Talkwalker, a global social listening and analytics company reveals the list of most loved brands globally as well as in the region. With the world economy experiencing a downturn, brand love can really help a brand grow and connect with the audience emotionally during this difficult time. Using Talkwalker’s enterprise social listening platform, the company analyzed over 264,000,000 conversations across all social media, blogs, news, and forums, for a single source of truth.

According to Talkwalker, brand love is a pivotal marketing strategy that will help brands adapt and thrive during the ‘new normal’. Brand love is also known to improve consumer loyalty & advocacy. As companies adapt to a post-Covid marketplace, the report highlights 11 strategies that can help brands benefit in the coming years. The top 50 list of most loved brands globally includes a variety of global as well as local brands from 15 different industries.

The playing field has been wobbly for a while now. The new generation of consumers demand more than just transactional service from brands. They expect brands to hear them, connect with them, and stand with them, especially during tense moments. The current stance many brands are taking in light of the recent George Floyd protests in the US is a testament to the new expectations consumers have from brands.

CSR

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a way for brands to reconnect with their communities. By being a purpose-led company, supporting the same issues that matter to your consumers, builds a connection outside of the consumer/company relationship.

Sponsorship 
Consumers build strong emotional bonds with their favorite sports teams, bands, events. By sponsoring those events, brands can appropriate these positive emotions for themselves.

Nostalgia 
Nostalgia marketing uses consumers’ historic emotional connections, to build a new relationship with a brand. By connecting with a person’s past love, you rekindle that love for your brand.

Employee advocacy 
Love radiates from the inside out. By creating a brand that employees love to work for, they will actively promote your company, while naturally boosting your customer experience.

Customer experience 
Amazing customer service is critical for ensuring customers love your brand, and continue to trust it. 96% of customers say customer service is important in their choice of loyalty to a brand

Influencer marketing 
Influencers are vital as they build strong community relationships, often around a shared passion. By engaging these influencers, brands can also benefit from this connection, helping to increase loyalty.

Trend engagement 
Being relevant is essential for consumer engagement. By engaging with trends, such as topical programs or events, you connect with the emotional engagement while building relevance with your consumers.

Engaging social media strategy 
To build the brand friendship, leading brands develop their social media to help build a community. So that it feels less like you’re engaging with a company, and more like you’re engaging with a friend.

Positive PR
Not all news is good news, but when done well, positive PR improves consumer awareness and engagement, and can be quickly spread across your community (remember, positive stories diffuse better).

Engaging fandoms
Fandoms are essential in some industries, like entertainment and gaming. Tapping into these fandoms, provides you with a loyal following of content aggregators and advocates, helping spread more positive engagement for your brand.

Aspirational
Sometimes it’s not just the brand that people love. But the lifestyle that comes with it. By nurturing an aspirational feeling towards your brand, people will love just to be part of the customer experience.

Here is a list of the most loved brands in the MENA region

In an exclusive comment for Communicate, Devasish Auddy, Head of Marketing, HMD Global, the home of Nokia phones, MENA said, ” We’re thrilled to see HMD Global, the home of Nokia phones, being recently featured as one of the most loved brands in the MEA region. At HMD Global, we have a simple idea at the core of our operations: that mobile technology can improve the lives of everyone around the world. I strongly believe that being human, genuine, and trustworthy are key ingredients to becoming a brand that’s truly loved by consumers.”

When asked about what’s next on the itinerary, Auddy said, “This nomination fuels our will to continue delivering purposeful technology to our fans, and we won’t stop there. Today, consumers are more particular and demanding than ever before, and we always look for ways to continuously engage with them and understand how to best answer their needs.”