The brands making the best impressions on women in Asia-Pacific

In honour of International Women's Day, YouGov has released its BrandIndex 2020 Women’s Rankings, based on its impression score which monitors whether brands have a positive or negative impression with women. Such scores are critical for brands looking to increase market share, particularly in regions like Asia where women's income levels are rising fast.

According to index over the past year, women around the world are registering strong affinity with many social media and Internet brands. YouTube dominated the 2020 global Women's Impression Rankings with top ten showings in 19 markets around the world, while parent company Google placed top ten in 15 markets, followed by WhatsApp at 14.  

As it turns out, it is hard to make sweeping statements about women and brands in Asia. According to YouGov's findings, women in some markets recognise global brands such as Google, Facebook and Whatsapp strongly, while in others local entities shine.

In Australia, for example Google jumped one place from last year and becomes No.1 for the first time, even as a more local label Chemist Warehouse entered top ten for the first time coming in fourth, rounding up the top five in Australia together with Toyota. 

However in Japan, the top 10 is dominated by local names, with Rakuten in third, Uniqlo in fourth, Panasonic in fifth, Muji in sixth, and ANA in seventh. Travel attractions Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo DisneySEA, and Universal Studios Japan, which entered the BrandIndex tracking list last year, are in first, second and eighth places this year.

In India, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Malaysia, women recognise Whatsapp as their No.1 brand. but below that chat app, there is a strong diversity in the top 10. For instance, in India, Google and YouTube round off the top 3, in Hong Kong it is Uniqlo and Money Back and in Indonesia it is Shopee and Garuda Indonesia. WhatsApp, Shopee, OVO, Go-Pay make into top ten for the first time, in Indonesia, securing first, second, seventh and eighth spots respectively.

One of the markets with the biggest upheaval is the Philippines, even if the top two spots are still secured by Samsung and Colgate. Philippines Airlines jumps four places from last year to third, Cream Silk rises to fourth place from sixth last year, YouTube rises to fifth from ninth. Local labels Rebisco, M.Y. San Grahams, and Piattos enters the top ten list for the first time, coming in eighth, ninth and tenth. 

In contrast, Singaporean women seem to be measured about their brand preferences. Singapore Airlines secure first place three years in a row and Changi Airport has shown the greatest improvement and jumps two places from last year to second place. The top ten brands are largely the same as 2018, with Channel News Asia the only one to break in, making it into the top ten for the first time coming in eighth.

The women’s rankings are based on impression index scores between February 1, 2019 and January 31, 2020.

If you're interested in new ideas and strategies to promote diversity and inclusion, we will be hosting Campaign Leading Change 2020 Conference & Awards (formerly Women Leading Change) on May 28 at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore.