Revealed: UAE consumers’ most recommended brands

Dubai-based Emirates Airlines, Saudi’s payment network mada and tech giant iPhone are the most recommended brands by consumers in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, respectively, according to a recent survey.

In a YouGov Brand Advocacy Rankings of the UAE, Emirates NBD has witnessed the greatest movement within the top 10 list and has climbed up four places to fifth in the 2019 rankings. Almarai seems to be winning back Saudi consumers after the price rise debacle last year and has moved up one place in the rankings to eighth this year.

In the UAE, while iPhone and WhatsApp remain in the same spot this year as well- fourth and seventh, respectively, Apple has seen the worst decline among the top ten brands, and has moved down five places to tenth in the 2019 rankings. Even Google has moved down three places to ninth this year.

In fact, in Saudi, iPhone and its parent brand Apple have witnessed the greatest decline year on year. While iPhone slipped from third to fourth in 2018 and now seventh in 2019, Apple fell from second to sixth in 2018, and to ninth in 2019 rankings. Only in Egypt does iPhone continue to hold the top spot.

Google and YouTube have shown improvement and moved up one and two places in the 2019 rankings- to second and seventh, respectively. However, Netflix and WhatsApp have seen a decline this year and moved down two places each, to fourth and sixth, respectively.

This year’s rankings saw a lot of new brands enter the list of top 10 brands in each country.

In the UAE, Carrefour has made a re-entry at sixth after falling out of the list last year while Singapore Airlines has made a fresh entry into the rankings at eight.

Majid Al Futtaim, Sentosa Island (Singapore) and IMG Worlds of Adventure (Dubai) were new entrants in the top 10 list of Saudi Arabia- at fifth, sixth and tenth, respectively. Majid Al Futtaim made an entry into the Egypt rankings as well- at third, along with Cairo Festival City at fifth and Kidzania at eighth.

YouGov also revealed the brands that have the most improved level of customer advocacy over the past 12 months.

In the UAE, Pakistan International Airlines has seen the biggest improvement in its Recommend score this year, changing its score by 18.1 points. In Saudi, Mobily has recorded the greatest improvement (of 10.5 points) and in Egypt- Barclays Bank has achieved the biggest uplift (11.1) and has become the top improve in the country.

Huawei seems to be making progress in the region. In the UAE, it is the third best improver and in Saudi it is seventh in the list of top 10 improvers in the country.

Khaleej Times. November 21, 2019