Matthew Miller
Jul 19, 2021

Leaps and dives: The biggest brand moves in Asia's Top 1000 Brands

We chart the most impressive ascents and the most perilous declines in the 2021 edition of our exclusive Asia's Top 1000 Brands research.

Leaps and dives: The biggest brand moves in Asia's Top 1000 Brands

Each year when the new Asia's Top 1000 Brands data arrives from Nielsen IQ, one of the first things we do is apply some sorting in Excel to see which brands have moved the furthest up or down the ranking.

This year, due some methodology tweaks, this exercise revealed changes that were more eye-popping than usual. When you run a research project for over a decade and a half, you have to make adjustments along the way in order to capture reality to the best of your ability. The changes we made this year—especially giving more weight to the responses of people in China and India—aimed to do just that. And based on a large influx of Asia-based brands into the Top 1000 (213 brands entered the top 1000 this year, as opposed to 53 last year), we believe we succeeded. 

That influx has led to larger than usual swings. While last year's largest gain (by an existing member of the Top 1000) was 363 positions, this year's biggest shift upward is a whopping 702 positions, and 14 brands moved up by more than 500 slots. 

As in other years, our additions of or changes to categories (see the Methodology for details) also made an impact, which explains why you will see many gaming franchises and home-delivery services in the lists below.

With that as background, let's dig in.

We'll look in turn at the biggest shifts in each of the following areas:

  • The top 10
  • The (rest of the) top 100
  • Overall
  • By Tiers: 101-250, 251-500, 501-1000

THE TOP 10

In the rarified air of the top 10, the cast of characters remains unchanged from last year, and the top three brands (Samsung, Apple and Panasonic) appear in the same order. Past that a lot of shifting went on. Sony and Philips notched two-spot gains—significant at this level—while Nestle's five-position drop to 10th qualifies as earth-shaking, for the top 10.

See also: An in-depth look at what's kept Samsung on top for a decade now and an analysis of some of the actions that impacted the top five this year.

Brand 2020 2021 Shift
Sony 6 4 2
Philips 10 8 2
Nestle 5 10 -5


THE (REST OF THE) TOP 100

The influx of brands popular in China and India, as well as our addition of categories for game franchises and delivery services, put a bunch of new brands into the top 100, including three that are new to the top 1000. The tables below show all the brands in the 2021 top 100 that moved by 10 positions or more.

Biggest gains in the top 100 (list includes all brands that gained 10 or more spots):


 
Brand 2020 2021 Shift
Farmland N/A 82
League of Legends N/A 96
Grab Food N/A 97
Didi Chuxing 263 45 218
Ola 234 87 147
WeChat 117 27 90
Nintendo Switch 167 81 86
Huawei 120 67 53
SK-II 143 99 44
Dell 100 59 41
7-Eleven 101 60 41
Twitter 69 35 34
Uber 76 47 29
Toyota 66 38 28
Burberry 113 85 28
Levi's 68 43 25
Epson 82 57 25
Oreo 91 66 25
Zara 49 32 17
Kellogg's 59 42 17
Michelin 81 65 16
Quaker 92 76 16
Lego 95 79 16
Christian Dior 87 73 14
Netflix 67 54 13
Nissin 73 61 12
L'Oreal 47 36 11
BMW 83 72 11
Ikea 31 21 10
Amazon 33 23 10
Huggies 60 50 10
Cartier 84 74 10
DHL 103 93 10

Biggest drops in the top 100 (list includes all brands that lost 10 or more spots):

Brand 2020 2021 Shift
Dove 27 83 -56
Shiseido 57 92 -35
Watsons 34 68 -34
Grab 43 75 -32
Kraft 61 91 -30
Heinz 29 51 -22
Coca-Cola 11 31 -20
Facebook Messenger 51 71 -20
Line 64 84 -20
Uniqlo 70 90 -20
Panadol 44 62 -18
Calvin Klein 53 69 -16
PayPal 41 56 -15
Heineken 74 89 -15
Yahoo 72 86 -14
Meiji 22 34 -12

OVERALL

This section shows the 25 biggest gains and 25 biggest losses in the entire Top 1000 Brands list. The impact of giving greater weight to respondents in China and India is clear to see here, not only in brands that originate from those markets but also international brands that are very popular in them, such as Coach. 

From here onward, we've excluded brands that are new to the Top 1000 this year, as their gains are technically infinite. In other words, we've listed only brands that were present in the 2020 top 1000. You can see all 213 new brands by looking for the designation "new" in the Top 1000 list.

Top 25 biggest gains overall:


 
Brand 2020 2021 Shift
Coach 969 267 702
Nestum 915 224 691
Macalline 927 276 651
Sinopec 841 210 631
China Unicom 827 227 600
JD 852 291 561
Petro China 785 241 544
Yunnan Baiyao 955 421 534
Taj 965 447 518
Baidu 734 217 517
State Bank of India (SBI) 835 319 516
Surf Excel 910 400 510
Redbus 810 304 506
China Auto Rental 726 223 503
China Merchants Bank 854 366 488
Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) 994 512 482
Airtel 733 270 463
MakeMyTrip 818 367 451
Jio 738 293 445
flipkart 761 316 445
Oracle 967 534 433
Paytm 796 370 426
SF Express 744 324 420
Haidilao 547 136 411

Top 25 biggest drops overall:

