Google loses top spot to Amazon

Amazon has overtaken Google as the most highly-rated brand in the UK, indicating that the search-giant’s privacy issues are impacting consumer perception of the brand, according to YouGov’s bi-annual survey.

Amazon

BBC iPlayer has overtaken Marks & Spencer to take third place and pushed the retailer out of the top three in the same week that M&S has come under fire for its biggest fall in clothing sales for three years.

The BBC, which is Marketing Week’s Engage Award Brand of the Year, also takes fifth place which YouGov says “underpins its status as one of the UK’s masterbrands” for delivering with reduced funding.

The report, which uses YouGov’s BrandIndex data that tracks daily perception of brands, highlights which consumer brands have been able to achieve cut through and make a positive and lasting impression.

Google’s slip from the top-spot indicates that the public’s perception of the “untouchable” brand is waning, as the tech giant is dogged by privacy concerns and with products such as Google+ being regarded a “flop” by some observers. Google is today (11 July) reported to face a $22.5m (£14.5m) fine for breaching iPad and iPhone users’ privacy through cookie use.

Sarah Murphy, YouGov’s associate director of BrandIndex, says Google’s decline is “statistically significant” across all the brand measures that YouGov tracks making it “a brand to watch” over the next six months.

Retail and FMCG brands continue to dominate the Top 20 league table, taking up 12 of the spots, but tech and gadget brands are growing their presence. Samsung (13), Freeview (14) and Dyson (18) have all entered the league table for the first half of this year, while Unilever’s Dove brand, PepsiCo’s Walkers and Thorntons have all fallen out of the table.

Blackberry has lost the most ground in the first half of the year with is rating falling 15 points to 9.61, following a spate of issues including a power outage and negative association with the London riots last year.

Top 20 Brands First Half 2012: UK

1 Amazon 58.1

2 Google 54.8

3 BBC iPlayer 53.7

4 Marks & Spencer 52.2

5 BBC 51.71

6 Heinz 47.9

7 John Lewis 46.5

8 Sony 45.2

9 Boots 43.1

10 Cadbury 42.4

11 Sainsbury’s 40.8

12 Channel 4 39.7

13 Cathedral City 38.5

14 Samsung 38.4

15 Maltesers 37.8

16 Colgate 37.4

17 Freeview 37.3

18 Waterstones 37.1

19 Dyson 36.9

20 Bosch 36.6

Source: YouGov BrandIndex 2012

Retailers BrandIndex ranking

1: Marks & Spencer 51.81

2: Sainsbury’s 42.03

3: Waitrose 34.3

4: Morrisons 29.14

5: Tesco 26.67

6: Asda 23.01

7: The Co-operative 22.19

8: Holland & Barrett 15.19

9: Ocado 9.46

10: Aldi 6.99

Source: YouGov BrandIndex 2012

YouGov’s BrandIndex measures how consumers perceive brands on a daily basis in terms of quality, value, customer satisfaction, corporate reputation, general impression, and likelihood of consumers to recommend the brand.

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