Sports brand index 2018 Q3

Please note: This is not the most recent brand index. If you’re right where you want to be, read on. If you’re looking for the latest data, click here for our most recent brand indexes. 

The Attest brand index is a platform agnostic measure of a brand’s total brand equity in the sports sector, as determined by real consumers.

What do we mean by ‘platform agnostic’? We mean the results are not influenced by any particular method of obtaining them, such as looking only at social media mentions, or brand search terms. This reduces bias and provides a much more accurate view of a brand’s strength in any given category.

Learn more about why we believe this is the best methodology for brand intelligence.

To determine the sports brand index, we look at three things:

• Percentage of unprompted brand recall within a named category e.g. ‘technology’ ‘fashion’ or ‘entertainment’
• How likely a person is to purchase your particular brand (purchase intent)
• How likely a person is to recommend your brand (net promoter score)

Our data is gathered every quarter from an online survey sent to a nationally representative panel of 1,000 UK consumers aged 18-65.

While Nike and Adidas hold on to their gold and silver podium positions, significant shifts have occurred further down the table. Bronze medal winner in Q2, Puma, has since dropped to 8th spot, their share of mind dropping from 2.2% to just 0.8%. This quarter, Under Armour rank in third place, up from 4th, fuelled by their rising NPS (from 40 to 62) and purchase intent score (from 53% to 62%).

The undisputed frontrunner, Nike, continues their lead with a sizeable 42% of the unprompted brand recall. Almost half of consumers think of Nike first, when considering the sports industry. This dominance shows no sign of falling away with all key metrics remaining stable over time, their total brand equity score dipping just ever so slightly from 3,690 in Q2 to 3,570 this quarter.

FIFA remain firmly placed at the bottom of the table, securing a growing space in consumers’ minds (unprompted brand recall is up from 1.1% to 1.9%), but not for the right reasons. Their NPS, brand strength and total brand equity scores all remain in negative numbers this quarter, despite widely positive coverage (and a triumphant England effort) over this summer’s world cup.

The only newcomer to the top table this quarter is NFL, who take the place of Kappa who has dropped out since their appearance in Q2. As we’re in the midst of the preseason of the NFL, it’s no huge surprise that this seasonal sports league has appeared in our table this quarter. Although, the fact that it’s not a sport played in this country is impressive, and demonstrates the success of spectator sports even if they can only ever be watched on TV and not participated in (also testified to by Sky’s strong performance).

The top 10 spots continue to be dominated by sporting apparel brands, with competitive sports (like football, rugby and cricket) front of mind for most consumers, over fitness or individual-based sports activities (such as the gym, weightlifting or yoga).

Here is how people described the sports industry brands that came top of mind during unprompted brand recall:

The 2018 sports industry brands report

The full 2018 report includes:

• The UK’s leading sports brands for awareness, purchase intent and Net Promoter Score from the start of the year, so you can compare where shifts have occurred over time
• Industry-wide averages and market dynamics
• Key takeaways for the UK sports industry

Click to view report