14 DAY TRIAL // The Love Index, a report created by Fjord and Accenture Interactive, puts Apple and Microsoft on the leading spots of a chart that concerns the most loved brands in the United States.
Unsurprisingly, digital brands are topping the charts over traditional ones, mostly because of the devices and services they are offering to the young generation.
Apple is currently the leading brand in the United States, followed by Microsoft, Netflix, and Samsung, while Google is only sixth after Sony. The only non-digital brand in the chart is Walmart which comes in on the tenth position.
Fjord explains that in order to determine the love index of each brand, the company analyzed a variety of elements, including how fun, relevant, engaging, social, and helpful each brand is.
“Google is great on Relevant, but falls short on Fun and Social, while Facebook is great on Social but falls short on Relevant or Engaging. Does this matter? It depends. If another Search Engine came along that focused on being as Relevant as Google, but also more Fun and Social, that might disrupt Google,” the company explained in documentation published in May this year.
According to The Drum, Apple managed to steal this year’s number one position thanks to its level of engagement, while Netflix reached the third position for being fun. Amazon improved its score thanks to being helpful and relevant.
The survey involved a total of 27,000 people from three large markets, namely the United States, the United Kingdom, and Brazil.
The Microsoft brand
As far as the Microsoft brand is concerned, the company itself is now trying to improve in this regard, explaining that it’s focusing its efforts on the “utilitarian bend” that the Microsoft name has in the first place.
“To me, the Microsoft brand has always stood for being the company that has got a bit of a utilitarian bend to it, which I think is a good one. That’s who we are - we are the company that stands for builders, makers, and creators. That’s the brand that we want,” CEO Satya Nadella said in a recent interview.
Apple, on the other hand, relies mostly on the iPhone, the iPad, and the MacBook, while Netflix keeps growing mostly thanks to its expanding services across the world. The digital world is expected to continue dominating this chart in the coming years, with the same companies likely to maintain the leadership as well.