World Branding Awards Draw 105,000 Consumer Votes as More Than 2,000 Brands Compete

The World Branding Awards held its 2026-2027 ceremony at Hampton Court Palace in London on Wednesday, naming Brand of the Year winners across global, regional and national tiers. The event marked the 21st edition of the awards. Organizers said more than 105,000 consumers took part in the public voting process, and more than 2,000 brands from 62 countries were nominated this year.

The organizers, the World Branding Forum, said winners are determined through an evaluation process that combines brand valuation, consumer market research and public online voting. Fewer than 10 brands from each country were declared Brand of the Year across the three tiers. The evening was hosted by a television presenter and included a keynote presentation, with guests attending from across the world.

Global and regional winners

In the Global Tier, which recognizes brands for lasting strength across international markets, the honorees included BYD of the UK, Yakult of Japan, IKEA of Sweden, Sennheiser of Germany and TWG Tea of Singapore, among others. The Regional Tier, which covers brands with a presence in four or more countries across three or more regional markets, included M-150 of Thailand, MR DIY of Malaysia, Nippon Rent-A-Car of Japan, Sukiya of Japan, Vitaday of Thailand and Watsons of Malaysia.

The National Tier recognized brands described as household names in their home markets. South Asian nominees appear in the national list, including FERN-D of the Philippines and Getha of Malaysia. Other national winners named by the organizers included Checkers of South Africa and DR's Secret of Singapore, alongside brands from Thailand, Indonesia, China and elsewhere. The regional spread shows how the awards trade on local recognition as much as on international scale.

How the honors are judged

The organizers describe the process as a rigorous evaluation, with the public vote acting as one of three inputs rather than the sole deciding factor. Brand valuation and consumer market research carry weight alongside the online ballot, according to the World Branding Forum. That combination is intended to reward brands that score well on financial standing and on how consumers actually perceive them, not only those with the largest fan bases. The forum's chairman congratulated the winning teams for earning trust and delivering consistent experiences.

For workers in brand and marketing roles, the awards offer a reminder of what the discipline is measured on. Consumer market research and brand valuation sit at the center of the judging, which reflects the way many organizations now justify brand investment through a mix of financial modeling and survey data. Specialists who can connect perception tracking to commercial outcomes remain in demand, particularly at consumer goods, retail and telecommunications companies that dominate lists of this kind.

The winners also show how regional brands build credibility before expanding. Several Regional Tier honorees operate across multiple markets in Asia, while national winners tend to be strong in a single home market. The organizers said they celebrate teams that earn trust and set a benchmark in their industries, framing the awards as recognition of execution rather than advertising spend.

What to watch next

The full list of winners is published on the awards website, and the next cycle will open nominations ahead of the following ceremony. For brands that entered this year without a win, the consumer vote totals and research scores will be the measure to study. The organizers have not said whether the evaluation criteria will change for the next edition. What is clear is that the awards now rest on a large public ballot, which makes consumer sentiment a visible part of the brand-building conversation.