Brand 2020 2021 Shift
Wrigley's Arrow 248 1000 -752
Thai Airways 191 772 -581
Sunkist 176 684 -508
Powerade 238 733 -495
Spritzer 479 970 -491
Skippy 244 731 -487
Garmin 369 854 -485
Shinhan bank 362 845 -483
Tresemme 495 964 -469
Doublemint 150 612 -462
Google Play 348 802 -454
Schweppes 250 691 -441
Fitbit 206 644 -438
Nestea 201 621 -420
E Mart 525 944 -419
Godiva 262 680 -418
Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) 300 696 -396
Lucozade 513 905 -392
Scott's 519 896 -377
Rakuten 287 663 -376
Nespray 577 949 -372
GS Caltex 454 816 -362
Perrier 305 659 -354
Esprit 647 994 -347
Tong Ren Tang 494 836 -342

Finally, here are the top 25 gains and drops for each of three broad tiers of the Top 1000: 101-250, 251-500 and 501-1000. While some of the brands here have already appeared above, you'll also see some other notable moves.

BY TIERS: 101-250

Biggest gains:

Brand 2020 2021 Shift
Nestum 915 224 691
Sinopec 841 210 631
China Unicom 827 227 600
Petro China 785 241 544
Baidu 734 217 517
China Auto Rental 726 223 503
Haidilao 547 136 411
China Mobile 571 165 406
Lenovo 582 189 393
Ctrip 609 219 390
Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Asia (ICBC Asia) 572 212 360
Midea 395 133 262
Bank of China 346 121 225
Zalora 425 247 178
Tencent 381 236 145
Alipay 257 120 137
Nutrilite 282 159 123
Haier 233 115 118
MasterKong 278 163 115
Apollo 220 110 110
Telegram 321 215 106
Budweiser 280 181 99
Bosch 297 198 99
Nintendo 3DS 328 240 88
Big Bazaar 252 166 86

Biggest drops:

Brand 2020 2021 Shift
Air Asia 38 204 -166
Nutella 75 218 -143
Evian 127 244 -117
Lipton 52 154 -102
Nivea 123 207 -84
Rolex 45 127 -82
Sprite 154 229 -75
Hugo Boss 165 235 -70
Morinaga 110 177 -67
Expedia 126 192 -66
Pocari Sweat 89 153 -64
Whiskas 107 167 -60
Emirates 161 213 -52
Del Monte 85 134 -49
Casio 142 191 -49
Avis 185 233 -48
EPL / English Premier League 114 161 -47
Agoda 105 151 -46
Singapore Airlines 129 175 -46
Traveloka 192 237 -45
Pepsi 106 149 -43
100 Plus 173 216 -43
American International Assurance (AIA) 184 225 -41
Red Bull 128 168 -40
Nintendo Wii 133 173 -40

BY TIERS: 251-500

Biggest gains:


 
Brand 2020 2021 Shift
Coach 969 267 702
Macalline 927 276 651
JD 852 291 561
Yunnan Baiyao 955 421 534
Taj 965 447 518
State Bank of India (SBI) 835 319 516
Surf Excel 910 400 510
Redbus 810 304 506
China Merchants Bank 854 366 488
Airtel 733 270 463
MakeMyTrip 818 367 451
Jio 738 293 445
Flipkart 761 316 445
Paytm 796 370 426
SF Express 744 324 420
Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) 844 451 393
Snickers 689 302 387
HDFC Bank 717 349 368
Nongfu Spring 745 380 365
Sagawa 606 251 355
Himalaya 719 387 332
ICICI Bank 694 389 305
Tata 550 274 276
iQiyi 630 356 274
Indian Premier League 616 357 259

Biggest drops:

Brand 2020 2021 Shift
The Body Shop 168 442 -274
Tropicana 134 392 -258
Mentos 137 375 -238
Yves St Laurent (YSL) 212 443 -231
Pantene 125 354 -229
Seiko 210 438 -228
Sunsilk 200 422 -222
Arnotts 230 434 -204
Purina 266 465 -199
Minute Maid 122 306 -184
Palmolive 284 468 -184
Lux 104 281 -177
Maxims 293 467 -174
Bear Brand 288 459 -171
Boss 302 471 -169
Friskies 242 408 -166
Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) 331 495 -164
Gatorade 121 277 -156
Acer 203 359 -156
Dutch Lady 180 326 -146
Mitsubishi Electric 351 493 -142
Walmart 335 476 -141
Head & Shoulders 157 294 -137
Tylenol 193 328 -135
Mead Johnson 264 399 -135

BY TIERS: 501-1000

Biggest gains:

Brand 2020 2021 Shift
Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) 994 512 482
Oracle 967 534 433
Raymond 913 507 406
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) 932 535 397
Crest 898 518 380
K-24 990 617 373
Lakme 963 592 371
Lactum 980 627 353
China Construction Bank 978 675 303
EQ 909 608 301
Mizuno 945 667 278
Unity Pharmacy 870 595 275
Farmina 998 727 271
Norton 968 703 265
Horlicks 819 565 254
Idemitsu 925 671 254
Aptamil 935 687 248
Blue Dart 867 630 237
Nitori 801 569 232
Kinley 889 658 231
Nissay 958 737 221
Boost 833 623 210
Moony 756 556 200
GAP 923 725 198
Air India 746 553 193

Biggest drops:

This list is exactly the same as the list of the greatest drops overall (see above).

Source:
Campaign Asia

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