Here Are the 40 Most Popular Brands, According to Gen Z

Tech brands lead in the top five, but food and beverages dominate the overall rankings.

October 07, 2022

ALEXANDRIA, Va.—Morning Consult has ranked which 40 brands are the most popular with Gen Z adults, as well as the 20 that stand out most relative to older generations.

“The oldest members of Gen Z are entering their mid-20s, expanding their foothold in the workforce and marketplace. This makes adapting to their consumer preferences an evermore important consideration for brands,” writes Morning Consult.

The overall rankings were determined by measuring the share of Gen Z adults who rated their opinion of each brand as either “very” or “somewhat” favorable. The standout rankings were determined by taking the difference in favorability between the highlighted population and the benchmark population.

The top 10 most popular brands with Gen Z are:

  1. YouTube
  2. Google
  3. Netflix
  4. Amazon
  5. M&M’S
  6. Walmart
  7. Target
  8. Doritos
  9. KitKat
  10. Oreo

(Here is the full list.)

Key findings of the study found that Gen Z is harder to please. Across all of the brands tracked by Morning Consult, Gen Z’s average favorability rating is just 27%, compared with 33% for all adults and 36% for millennials. Gen Z also demonstrates particularly high unfavorability ratings across the brands surveyed; on average, 10% of Gen Z adults have an unfavorable impression of a given brand, compared with 8% for all adults and 9% for millennials.

Also, food and beverage brands dominate the rankings. Brands that fall under the umbrella of the food and beverage industry make up half of Gen Z’s top 40. M&M’S ranks highest, coming in at No. 5, with 80% favorability among Gen Z.

Morning Consult also ranked 20 brands that Gen Z favors most compared with the general public. The ranking reveals which brands are most popular with Gen Z adults (ages 18-25) relative to U.S. adults overall. The ranking is determined by taking the difference in favorability between Gen Z adults and all U.S. adults. For example, 68.70% of Gen Z adults have a favorable opinion of TikTok, which is 30.08 percentage points higher than the share of all adults who say the same (38.62%). The top 10 are:

  1. TikTok
  2. Discord
  3. Snapchat
  4. Instagram
  5. Cash App
  6. Spotify
  7. Shein
  8. Trolli
  9. Twitch
  10. Apply Pay

(Here is the full list.)

Additionally, Morning Consult included the 10 most popular brands among Gen Z men and women respectively, as well as the brands that stand out most for each gender.

For more on Gen Z, here are their top five dining trends and tips on how to hire Gen Z.

These are the brands convenience store customers love, as ranked by NielsenIQ and shared in NACS Magazine’s July issue. Doritos, by the way, ranked No. 1 among the top 11 salty snack brands, while M&M’S ranked No. 2 and Trolli ranked No. 9 among the top 11 candy brands for 2021 in the c-store channel.

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