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Google and Hershey are the most loved brands in the U.S., according to a survey released today by Morning Consult. Compiled from over 250,000 interviews with adults 18 and up nationwide, Morning Consult’s Most Loved Brands in America takes an in-depth look at the changing branding landscape.
The survey measured a brand’s net favorability, which subtracts negative responses from its overall favorability. Using that scale, Google racked up an impressive 78.7 net favorability rating, with Hershey close on its heels at 78.6. The top 22 brands in the survey scored above 70 in terms of net favorability, meaning that there are a lot of highly regarded brands in the marketplace.
Food and technology companies represented most of the survey’s top 10 brands. In addition to Hershey, that group included Pillsbury, Kellogg’s, Betty Crocker and the Campbell Soup Company. Amazon and YouTube joined Google on the tech side of the top 10, with Sony and UPS rounding out the list.
Morning Consult also broke its numbers down to show how well a brand scores with such demographics as young adults, financial elites, men vs. women and whether a consumer lives in an urban, suburban or rural community.
With male consumers, Playboy, Sports Illustrated and Fox Sports registered a considerably larger net favorability than they did with the overall population. Women had a higher opinion of Revlon, L’Oreal and Pinterest. Young adults (ages 18-29) liked Red Bull and Snapchat more than the population at large did, with financial elites (those with incomes of $75K or more with at least $50K in stock-market investments) giving the thumbs up to Fidelity Investments, Williams-Sonoma and Westin.
Urban dwellers gave an edge to MTV (22.9 net favorability over 10.9 for the general population), suburbanites favored Trader Joe’s (51.8 vs. 44.3) and rural residents had a better view of Carhartt (52.1 vs. 38.9). While Trump Hotels registered higher with rural consumers than with the overall sample, they had a negative net favorability in all markets, -2.6 in rural areas and -10.9 overall.
The survey, which asked respondents to rate over 1,000 companies, was conducted between January and March of this year. To see more results, go to the Morning Consult website.
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