The Premier League has topped the British Icon Index for the third time, outperforming other leading British institutions and brands. Rolls-Royce and British Universities came in second and third.
The British Icon Index measures the impact of 14 British institutions and brands across the world, looking at how the public across 11 different countries respond to them, and make them feel positively about the United Kingdom. The 14 institutions under analysis were the Premier League, Rolls-Royce, British Universities, British Airways, the BBC, Jaguar Land Rover, British film, British music, British fashion, The British Council, HSBC, The Monarchy, Dyson, and Harrods.
The first British Icon Index was released in 2018. Much has changed in the five years since including the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and more domestically divisive, the completion of Brexit. The Premier League bagging the number one spot on the Index once again demonstrates its global reach and ability to engage across populations beyond those interested in football.
We’re proud to have supported Yonder Consulting with the fieldwork and data collection for the British Icon Index. Online interviews with 11,353 adults were carried out across 11 international markets, with at least 1,000 interviews in each market. Quotas were set and post-weighting applied to make each national sample representative of either the total adult population of that country or, in countries with poorer internet penetration in rural areas, the urban adult population. We asked respondents to rate the 14 British institutions, brands and icons on each of 10 attributes such as how trusted, modern and exciting they were, as well as ranking how recognisable they are globally.
Key findings from the British Icon Index report:
- Almost 9 in 10 of those polled said that the Premier League makes them feel more favourable towards Britain.
- The Premier League came top in five markets across Africa and Asia (Egypt, Nigeria, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam). Rolls-Royce came top in another five, and British Universities are first in Brazil.
- The Premier League performed strongly across a range of attributes, receiving the highest ‘familiarity’ and ‘favourability’ scores across the markets.
- The Premier League ranked positively across all demographics, but particularly among the ‘leaders of tomorrow’, ranking top amongst young people aged 18-34.
Find the full report here
