World Branding Awards Honor More Than 2,000 Nominees as Consumer Votes Decide Winners

The World Branding Forum held the 2026 to 2027 World Branding Awards at Hampton Court Palace in London, the 21st edition of the ceremony, with winners announced across global, regional and national tiers. The organizers said over 105,000 consumers took part in the voting and more than 2,000 brands from 62 countries were nominated. Fewer than 10 brands from each country were declared Brand of the Year, a result that gives marketing teams a fresh external benchmark for how their names travel across borders.

The forum said winners are determined through a process covering brand valuation, consumer market research and public online voting, rather than a jury alone. That mix places weight on how consumers recall and rate a brand alongside financial measures of its worth. For brand and insights teams, the structure of the award reflects a wider shift toward combining survey-based perception data with commercial valuation when judging brand health.

How the winners were chosen

The ceremony, hosted by a television presenter and featuring a keynote address, drew guests from several markets. Category winners were split into three tiers. The global tier recognizes brands with strength across international markets, the national tier honors names that have become household fixtures at home, and the regional tier covers brands with a presence in four or more countries across three or more regional markets.

The chairman of the World Branding Forum congratulated the winning teams, saying the awards celebrate organizations that earn trust, deliver strong experiences and set a benchmark in their industries. The full winner list was published by the organizers. The forum described the awards as a long-running program that has grown into one of the larger consumer-voted brand recognitions, with each edition drawing nominations from dozens of markets.

Brands from the Middle East featured prominently among national winners. Al Ain Water, Emirates and Lulu Hypermarket were named Brand of the Year for the United Arab Emirates, alongside regional names such as ALTANFEETHI from Saudi Arabia and Boursa Kuwait from Kuwait. Southeast Asian and other Asian markets also appeared on the list, including Kopi Kenangan and Scarlett from Indonesia, FERN-D from the Philippines and ZUS Coffee from Malaysia.

Elsewhere, French winners included Picard, BIC, Bonne Maman, Président and Yves Rocher, while Vietnamese winners included Tân Tân, Vietcombank, Vietnam Airlines, Viettel and Vinamilk Optimum Gold. Philippine winners included FERN-D, Globe Telecom, Potato Corner, Rebisco and Red Horse. United Kingdom winners included Boots, Cadbury, Coca-Cola, Costa Coffee, Heinz, Marriott and Primark. Global tier winners included BYD, Yakult, IKEA, Sennheiser and TWG Tea. The geographic spread shows how local brand strategy can carry weight even when budgets are far smaller than those of multinational rivals.

What it means for brand teams

Awards built on consumer voting and market research give marketing departments a third-party signal they can cite in planning cycles and internal reviews. Analysts often watch these lists for signs of which categories are producing challengers that outgrow their home markets, particularly in fast-moving consumer goods, retail and travel. For workers building careers in brand strategy, the results offer a case study in how heritage names and newer entrants compete for the same consumer attention.

The regional tier is especially relevant for companies weighing expansion. Brands recognized for operating in four or more countries across three or more regional markets have usually made deliberate choices about naming, positioning and localization, decisions that sit with brand and insights teams rather than sales alone. The forum said weaker budgets did not prevent national winners from building strong local recognition, a point it framed as evidence that consistency over time matters.

What to watch next

Attention now turns to how many of this year's winners will return in the next edition, and whether newer categories such as electric vehicles and digital services gain ground on established consumer names. The organizers said the full list is available through the awards program, and participating brands typically use the recognition in campaigns and investor materials. Marketing teams will also watch whether the voting pool grows again, since a larger consumer sample makes the results harder to discount.