LONDON: Heritage British brands head YouGov’s first UK brand health rankings, with high-end retailer John Lewis in first place, followed by the BBC’s iPlayer service, in contrast to the young tech brands that dominate the global rankings.

The rankings, released today, are based on YouGov’s BrandIndex global data, which surveys perceptions of a brand’s quality, value, impression, satisfaction, reputation and whether consumers would recommend the brand to others, across 26 countries.

Globally, Alphabet’s Google and YouTube brands take the top two spots, with Facebook third and Samsung fourth. Just two brands from the global top ten are included in the UK’s top ranked list: Amazon and Samsung.

“While the global rankings are dominated by brands born in the past 20 years, the UK list is predominantly made up of ones that have been around a good while longer,” said Amelia Brophy, YouGov’s UK Head of Data Products.

“What is striking is that brands such as John Lewis and the BBC have successfully moved with the times – providing services in online settings while continuing to make a virtue of their brand heritage.”

The BBC’s iPlayer, in at number two, leads the charge for the corporation, with channels BBC One and Two occupying sixth and ninth places, respectively. However, YouGov make it clear that these figures were compiled before the BBC published its pay figures.

Brophy suggested that a brand’s history could indeed aid its health, though “the collapse of some big high street brands in recent years shows that this is no easy task”. However, she added, “having brand health steeped in history could help”.

Meanwhile, the research firm has also compiled a list of the brands with the most improved health over the last year, with retailer Tesco in first place. The global trend of tech brands’ accessibility continued with Netflix and WhatsApp.

“By their very nature the likes of Google, YouTube and Facebook are open and accessible in most places on earth to anyone with online access,” Ted Marzilli, CEO of YouGov Data Products, observed.

“The presence of Samsung and Apple iPhone are a sign that our mobile devices have become the remote controls for our lives. All of the brands in the ranking are mainstream with broad utility at their core – and this is as true of the likes of Toyota and Colgate as it is for WhatsApp and Samsung.”

Data sourced from YouGov; additional content by WARC staff