Samsung is Asia's #1 brand for the 5th consecutive year

Thinking back just over a decade ago at what the brand “Samsung” meant to consumers around the world, it’s probably safe to say answers weren’t that flattering. Things have changed – dramatically so – and now the company has managed to eclipse even the once-all mighty Sony. In Asia specifically, a new report confirms – or rather reaffirms – the prominent position South Korea’s most well known conglomerate has.

Yonhap News Agency published a story a short while ago that cites Samsung Electronics as having earned the number one position among all global brands in Asia. This is the fifth consecutive year that the corporation has earned the title, which means it ranks higher than Apple Inc. (#2), Sony Corp. (#3), Nestle Co. (#4) and Panasonic (#5). LG came in at (#7), and Google at (#13). The full listing can be seen here.

The ranking data comes via Campaign Asia-Pacific 2016’s Asia’s Top 1000 Brands report, and is based on data provided by the Hong Kong-based market research company, Campaign Asia-Pacific, as well as the US-based Nielsen Co. The data looked at survey results for 13 key regional markets around the Asia-Pacific region.

As explained by Campaign Asia-Pacific on its website:

Asia’s Top 1000 Brands aggregates data from an online survey developed by Campaign Asia-Pacific and global information and insights provider Nielsen. The study explores consumer attitudes in 13 markets: Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. Research relies on a total of 400 respondents in each market, except India and China where participants number 800 and 1,200 respectively. To be representative of market populations, survey quotas target age, gender and monthly household income.

Said report specifies that Samsung is thus considered the “most desirable brand in Asia in terms of brand perception from consumers” according to Yonhap. As with any report based on survey data however, it is always important to note that while the results may be indicative of a trend, the very nature of polling itself is open to flaws and subjectivity. Likewise, the sample size itself will always have an effect on the outcome.

This is not to detract from the results per se, but simply to suggest that another organization could very well conduct a similar study and have different – or even similar – findings were more participants to be questioned, or different – or expanded – regions to be asked.

A curious consideration

The source site also lists additional data as it pertains to individual areas. While some are not yet available, of those that are (China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, and Singapore) Samsung is listed as the top brand among the 100 listed for each.

Ia situation that should comes as absolutely no surprise whatsoever, Samsung does not rank at all among Japan’s top 100 brands, nor does its “new” name, Galaxy. There is a slight bit of irony to be had with respect to this fact; even as it towers above all other companies in multiple other countries, Samsung has yet to make any semblance of a dent in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Wrap Up

As far as Samsung is concerned, today’s news is just another achievement to put in its growing list. Still, Apple has gone up two spots in the past year, meaning that the next one might offer some interesting results. What do you think? Do you agree with the ranking, or should some other company be top dog? Leave a comment below!