Tech and aviation brands figure prominently among brands that are most positively talked about amongst millennials in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Banking, travel and quick-service restaurant chains are also demonstrating strong resonance with this age group in the region, with marketing playing a pivotal role in their prominence.
Both lists of the top ten brands in the UAE and Saudi Arabia feature iPhone, Apple, Samsung and Egypt Air, while local aviation brands Emirates and Saudia are among the most popular in the lists in the YouGov BrandIndex.
YouGov’s daily brand tracking tool, BrandIndex, considered the opinions of respondents aged between 18 and 34, collected online over the past year, to discover the 10 brands they’ve talked about the most positively with friends and family, whether in person, online or through social media.
The most popular brand in the UAE is iPhone, followed by Facebook and Apple, with Emirates coming in at number four.
The most popular food outlet among UAE millennials is American franchise KFC, with supermarket outlet Carrefour and regional carrier Egypt Air rounding out the top ten.
In Saudi Arabia, it’s the national carrier Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) that’s most popular, followed by iPhone and Apple.
The list includes the world’s largest Islamic bank Alrajhi Bank at number four, followed by Egypt Air.
At number six is local fast food outlet Al Baik. The 44-year-old homegrown brand, which sells broasted chicken and shrimp, is one of the major consumers of chicken in Saudi Arabia and has 84 outlets across the kingdom.
Credit card company Visa is at number seven, followed by Samsung, with two local companies – Bin Laden Group and Almarai, rounding out the top ten.
Biggest uplift
YouGov also looked at brands that have experienced the biggest uplift in positive word of mouth over the last year.
Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts has seen the greatest improvement among the UAE millennials this year, while Aquafina has seen the biggest uplift in their word of mouth among millennials in Saudi Arabia.
“The dominance of technology brands in the rankings suggests that youth today are constantly engaging with technology and these brands have been able to build a positive image among the digital natives,” said Scott Booth, Head of YouGov BrandIndex in MENA.
“The appearance of the airline, banking and quick service restaurant brands in the top ten indicates that these brands have rightly used their marketing strategy to charm the youth that has led to positive chatter among the Middle East millennials.”
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