2012 - US Airlines
Southwest maintains its impressive lead in the airline sector, generating the highest buzz by a substantial margin. The carrier announced plans to launch an international service by 2014 and in 2012 opened new routes in LA, Austin (TX), New York and Seattle (WA). Domestic airlines rated highly, with Southwest and Alaska Air grabbing the top two spots. Aviation brands Delta, Virgin America and British Airways also made the top five.
Delta has managed to break into the top Buzz and Buzz improvers table. The brand is prevalent on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, and has launched WiFi access on planes in-flight. International carriers dominate the improvers list, after a quiet half-year in terms of service and weather disruptions.
These brands were rated using YouGov BrandIndex’s Buzz score which asks respondents, "If you've heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, through advertising, news or word of mouth, was it positive or negative?"
The Buzz Rankings chart shows the brands with the highest average Buzz scores between January and June 2012. The Buzz Improvers chart ranks the brands with the highest increase in Buzz between Jan-June 2012 and the same period in 2011. Both scores are representative of the general population.
All Buzz scores listed have been rounded to a single decimal place, however, we have used additional precision to assign ranks.
