Understanding the Power Behind Today’s Leading Brands

Brand Equity is designed to be a summary metric of a brand’s health, a one-number score that enables you to understand at a glance how strong or weak your brand is. Since 1989, The Harris Poll has been monitoring the Brand Equity of a variety of brands and categories.

2021 Harris Poll EquiTrend® Study 

The annual Harris Poll EquiTrend Study is a twice-validated measure of brand equity and brand health. Measuring brand health over time, the EquiTrend Brand Equity Index is comprised of three factors – Familiarity, Quality and Purchase Consideration – that results in a brand equity rating for each brand. Brands ranking highest in equity receive the Harris Poll EquiTrend “Brand of the Year” award for their respective categories. This year, more than 39,000 US consumers assessed nearly 2,000 brands across 200 categories.

Measuring Brand Equity Since 1989

Brand Equity Model

Harris Poll EquiTrend® has been conducted since 1989 and examines the predictors of in-market performance: Brand Equity, Consumer Connection, and Brand Momentum. The capstone of the study is the Equity score. Brand Equity, as defined by Harris, is designed to be a summary metric of a brand’s health, a one-number score that enables you to understand, at a glance, how strong or weak your brand is. It is easy to compare across brands, consumer segments, geographies and even industries. Our Brand Equity measure (EQI) is based on three key variables that include mental availability (familiarity and quality) combined with intended behavior (consideration).

Equitrend graphs

Understanding the Brand Story

Today’s most successful brands insinuate themselves into people’s lives.

Our devices have become extensions of ourselves, so it’s no wonder that technology brands increasingly dominate the top of every expert’s brand equity rankings; but the connectivity and indispensability that characterizes our relationship with technology brands is spilling over into our expectations for other brands. Our brand approach measures the flow from the initial recognition of a brand through to the degree of attachment with what we’ve coined as the “4 A’s.”

Equitrend charts

Academic Validation of EquiTrend®

Today’s most successful brands insinuate themselves into people’s lives.

Our approach has been independently validated, most recently by academics at Georgetown University, They showed that brands with high EQIs were better able to withstand the 2008 downturn in the economy vs. those with low EQIs. This demonstrates that this measure can be tied directly to business performance.

Methodology

The 2020 Harris Poll EquiTrend Study is based on a sample of 39,100  US consumers ages 15 and over surveyed online, in English and Spanish, in the month of January.  The survey took an average of 30 minutes to complete. The total number of brands rated was 1,708. Each respondent was asked to rate a total of 40 randomly selected brands. Each brand received approximately 900 ratings. Data was weighted to be representative of the entire U.S. population of consumers ages 15 and over based on age by sex, education, race/ethnicity, region, income, and data from respondents ages 18 and over were also weighted for their propensity to be online. Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Poll surveys. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in our panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.  The Brand Equity Index is the keystone to the EquiTrend program, providing an understanding of a brand’s overall strength. A brand’s Equity is determined by a calculation of Familiarity, Quality and Purchase Consideration. Brand of the Year is determined by a simple ranking of brands.

The EquiTrend® study results disclosed on this website may not be used for advertising, marketing, or promotional purposes without the prior written consent of Harris Poll. Products, brand names, and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. For more information on how you can license Harris Poll EquiTrend® and Brand of the Year designations and use them in your marketing efforts, please contact us.

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