The NHS is now the UK’s most relevant brand, knocking Apple off top spot

The NHS is now the UK’s most relevant brand, according to research from brand and marketing consultancy Prophet. Its annual Brand Relevance Index found that the national health provider was more relevant to the UK public than Spotify, Netflix and Sony PlayStation, and knocked Apple, which has topped the chart every year since the Index’s inception four years ago, down to fifth place. Prophet has attributed the rise of the NHS to the top spot to the current climate of “uncertainty for UK consumers”.

To create the Index, Prophet surveyed 12,200 consumers about 235 brands, across 26 different industries. It measured customer obsession (brands we can’t imagine living without), ruthless pragmatism (brands we depend on), pervasive innovation (brands that consistently innovate) and distinctive inspiration (brands that inspire).

Prophet partner and EMEA regional lead Tosson El Noshokaty, told Campaign, “This year’s results are at once astounding and intuitive. The NHS’s increasing brand relevance speaks to a level of uncertainty for UK consumers that runs deep at the moment, resulting in a trend towards an even stronger appreciation for the very backbone of the nation. And with declining trust in some of the globally renowned brands, consumers want, and need, strong and stable services on which they can rely and depend."

Brands with a positive ethos – Lego, Ikea and Lush – did well in the survey, as did brands with products that did not require the physical ownership of objects, such as Spotify, Uber, Zipcar and Netflix.

The survey also found that British brands did well with UK consumers this year, with beauty brand Lush making its way into the top 10 for the first time, while British car makers Jaguar and Mini jumped up more than 100 places each. UK health provide Bupa also experienced a meteoric rise, jumping up 82 places. Unsurprisingly the NHS performed better with with non-millennials than younger people surveyed.