According to recent research, many high street brands are doing okay – YouGov’s annual BrandIndex health rankings show that the top three healthiest brands in the UK are all retailers.

Key findings

• Top three dominated by retail brands; John Lewis, Ikea and Marks and Spencer
• John Lewis survives on reputation; Ikea seen as good value for money
• Uber still scores negatively despite second largest improvement

Talking about the latest index, Amelia Brophy, UK head of data products at YouGov, says: “Retailers may take heart from YouGov’s 2019 Brand Health Rankings as they suggest that news of the high street’s death has been greatly exaggerated – and that in an evolving and uncertain business environment, a rich heritage really counts for something.

BrandIndex Health Rankings: Top 10 brands
Average of Impression, Value, Quality, Reputation, Satisfaction and Recommend scores. Scores averaged across 1st July 2018 - 30th Jun 2019

BrandIndex Health Rankings: Most Improved
Average of Impression, Value, Quality, Reputation, Satisfaction and Recommend scores. Scores averaged across 1st July 2018 - 30th Jun 2019, compared to prior 12 months

John Lewis rules

“Though tech companies dominate the global list, UK consumers have the most affection for companies with established reputations. John Lewis, which came out on top for the second year in a row, might be the best example of this tendency. YouGov’s BrandIndex rankings measure impression among Brits, value, quality, reputation, satisfaction, and recommendations – and the company’s great performance can be largely put down to its very high reputation score.”

Discussing how you can make a brand robust, Brophy says: “Brand health is a complex and multifaceted thing. It’s important that businesses give the best possible impression to consumers, but that can be achieved in a number of ways. Other high performing companies appear to have been rewarded for their efforts to be more sustainable, and those that have made efforts to correct high-profile mistakes have seen dramatic improvements in their overall standing.”

Brophy concludes that legacy isn’t everything, but it helps: “The gap between brands that rely on their reputation and the rest is narrowing. But when it comes to British consumers and British brands, it seems a little history still goes a long way.”

Methodology

The rankings are drawn from interviews in Britain conducted between July 2018 and June 2019. Each day consumers are asked their view on 1,500 brands in the UK, which allows YouGov to build a picture of how different brands are perceived by the general public through comparing Index scores – an average of a brand’s impression among Brits, value, quality, reputation, satisfaction scores and whether people would recommend the brand.