Asia's Top 1000 Brands 2021

Here it is: the release of the results of our eagerly anticipated in-depth study, produced by Campaign Asia-Pacific in partnership with NielsenIQ, now in its 18th year.

Asia's Top 1000 Brands is a survey of consumer opinions across 14 markets in Asia-Pacific, assessing brand preference in 15 product/service categories. It is a fascinating temperature gauge, showing which brands are succeeding with their marketing and brand-building efforts, and which aren't managing to land their names 'top of mind' as customer favourites.

The 2021 survey, undertaken in April across APAC, is the first after a full year of life under Covid in which consumer behaviour has changed considerably along with brand interactions that are increasingly becoming digital experiences. 

Every year, the receipt of this data sends our editorial team into analytical overdrive, as we scour the tables for the most interesting trends and insights across categories and markets.  An additional challenge this year was weighing the significance of brand movements against a much-needed change to our market weightings (see What’s New item 3 below) that has seen the addition of no less than 213 new brands, including many more Asian-based brands into the Top 1000.  For reference, last year only 53 new brands were added.

Beyond these changes, however, we’ve once again unearthed some telling trends and storylines.

HEADLINE STORIES

• Examining Samsung's decade as Asia's top brand
• Mainland China leads growth
• Leaps and dives: The biggest brand moves
• Top 5 in 5: Actions that earned the top brands their spots
• Luxury brands shine in spite of economic turmoil
• Rankings rise for brands that cushioned the Covid impact

A QUICK GUIDE TO EXPLORING ASIA'S TOP 1000 BRANDS

• Explore the full top 1000 list
• Watch as we reveal the top 100 brands in each of 14 markets
• Analyse a single brand's performance from 2004 to 2021
• Compare the performance of multiple brands from 2004 to 2021
• Compare the performance of the top brands in a specific category over the years
• Watch some of the region's biggest and longest-lasting brand rivalries play out
• View the full top 1000 lists from past years

WHAT'S NEW THIS YEAR?

1. Full list exclusivity for members

This year the full Top 1000 list is available for Campaign members only. In-depth surveys and accompanying analysis like Asia’s Top 1000 Brands require considerable resources, and we rely on subscribers for support to provide valuable research. For a Campaign membership to see the full results, subscribe here.

Non-members who register with Campaign (a free and fast process) can continue to view three articles per month of our coverage, which includes our upcoming Top 100 brand lists for each APAC market.  But as in the past, those looking to get a full picture of the Top 1000 landscape will again need to be members to get full unlimited access.

2. Best connected experience

Given the rapid digital transformation we’re seeing under Covid, we asked consumers an extra question aside from the main questions asked to consumers (see methodology section below). For the first time, we asked APAC consumers to name brands with the best overall experience when interacting through a connected device. We also repeated a question we've asked since 2018, getting consumers' opinions about which local brands resonate most in their home markets. The results from these questions give us another facet of insight into consumer brand choice. We'll be sharing the results as we release our market-specific lists with more analysis in the coming weeks.

3. New market weightings

In an effort to make the survey more representative of APAC consumer buying power, rankings for results from the larger markets of China, Japan and India have now been given a proportionately higher value in the Top 1000, as outlined in the methodology below. In past years these markets already provided larger survey sizes to ensure local brand names were recognised. Now we are giving these larger market surveys more representative weight to the Top 1000 as well.

METHODOLOGY

Asia’s Top 1000 Brands aggregates data from an online survey developed by Campaign Asia-Pacific and global information and insights provider NielsenIQ. The survey was conducted between April 12 and 30, 2021. The study explores consumer attitudes in 14 markets: Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

Research relies on a total of 400 respondents in each market. In Japan, India and China, participants number 800, 1200 and 1600, respectively and these market differences have been applied to the overall weighting of Asia’s Top 1000 Brands. To be representative of market populations, survey quotas target age, gender and monthly household income.

Categories

The study encompasses 15 major categories: alcohol; apparel and accessories; automotive; beverages; consumer electronics; delivery; financial services; food; home appliances; household and personal care; media and telecommunications; restaurants; retail; sports & entertainment; and transport, travel and leisure. WIthin these major categories there are 80 sub-categories.

Categories and sub-categories change a bit each year. This year we renamed the ‘courier’ category ‘delivery’ and added a sub-category for ‘home delivery’ brands. We amalgamated several food categories and added a new sub-category for meat, seafood and meat substitutes.  We also brought sports & entertainment together in a category and added a new sub-category for video games. Budget and full-service airlines were also combined into a single sub-category.

Questions

Participants gave their responses to the following questions:

Question 1: “When you think of this category, which is the best brand that comes to your mind? By best, we mean the one that you trust the most or the one that has the best reputation in this category.”

Question 2: “Apart from the best brand that you entered, which brand do you consider to be the second best brand in the category?”