in its amount of, er, ‘lovedness’. The mobile communications firm is now part of the EE network, but continues to showcase its branding by sponsoring events like the Major League Baseball Home Run Derby.

A major surprise here is that Google failed to make the top 20, despite another recent study claiming that we use the search engine and other Google subsidiaries (including Gmail and YouTube) every three and a half minutes.

Perhaps we’re so familiar with Google these days that we take it for granted, and it’s worth noting that a press release on the report points out the difference between ‘liking’ and ‘loving’ a brand. It claims that the research put into the report is able to detect emotional attachment to a brand, and this is an indication of the ability companies have to “cultivate strong relationships” with consumers, often to the extent where a brand name will affect their decision making ahead of price.

With iconic food and drink companies like Coca-Cola, McDonalds and Starbucks not making the top 10, this list demonstrates how effectively the digital era has intertwined with our lifestyles, making social media, internet and innovative technology stir up consumer passion more than any other sector.