Samsung tops Asia’s top 1000 brands ranking

Samsung again tops Asia’s Top 1000 Brands list, produced by Campaign Asia-Pacific and Nielsen.

In its 15th year, the list again has Apple at second place.

Rounding out the top 10 are Panasonic (up two spots), Sony (down one place), Nestle (down one), LG, Google (up six), Chanel, Nike (down two) and Philips (up 10).

While the past 12 months have seen Samsung riding high on social awareness and release a string of hot new products, it is the brand’s size and “traditional” marketing methods that keep it at the top, say experts.

It has emerged as the top brand in Asia for the seventh year in a row, despite the disastrous exploding Note 7 phone saga.

Google jumped five places in the list this year, breaking into the hallowed Top 10 for the first time since 2011 and finishing in position seven. The company emerges as Asia’s favourite search engine in all markets except China and South Korea, and it is also rated top for “digital experience” in all markets except China (where consumers cited Apple) and India (Amazon).

Still climbing

Chinese brands are still climbing the chart. Huawei, which jumped 661 spots last year, and Xiaomi (up 577 spots) have been more moderate this time. Huawei has gained another 44 spots to rank 158th overall, while Xiaomi leapt 88 places to land at 128, making it China’s top home-grown brand throughout Asia-Pacific for this year.

Best dressed among fast-fashion brands were Zara, which reached 52nd place in the Top 1000, and H&M, which climbed to 65th. Both brands improved significantly on their positions last year. Japanese clothing brand Uniqlo also leapt up the charts, landing in 38th position.

Not all e-commerce brands are capitalising on the steady rise in online shopping. While top players Amazon, Lazada and Taobao saw strong gains, others like Ebay, Rakuten, Zalora and Flipkart still have work to do.

Amazon jumped 20 spots to become Asia’s 23rd top brand overall. Lazada, powered by Alibaba, surged even more (35 places) to cement its position at 62nd overall. Alibaba’s Taobao, top in China but slower to grow outside of it, moved 31 spots higher but is still a distant third across the region, ranking 210th.

However, other key players have been losing ground. EBay, ranked 144th two years ago, has steadily dropped to 237th this year. Japan’s Rakuten slipped slightly this year to 331st after a larger drop last year. Fashion-focused Zalora tumbled significantly this year to place 409th, while strong players in specific markets like Flipkart (second in India) and Qoo10 (first in Singapore) both dropped more than 60 places overall to land at 564th and 592nd respectively.