Consumers Say These Are the Most-Improved Brands

New York—Data company YouGov has released its annual Index Ratings showing which brands boast the greatest overall “health,” according to consumers.

YouGov determines brand health through six factors: impression, value, quality, reputation, satisfaction and how likely consumers are to recommend them to others.

Consumers rate the 1,600 brands YouGov tracks on a scale of -100 to +100 in each of these six categories; the ultimate score is the average of the six ratings.
 
YouGov then establishes not only which brands have the best overall reputations among consumers, but also which have improved the most since last year.

In 2018, the winner of the most-improved distinction was Samsung, which faltered two years ago when its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones were overheating, with some models catching fire or exploding.

The second most improved brand is, fittingly, Galaxy itself.

Coming in at No. 3 is Amazon Alexa, followed by: Target, Walmart and Bank of America, which YouGov said has been steadily improving on the brand index ever since it hit a low during the 2008 financial crisis.

The No. 7 most improved brand is Hulu. The streaming service has received critical acclaim for its original series “The Handmaid’s Tale,” which won the Emmy for Outstanding Series last year, becoming the first streaming service-produced program to do so.   

Volkswagen, which was caught cheating on diesel emissions tests in 2015, rounds out the list of most-improved brands at No. 8, followed by Dove and Paypal.

Overall, the 2018 YouGov Index Ratings of brands with best overall health is similar to last year’s list.

Band-Aid, again, claims the No. 1 spot, as it approaches its 100-year anniversary in 2020.

The No. 2 healthiest brand according to YouGov metrics is, again, Amazon.

Dawn rose two spots to No. 3, followed by Hershey’s, while Google dropped two places to No. 5 on the list.

Clorox, Netflix, M&M’s, Dove and Craftsmen round out the top 10.

Hershey’s, Netflix and Dove are new to this year’s top 10, while YouTube, Lowe’s and Quaker were knocked out of the top spots.

YouGov noted that the healthiest brands were largely popular household consumer goods and tech companies.

Restaurants, airlines, automakers, television networks (as opposed to streaming services) and apparel brands were “noticeably absent,” YouGov said.