TOKYO: Tokyo Disneyland has been named the strongest brand in Japan in a new report from Dentsu Y&R.
The agency surveyed 5,000 consumers aged 18 to 69 for its Brand Asset Valuator study in which it determined a brand's standing by reference to four "pillars": energised differentiation, relevance, esteem and knowledge.
Tokyo Disneyland retained its top spot – it was number one in the previous two reports Dentsu Y&R carried out in 2012 and 2010 – while Google climbed eight places to second place, Campaign Asia-Pacific reported.
Apple's iPhone sub-brand came in third, while Universal Studios Japan rose 11 places to fourth and Amazon Japan six places to fifth.
The top ten was rounded out, in order, by YouTube, Apple, Dyson, iRobot Roomba and Rakuten Ichiba.
Two brands that have fallen out of topline favour since 2012 are McDonald's and Volkswagen: the former has experienced food safety scares in Japan while Volkswagen's emissions fraud has been global news.
Masanori Togawa, senior partner/strategic planning at Dentsu Y&R, said that Tokyo Disneyland had scored highly across all four pillars and suggested that a major factor in its continued brand strength was the staff who displayed "a strong motivation for entertaining visitors".
While Apple's iPhone has a strong brand equity, its leading rival Samsung has failed to achieve a similar state, partly because of political tensions between Japan and Korea, Togawa suggested.
But at the same time, Galaxy, a Samsung sub-brand, has found wider acceptance as it is regarded as "a more global brand" that comes with "no particular country image".
And Togawa pointed out that Galaxy holds a 16% share of Japan's smartphone market, although this is far below the iPhone's 60% share.
The agency surveyed 5,000 consumers aged 18 to 69 for its Brand Asset Valuator study in which it determined a brand's standing by reference to four "pillars": energised differentiation, relevance, esteem and knowledge.
Tokyo Disneyland retained its top spot – it was number one in the previous two reports Dentsu Y&R carried out in 2012 and 2010 – while Google climbed eight places to second place, Campaign Asia-Pacific reported.
Apple's iPhone sub-brand came in third, while Universal Studios Japan rose 11 places to fourth and Amazon Japan six places to fifth.
The top ten was rounded out, in order, by YouTube, Apple, Dyson, iRobot Roomba and Rakuten Ichiba.
Two brands that have fallen out of topline favour since 2012 are McDonald's and Volkswagen: the former has experienced food safety scares in Japan while Volkswagen's emissions fraud has been global news.
Masanori Togawa, senior partner/strategic planning at Dentsu Y&R, said that Tokyo Disneyland had scored highly across all four pillars and suggested that a major factor in its continued brand strength was the staff who displayed "a strong motivation for entertaining visitors".
While Apple's iPhone has a strong brand equity, its leading rival Samsung has failed to achieve a similar state, partly because of political tensions between Japan and Korea, Togawa suggested.
But at the same time, Galaxy, a Samsung sub-brand, has found wider acceptance as it is regarded as "a more global brand" that comes with "no particular country image".
And Togawa pointed out that Galaxy holds a 16% share of Japan's smartphone market, although this is far below the iPhone's 60% share.
Data sourced from Campaign Asia-Pacific; additional content by Warc staff
