Amazon is enjoying the best public perception for the second consecutive year, according to YouGov’s U.S. Buzz Rankings list for 2014.
The study, which measures consumer perceptions of brands, asked respondents whether they have heard anything about the brand during the prior two weeks and subtracts the percentage who answer they have heard something negative from the proportion who have heard something positive.
Six brands from last year’s top 10 made this year’s list again:
- YouTube moved up four spots from the 6th position to take the second spot behind Amazon;
- Subway dropped a spot to 4th;
- Lowe’s fell three spots to #8;
- Ford had the biggest decline, from the second ranking to #9 this year; and
- Cheerios dropped a spot to 10th.
The remaining brands from last year’s top 10 — History Channel, Walgreen’s, V8, and Kindle — were replaced this year by Netflix (up from #12 to #3), Samsung (up from #11 to #5), Apple (up from #18 to #6, returning to the top 10 after a two-year absence) and Google (up from #19 to #7).
In other words, it was quite the year for technology and telecom companies.
The top improviser list, which tracks the highest increase in Buzz Scores during 2014 compared to 2013, is led by three brands that still ended up with a negative
average Buzz score, meaning that more respondents heard something negative than positive about the company.
The top 5:
- Carnival Cruise Line (+11.6 to -3.5);
- Bank of America (+6.1 to -7.1);
- Goldman Sachs (+4.9 to – 7.2);
- Wells Fargo (+3.8 to 0.4); and
- NBC (+3.8 to 1.3).
Category Leaders
Below are some quick highlights (limited to the US) of the brands topping the various category lists:
- Southwest (14.6) lead among airlines, with second- placed Delta (5.7) trailing distantly;
- Nike (18.7) was both most improved and overall leader in the Apparel and Footwear category;
- None of the cable and satellite providers identified was able to crack a double-digit Buzz score, although DirecTV (9.5) came closest, with Verizon FIOS (6.3) second;
- GEICO (19.3) edged State Farm (18.6) in the insurance category; Google’s winning Buzz Score of 22.6 in the internet search category was significantly ahead of Yahoo! (10.3), its nearest competitor; and
- Despite being most improved in the social media category, Facebook (10.9) was outranked by Pinterest (13.6), with both falling far behind YouTube (26.3) and Google (22.6)