Heinz is women’s top brand for the second year running according to research firm YouGov’s latest BrandIndex Women’s Rankings.

Key findings

• Heinz is the most positively perceived brand amongst women for the second year running
• Disrupter apps Netflix and Uber are most improved brands among women
• Ikea and Boots are in second and third place, with Ikea overtaking Boots with a 3.7 point increase

• Marks and Spencer overtakes John Lewis to take fourth place with a 1.4 point increase on 2019

Heinz tops the women's rankings for the second year running
Which of the following brands do you have a positive or negative impression of?
Scores averaged across 1 February 2019 to 31 January 2020 among women aged 18+

Netflix is the most improved brand among women
Which of the following brands do you have a positive or negative impression of?
Scores averaged across 1 February 2019 to 31 January 2020 among women aged 18+, compared with prior 12 months

Top brands

Heinz’s leading performance follows the brand’s 150^th birthday and a £12 million EMEA marketing campaign, “150 Years of Clean Plates”.

New entries to the top ten this year include payment provider Visa in sixth place and tenth-placed the Royal Mail pushing BBC One and BBC iPlayer out the rankings.

Most improved

The rankings also show the brands which have improved their perception amongst women the most in the last 12 months, with Netflix taking first place with a significant improvement of +10.1 points. This follows a year of 24 Oscar nominations and original content for the streaming platform.

In second place is Uber, which focused a large proportion of its 2019 advertising on highlighting in-app safety features and driver vetting. This could have played a factor in its +7.4 point impression increase amongst women.

Discussing the research, Amelia Brophy, head of UK data products at YouGov, says: “Yet again Heinz proves it knows the power of a heritage brand and clever marketing in order to take first place in our 2020 Women’s Rankings. Its 150^th birthday marketing campaign drew attention to the brands longevity and played on customers’ nostalgia of purchasing the brand’s products throughout their lives – a powerful marketing tool.

“The two brands which have seen the highest improvements in perception among women are both companies which challenged a well-established industry. Netflix’s high placing demonstrates the brand’s continued astronomical climb from small brand to main-staple streaming platform over the years. Uber’s second place suggests its continued focus on changes made to confront safety issues within their business has been recognised by women.”

Methodology

YouGov’s BrandIndex Women’s Rankings are compiled by asking women aged over 18 if they have a positive or negative impression of a certain brand. Scores are net scores that are calculated by subtracting the percentage of negative responses from the percentage of positive responses.

The 1,550 brands in YouGov BrandIndex were ranked using the Impression score, which asks respondents, “Overall, of which of the following brands do you have a Positive/Negative impression?” Scores are net scores, calculated by subtracting the percentage of negative responses from the percentage of positive responses for each brand.

The Women’s Rankings chart shows the brands with the highest average Impression scores between 1 February 2019 and 31 January 2020.