The Apps & Social Platforms Industry is gaining traction, moving from #13 to #9 according to MBLM's Brand Intimacy Study

MBLM found that brands that are part of the smartphone ecosystem generate greater degrees of intimacy with consumers. Brands in the apps & social platforms category mirror this trend, and the industry as a whole rose four places to #9 out of 15 industries researched in 2019. The industry also ranks second among all industries for brands consumers cannot live without. Within the industry, WhatsApp ranks #1, unseating Skype as the industry leader. Coming in second was Google Maps, followed byFacebook, Instagram, Skype, Zomato, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat and Uber rounding out the top 10, in this order.

Brand Intimacy is defined as the emotional science that measures the bonds we form with the brands we use and love. Top Intimate Brands outperform top brands in the S&P and Fortune 500 indices for revenue and profit. Consumers are also more willing to pay price premiums for Intimate Brands and less willing to live without them, according to the 2019 Brand Intimacy Report. MBLM leverages the yearly study to help client brands create, sustain and measure ultimate brand relationships.

“UAE consumers are technologically savvy and understand the value of businesses that make them smarter, more connected and more capable,” commented William Shintani, managing partner at MBLM. “A trend we’ve seen throughout our previous years is the rise of the smartphone ecosystem. We see that device brands rank higher, followed by content and services and lastly in the ecosystem, apps and social media platforms. Brands that are within the ecosystem score higher in emotional connection overall than brands that are not. Ranking 9 out of 15 places, Apps and social platform brands have an opportunity to increase their intimate bonds and emotional relationships with their users given their usage and importance”

Other notable findings from the apps & social platforms industry include:

• 40 percent of consumers felt an immediate emotional connection with the industry.
• 73 percent of users in the 18- to 34-year-old (millennial) demographic felt an immediate emotional connection with Facebook.
• The apps & social platforms industry as a whole ranked #2 for industries people can’t live without, right behind Tech & Telecom, which was #1.
• Three of the top four brands in this category this year—WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram—are owned by Facebook.
• Uber ranking went from #5 to #10 from 2018 to 2019.
• Instagram demonstrated solid growth, moving up from #7 to place at #4.
• WhatsApp ranked #1 for the 18- to 34-year-old demographic, males and high income users surveyed.
• GoogleMaps was ranked first among the 35- to 64-year-old demographic and female users.

To download the full apps & social platforms rankings, please click here.

To download the full 2019 Brand Intimacy Report, please click here. 

Methodology: During 2018, MBLM with Praxis Research Partners conducted an online quantitative survey among 6,200 consumers in the U.S. (3,000), Mexico (2,000), and the United Arab Emirates (1,200). Participants were respondents who were screened for age (18 to 64 years of age) and annual household income ($35,000 or more) in the U.S. and socioeconomic levels in Mexico and the UAE (A, B, and C socioeconomic levels). Quotas were established to ensure that the sample mirrored census data for age, gender, income/socioeconomic level, and region. The survey was designed primarily to understand the extent to which consumers have relationships with brands and the strength of those relationships from fairly detached to highly intimate. It is important to note that this research provides more than a mere ranking of brand performance and was specifically designed to provide prescriptive guidance to marketers. We modeled data from over 6,200 interviews and approximately 56,000 brand evaluations to quantify the mechanisms that drive intimacy. Through factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and other sophisticated analytic techniques, the research allows marketers to better understand which levers need to be pulled to build intimacy between their brand and consumers. Thus, marketers will understand not only where their brand falls in the hierarchy of performance but also how to strengthen performance in the future.

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About MBLM: MBLM is the Brand Intimacy Agency, delivering expertise and offerings across three areas of focus: Agency, Lab and Platform. With offices in seven countries, our multidisciplinary teams help clients build stronger bonds and deliver optimized marketing outcomes and returns for the long term. To learn more about how we can help you create and sustain ultimate brand relationships, visit mblm.com. 

© Press Release 2019