Leading airline Emirates is the UAE’s most positively perceived home-grown brand in 2014, followed by Dubai Mall and Emaar, a report said.

Top marketing research firm YouGov’s first ever Home-Grown Annual BrandIndex Rankings, which exclusively focus on brands born out of the UAE, showcase the top 10 brands with the highest Buzz scores over the last 12 months.

The scores are tracked by YouGov’s flagship brand tracker, BrandIndex.

Emirates, which generated the highest levels of Buzz for itself with a score of 52.2, formed a number of new partnerships in the last 12 months with leading entertainment names including Arab Idol, the Australian Open and the FIFA World Cup. The brand also ranks second in our Global Annual BrandIndex Rankings in the UAE.

The UAE’s most checked-in location on Facebook in 2014, Dubai Mall, made waves last year with the introduction of King Croc, one of the largest crocodiles in the world. The shopping and leisure destination is in second position with a score of 36.3 on the positive sentiment radar.

The UAE’s largest property developer, Emaar, announced a string of new developments in quick succession during 2014, and closed the year hosting the world’s most watched New Years’ Eve spectacle in Downtown Dubai. As a result, the brand sits marginally behind Dubai Mall with a score of 35.4.

Dairy brand Al Rawabi, has grown to become a staple part of the average diet within UAE homes, consistently maintaining a third of local market share. Al Rawabi was the first dairy producer in the UAE to pack fresh milk in plastic bottles, and the first company to introduce 100% natural and fresh orange juice. The brand sits in fourth position with a score of 33.9.

Masafi claimed the fifth spot as the brand of choice for water in the UAE. It is also the top water brand in the 2014 Global Annual BrandIndex Rankings, scoring 31.5 in 2014.

Emirates NBD, scoring 31.2, not only does holds sixth position in the top 10 Home-Grown Rankings, but is also the top brand in the Banking category for the Annual Global BrandIndex Rankings in 2014.

Etihad Airways’ brand Buzz also scores highly, placing it in seventh position over the course of 2014 according to BrandIndex. The national but younger airline of the UAE is amongst the fastest-growing airlines in the world, and the last 12 months saw them unveil a number of innovations which increased their Buzz score to 30.2.

At number eight is Al Ain, the largest vertically integrated dairy producer in the UAE, with a score of 30.1.

In the ninth place with a score of 28.9 is Mall of the Emirates, which currently features more than 560 international brands.

Completing the UAE’s top 10 Home-Grown Annual BrandIndex Rankings for 2014 is Al Ansari Exchange. Al Ansari boosted its brand image through its pledge to support UAE government humanitarian initiatives including UAE Water Aid and the Show Compassion campaign. – TradeArabia News Service