Red Bull, the energy drink launched by the Yoovidhya family, took the highest place at 118. In the beverages category, other Thai brands are Tipco (365) and Aura (448).
Jason Wincuinas, managing editor of Campaign Asia-Pacific, said yesterday that the new listing shows a rise in stature for many local Asia brands, as nearly all luxury names fell.
“This looks like the start of Asia’s brands growing from local heroes into regional giants and eventually onto multinational status,” he said.
In its twelfth year, Asia’s Top 1,000 Brands aggregates data from an online survey. The report incorporates consumers in 13 key regional markets across the Asia-Pacific – Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
It encompasses 14 major categories – alcohol, financial services, automobile, retail, restaurants, food, beverage, consumer electronics, computer hardware, computer software, courier services, media and telecommunications, travel and leisure, and household and personal care – and 73 subcategories. To win a place in the ranking, Thai brands have to compete against all international brands. Mama was the only Thai food brand represented, falling from 339 last year to 377. Nestle was first. In household products, there is only Me-O, the pet food brand, which shot up from 709 to 583.
Both DTAC and AIS showed up in the media and telecommunications category, where Google claimed the top spot. DTAC dived 62 rungs to 496, while AIS gained 41 to 623.
For travel and leisure, which has AirAsia at the top, three Thai brands are included – THAI, Nok Air and Dusit.
Thai Airways International climbed seven places to 191, but Nok lost two spots to 463. Dusit International plunged from 890 to 945. Singapore Airlines also slumped 20 places to 83, although it still led the full-service airline subcategory.
Included in retail were Big C (248), Bangchak (475) and PTT (494). PTT’s Cafe Amazon is the only Thai restaurant brand, sitting at 609 in 2015 against 751 in 2014.
Three Thai banks are in the financial services category, which covers payment companies like Visa and international banks like Citibank.
Bangkok Bank leaped 153 places to 721. Kasikornbank sank five to 768 and Siam Commercial Bank slumped 99 to 800.
South Korea’s Samsung was the most popular brand in the region this year, able to maintain the crown it snatched from Sony in 2012. Others in the top 10 were Sony, Nestle, Apple, Panasonic, Nike, LG, Canon, Chanel and Adidas.
“These are the brands the people all across Asia have told us are the best in their minds,” Wincuinas said.