Samsung Ranked No. 1 Brand in Asia, Apple Tops In China: Survey

Samsung is the number one brand among Asian consumers, according to the Campaign Asia-Pacific 2012 Asia's Top 1000 Brands report.

In its ninth year running, the 2012 report is based on a survey conducted by Campaign Asia-Pacific and the global information and insights provider, Nielsen targeting consumers in 12 key regional markets across Asia-Pacific: Australia, mainland China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

Across the Asian countries, Samsung claimed top spot in South Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, while it sat within the top five in five other countries. Mostly, the top three spots across all the countries were dominated by consumer electronic brands.

Apart from the South Korean tech giant, other brands that appeared in the top 5 were Apple, Sony, Nestle and Panasonic, respectively. Apple and Nestle were this year's new entries in the top five, moving up significantly - four and five places, respectively - in their rankings.

The survey covered 14 major products and services categories across a total of 73 sub-categories. The ranking of the brands were ascertained based on responses to questions that asked the respondent to name the best brand that comes to their mind in a category. The results were then weighted to reflect the age, gender and monthly household income representative of the general population.

The study also revealed that Chinese and Indian brands seem to be facing challenges in gaining consumer recognition within their home markets. In last year's survey results, eight Chinese brands were placed within the top 20 brands ranked within China, while this year's results had only three local brands. In India too, only three local brands made it into the top 20.

However, there are certain markets where consumer support for homegrown brands continues to be evident, such as in South Korea and Japan, where brands such as Samsung, LG, Sony, Panasonic, Lotte and Meiji continue to enjoy their dominance.

Apple Ranked No. 1 Brand In China

Among Chinese consumers, Apple claimed the top spot. The other brands to make it to the list were Nestle, Chanel, Sony, Samsung, Uni-president, Panasonic, Nike, Canon and Starbucks, respectively.

However, in the consolidated survey rankings across Asia Pacific, Apple came up short against fellow consumer electronic brand Samsung, despite its strong standing in the China survey.