Disney, Tesla, and Apple are the major brands people feel most intimately connected to, according to recent research from MBLM.
The report was based on an analysis of more than 600 well-known global brands across 19 industries. The researchers used AI to analyze more than 1.4 billion keywords and social media mentions of the brands to determine sentiment. Each brand was then assigned a Brand Intimacy Quotient score from 0 to 100, with a higher score reflecting a more intense emotional relationship (see the full methodology here).
Disney is the most “intimate” brand overall, the researchers found.
Tesla ranks second, followed by Apple, Sony, YouTube, Mercedes-Benz, Trader Joe’s, Netflix, Android, and Sega.
Among the industries examined, people feel most intimately connected to media/entertainment brands and tech/telecom brands.
Fostering intimate connections with people has a strong financial payoff, the researchers found. The top 20 brands on last year’s brand intimacy list saw a 44% jump in their end-of-year stock prices between 2020 and 2021, compared with a 32% increase for companies on the Fortune 500 list.