RIYADH — Alrajhi bank tops the 2019 YouGov NextGen rankings in Saudi Arabia. The country’s largest Islamic bank has climbed up three spots since last year to become the most positively talked about brand amongst young adults in Saudi Arabia.

On the other hand, both Saudia and iPhone have dropped down one place from last year to become second and third in the list of top 10 brands of 2019.

Almarai has witnessed the greatest movement in the top 10 rankings and has jumped up five places from tenth in 2018 to fifth in the 2019 rankings.

Al Baik has fallen down one place to seventh this year. Western Union has made a re-entry at sixth, after moving out of the list last year while mada has been consistently improving its score and has made a fresh entry into the 2019 top 10 rankings in tenth.

Electronic brands like Apple and Samsung have both noted a decline in their ranks by one place, and currently sit at fourth and ninth, respectively.

In addition, Apple has recorded a year-on-year decline, from leading the rankings in 2017, to third in 2018 and now fourth in the 2019 rankings.

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 rankings also assess which brands have experienced the greatest uplift in positive Word of Mouth score over the past 12 months.

The brand that has succeeded in generating the largest increase in positive word of mouth among next generation adults in Saudi Arabia is Chinese smartphone manufacturer — Huawei.

Not only has it recorded the greatest improvement in positive chatter since last year, increasing its Word of Mouth score from 61.8 in 2018 to 69.8 in 2019, its consistent progress has also landed it a spot in the list of top 10 brands this year at eighth.

Rexona (increasing by 6.1) is the second best improver of the year. Food and beverage brands such as Pringles (+6.0), Shams (+5.0), Nadec (+4.8) and Hardee’s (+4.8) and home care brands such as Downy (+5.2) and Jif (+4.9) dominate the improvers list this year. Mada (4.9) and Riyad Bank (4.4) are the other brands that complete the list of improvers of 2019.

YouGov BrandIndex first screened all of its 497 brands for positive Buzz, which asks respondents "Have you heard anything positive about the brand in the last two weeks, through advertising, news, or word of mouth?"

Brands with low response volume were eliminated. Brands that were tracked for at least 6 months (top 10) and at least 18 months (top 10 improvers) were then ranked on Word of Mouth scores, which asks respondents "Which of the following brands have you talked about with friends and family in the past two weeks (whether in person, online, or through social media)?"

All respondents for this research were young adults 18 through 34 years old. Data was collected between Sept. 1, 2018 and Aug. 31, 2019 for top 10 and Sept. 1, 2017 to Aug. 31, 2019 for top 10 improvers. — SG