Emirates snaps up top place in UAE brand rankings

Emaar, Almarai, Apple, Emirates NBD, Carrefour also figure in the top 10 list of a survey conducted by YouGov

Emirates, the world’s biggest long haul carrier, is the most recommended brand by consumers in the UAE. Courtesy Emirates

Emirates, the world’s biggest long-haul airline, is the most recommended brand by consumers in the UAE, according to a new study.

The Dubai airline topped the list for the second year in a row and is ahead of Emaar and Almarai, which are placed in second and third position, in a YouGov Brand Advocacy Rankings of the UAE.

Emirates nearly quadrupled its half-year profit as a drop in oil prices boosted earnings to Dh862 million in the six months to September 30 from a year earlier. Other brands to make it to the top 10 UAE list were Apple for its iPhone, Emirates NBD, French hypermarket chain Carrefour, Facebook's WhatsApp, Singapore Airlines and Google, the survey results show.

The UAE Advocacy Rankings, produced by YouGov’s daily brand tracking tool BrandIndex, screened all 590 brands in the country, and surveyed only respondents who are current and former customers of one of them.

Emirates NBD witnessed the most movement within the top 10 list and climbed up four places to fifth in the 2019 rankings.

Technology brands seem to have had a rather flat year in the UAE. IPhone and WhatsApp retained the same spot at fourth and seventh, respectively. Apple has seen the largest decline among the top 10 brands, moving down five places to tenth in the 2019 rankings. Internet search giant Google also declined, moving down three places to ninth.

There were a lot of new brands in the top 10 rankings this year. In the UAE, Carrefour has made a re-entry at sixth place after falling out of the list last year, and Singapore Airlines made its debut in the rankings at eight position.

YouGov also revealed brands with the most improved level of customer advocacy over the past 12 months. Pakistan International Airlines has, for a second consecutive year, seen the biggest improvement in its recommend score, increasing from 19.1 points last year to 37.2 this year. PIA was trailed by Netflix, Huawei, Air France/KLM, Pepsi, Airbnb, Coca-Cola, Anghami, Crest and e-commerce website Noon.

Rankings data was collected between November 1, 2018 and October 31 of this year. Data pertaining to improvement of rankings was collected between November 1, 2017 and October 31.