As Walt Disney Co. prepares to pull its content from the existing streaming services and create its own, it has at least one good reason for optimism: Consumers feel closer to its brand than they do to any other, even Apple Inc.’s.
That’s according to a new study of “brand intimacy” by branding agency MBLM, which pegged Disney DIS, +0.92% as tops in terms of its bond with consumers. Disney took the crown from Apple AAPL, -0.42% , which ranked first in the last three iterations of the study.
Disney’s rise shows that consumers are still driven to programming as a form of “escapism,” according to Mario Natarelli, a managing partner at MBLM. “People are looking for ways to indulge in content and get away from the challenges around us.”
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Fellow media brands Netflix Inc . NFLX, -2.28% and YouTube, owned by Alphabet Inc. GOOGL, +0.09% , took the fifth and eighth positions, respectively.
Apple slipped to No. 2 in this year’s MBLM survey, likely, in the research firm’s view, reflecting the company’s recent challenges with an elongated upgrade cycle, the pace of major feature introductions and relatively high price points. “Apple’s largest product is reaching its date of saturation or exhaustion,” Natarelli said, though the brand is still strong: 38% of Apple users surveyed said they couldn’t live without the company’s products.
Another hardware brand, Sony’s SNE, +1.76% Playstation, occupied the seventh position in the survey’s results and represented the top pick among 18- to 24-year-olds. Microsoft Inc.’s MSFT, -0.07% Xbox brand came in 17th across a broad audience.
In general, people seem to have strong connections with brands associated with physical objects: General Motors Co.’s GM, -0.08% Chevrolet came in fourth, while Harley-Davidson Inc. HOG, +1.45% finished sixth, and Ford Motor Co. F, -0.59% came in ninth. Natarelli said that domestic car brands experienced gains this year in terms of brand sentiment, while European brands lost ground. This change could reflect political tensions surrounding tariffs, Natarelli said, or it might just suggest that Chevy’s rush of local advertising has been having an effect on consumer perception.
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The top ranking among food brands went to Chick-fil-A, which saw a large increase in “daily users,” per the MBLM study. Privately held Chick-fil-A has been expanding into new geographies, which is likely helping it pick up new loyal fans. The chicken chain came in 10th in the survey, while Amazon.com Inc.’s AMZN, +0.12% Whole Foods brand ranked one spot behind.
