We love our luxury cars according to the top 25 most loved brands in the UK -technology accounts for 58% of social conversation as Google edges closer to Apple’s top spot-

London, UK. – May 08, 2017, The UK’s love for cars, particularly luxury brands and their favourite models, shone through in this year’s 2017 Brand Love List report launched today by enterprise social analytics leader, NetBase. BMW, Audi and Porsche all featured in the report’s top 10, which is part of a wider European report, that looks at the brands consumers express the most love for in social media posts. Jaguar Land Rover, BMW 3 Series, Porsche 911 were just some of the models that consumers showed a lot of love for. More insights from the report will be revealed at NetBase LIVE 2017 Europe on 18th, May in London http://www.netbase.com/nblive2017/.

This is the second year that the report has been run. In the UK, Apple held onto top spot but showed that Google, in second place, was narrowing the gap which last year was 400,000 and is now down to 130,000 with a lot of positive sentiment for Google Classroom. The remainder of the top five was unchanged with Lego in third with an abundance of shared excitement for themed Lego such as Lego Batman, Tesco in fourth with popular campaign hashtags including #triedforless and #bagsofhelp and BMW was ranked fifth.

The European Top Five brands differed only slightly from the UK with BMW taking fourth spot and consumer goods brand Adidas coming in at fifth place. The automotive sector once again proved popular with customers expressing much love particularly in relation to the Porsche 911. While consumer goods brands including Gucci, Adidas, Lego and Christian Dior S.A. accounted for nearly 45% of the top loved brands, they only represented 21% of the mentions. Conversely technology which was dominated by Apple and Google but also included SAP, Siemens and Dyson represented 10% of the conversation they also represented over 55% of mentions. In summary while there’s much love for consumer goods brands they still don’t even come close to the volume of technology conversation across Europe.

The data was gathered using NetBase’s social media analytics platform to surface the strongest, most positive consumer emotions towards brands from 2.4 million English language posts of earned mentions* inclusive of Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr and millions of other sources during the one-year period April 2016 to April 2017 which then identified the 25 UK brands that get the most love. The European report used the same sources across the same period from 6.5 million English language posts of earned mentions in 50+ European countries and identified a list of the 50 most loved brands.

More insights from the report will be revealed at NetBase LIVE 2017 Europe, a one day conference showcasing social media insights from thought leaders and industry experts, which will take place on Thursday 18 May at the Sofitel London St James. For further information and to register visit http://www.netbase.com/nblive2017/

Commenting on the UK report Paige Leidig, Chief Marketing Officer, NetBase said “What’s interesting about automotive is that brands represent 25% of the list but account for only 13% of the conversation suggesting that there is an opportunity for them to spread the love and engage more influencers in conversation. The dominance of technology in social conversation is no surprise but the fact that Apple and Google are so far out in front indicates that they have now become an everyday part of the English language.”

When it comes to brand love there is a big difference between ‘like’ and ‘love’ and NetBase’s advanced technology can measure the strongest emotions shared about brands, so love and every single version of it. Understanding how strongly customers really feel about a brand and whether it has created a consumer passion that is the envy of its competitors will help brands to understand whether they have cultivated strong customer relationships to set a foundation for future brand growth. With most consumer purchases won on emotion having access to this kind of insight is invaluable as the more passion for the brand, the less the consumer relies on price as the deciding factor.

More key insights from the UK report include:

• Tech Talkers
While technology dominated the conversation in the Top 25 it was made up of only three brands: Apple (1st), Google (2nd) and new entrant to the list, Dyson (22).

• Consumer goods companies remained unchanged at representing 32% of the UK’s most loved brands
This includes brands ranging from toys, shoes, fashion apparel and accessories. Lego was the most beloved consumer goods brand two years in a row with users sharing excitement over themed Lego for example Star Wars, showing the value of partnering to leverage another strong brand.

• Just three retailers in the UK Top 25
Tesco, Marks and Spencer and John Lewis were the only three retail stores to feature in the top 25. Marks and Spencer, who didn’t figure on last year’s list, came in at number 15 and John Lewis moved up nine places from last year’s list from 25 to 16. Tesco’s #triedforless and #bagsofhelp which invite users to share their appreciation for the brand illustrated the impact that targeted campaigns can have on amplifying brand love.

• No big moves for transportation
British Airways was the only airline in the list and transportation had increased from 1 to 2% from last year in terms of overall mentions and while consumers often share their travel experiences more could be done by this sector to encourage consumer love through promotional campaigns.
“Understanding consumer preference is one part art and one part science and is much more than measuring the volume of social media content or sentiment it’s about the intensity of passion and feeling which is the information that drives intelligent brand decision making. Social passion provides new insights into brand health and the effectiveness of campaigns; this data is so powerful that it can help to pinpoint geographically where more love is needed which has also been linked to have a direct correlation with return on investment,” adds Paige.

Methodology:
The NetBase UK and European Brand Love List are based on brand conversations across the social web inclusive of Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr and millions of other sources between during the one-year period April 2016 to April 2017. Using NetBase patented technology, the report measures the strongest consumer emotions towards a brand. NetBase maps a category using four dimensions:

• Volume – measuring the number of earned and owned mentions and conversations;
• Passion Intensity – indicating how strong consumers feel about a brand or company based on a scale of 0-100;
• Net Sentiment – measuring the overall direction of how consumers feel about a brand’s marketing, customer service and products on a scale of -100 to +100; and
• Brand Passion Index (BPI) – A brand’s net sentiment to passion ratio provides a look at how the brand is favoured. A brand with a low Net Sentiment but high Passion Intensity, for example is hated, whereas a brand with a high Net Sentiment but low Passion Intensity is liked, but not loved.

The European Love List can be downloaded here: http://pages.netbase.com/Report-2017-EuropeanLoveList.html

The UK European Love List can be downloaded here: http://pages.netbase.com/Report-2017-UKLoveList.html

NetBase UK Brand Love List 2017

Brand Industry Rank
Apple Technology 1
Google Technology 2
Lego Consumer Goods 3
Tesco Retail 4
BMW Automotive 5
Adidas Consumer Goods 6
Audi Automotive 7
Porsche Automotive 8
Gucci Consumer Goods 9
BP Energy 10
Chanel Consumer Goods 11
Jaguar Automotive 12
Christian Dior S.A. Consumer Goods 13
British Airways Transportation 14
Marks and Spencer Retail 15
John Lewis Retail 16
Aston Martin Automotive 17
L’Oréal Consumer Goods 18
Burberry Consumer Goods 19
Barclays Financial Services 20
Vodafone Telecommunications 21
Dyson Technology 22
Renault Automotive 23
Michelin Transportation 24
Rolex Consumer Goods 25

*earned mentions mean those posts that were not posted by the brand itself

About NetBase

NetBase is the award-winning social analytics platform that global companies use to run brands, build businesses, and connect with consumers every second. Its platform processes millions of social media posts daily for actionable business insights for marketing, research, customer service, sales, PR, and product innovation. NetBase is a trusted partner to American Airlines, Arby’s, Coca-Cola, Ogilvy, T-Mobile, Universal Music Group, Walmart, and YUM! Brands. Learn more at http://www.netbase.com or @NetBase. See your brand’s social movement in real-time with NetBase LIVE Pulse™

For further information or for a copy of the Love List report, please contact Paula Averley, Origin Comms, t. 07766 257776 or e. paula@origincomms.com.