Engagement Labs released its fifth annual ranking of America's "most loved" brands. Carter's, the retailer of children's apparel, ranks first, while Trader Joe's, the American grocery store, moved down to the second top spot of the list of brands most positively talked about in offline conversations, ahead of more than 650 brands across all consumer categories. Meantime, Great Value, a Walmart brand, and American Family Insurance also switched places for the top positions for the most loved brands in online talk.
"This year's TotalSocial Most Loved Brands exhibit the vital consumer emotional connection with brands and demonstrates how the brand marketers have built and found opportunities even during the past two years of pandemic," said Steven Brown, President of Engagement Labs. "Brand love has been a major part of our work with Fortune 500 brands and continues to be a focus in 2022."
Gillette's improvement in offline brand love grew more last year than any other top 10 brand. Gillette has not been shy about weighing in on real-world conversations about social issues, with ads tackling topics such as toxic masculinity demonstrating that when it comes to offline, its positive word of mouth rises above the competition and resonates to consumers.
Last year's net sentiment of consumer conversations is positive for everyday categories such as beauty and personal care, children's products, food, and home. The importance of positive sentiment prevails as the "Great Resignation" ensues and more people adjust to a hybrid lifestyle, preferring to stay at home to work remotely.
Beauty Highlights:
OFFLINE: Most Loved Brands and Change vs 2020
ONLINE: Most Loved Brands and Change vs 2020
"The modified life and return to some normality during 2021 reflect the brands on our 'most loved' brands list and brand landscape of who's earning the most positive recommendations from consumers," said Brown. "The rise of Lush, Tripadvisor, Kenmore, Mary Kay, and Express online, as well as Dawn, Gillette, and Kirkland in the offline space reveals what consumers engage and talk about with great sentiment for the past year."
"The goal of marketers is to be successful in achieving more positive conversations, both online and offline, to ultimately become ‘Conversation Commanders,’ as we have labeled the most successful brands in both conversation arenas. To achieve this, marketers need to have two separate measurement and marketing strategies, to make sure these separate, but equally important conversations are maximized."
