Google held onto second place, with Cadbury, Aldi and Netflix rounding out the top five, and Fairy, YouTube, Tesco, Marks & Spencer and Samsung the rest of the top 10.

Budget brands all performed strongly, with Aldi rising one place to fourth, Lidl rising eight places, taking it into the top 20, Iceland up four places and TK Maxx rocketing up 18 places on the standings.

The connected brands index measures which brands have become “indispensable to consumers’ daily lives”, according to Opinium, and the findings are based on interviews with 6,000 consumers, and analysis of 6,284 spontaneous brand mentions and 48,000 brand reviews.

The index found that heritage brands also performed well in the UK, with the BBC (+13 ), Fairy (+5 ) and M&S (+6 ) rising up the rankings.

Despite the recent economic uncertainty, consumers’ opinions on how brands have been performing remained relatively consistent with the previous year, with more than half the brands that were in last year’s index staying within five places of their 2022 ranking.

Steve Looney, research director at Opinium, said: “As the cost-of-living crisis continues to impact consumers across the UK, it is no surprise that budget brands have performed strongly in this year’s index.

“However, even in these tough economic times, consumers do not simply equate ‘value’ with price. Heritage brands, those which have invested in and built strong emotional connections with consumers, such as the BBC, Fairy and M&S, have all risen up the rankings.”

US findings
In the US version of the index, Amazon and Google retained first and second place respectively, positions both companies have held for the five year the index has run in the US.

Supermarket giant Walmart was in third place, while Apple was fourth and chocolate company Hershey came fifth.
YouTube, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, crisp company Lay’s and Samsung rounded out the US top 10.

James Endersby, chief executive at Opinium, said: “The Most Connected Brands Index was created to help businesses and brands understand the power of consumer connection.

“Although no brand is immune to the changing social, economic or technological change, those who invest in building long-term, sustainable relationships with consumers have the power to thrive and grow.”