These Are the Top Brands Winning Filipino Hearts and Wallets

The more popular the brand is, the higher the chances of increasing its sales. This has been the case for the longest time, whether among consumers online or at physical stores. In fact, 82 percent of online shoppers prefer brands they are already familiar with, according to a study.

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Fashion and beauty: New Balance

In the Philippines, shoe maker New Balance seems to be stepping up to make its name known in the fashion and beauty industry. The Boston-based brand has gained prominence in the country between September 2021 and September 2023, based on a report from research firm BusinessFinancing.co.uk. Online searches by Filipinos for New Balance increased by up to 107 percent year-on-year.

It wasn’t until recently when the brand started gaining traction in the local sneaker landscape, especially with the Swoosh and the Three Stripes being on the forefront of the market ever since. What turns out to be New Balance’s edge, as athletes and influencers alike say, is that it may be the comfiest of all running shoes and sneakers out there. So, at this point, you shouldn’t be surprised if you see your friends posting fit checks with the iconic 530s, among other trendy pairs.                                            

Beer: Bud Light

Taking over the beer industry is Bud Light, with online searches about the Belgian-made beer rising by 183 percent, according to the report.

But unlike the United States, where it’s considered one of the largest brewers, it’s technically still not as popular in the Philippines. Top of mind when you think about beer is still Red Horse or San Miguel Light made by conglomerate San Miguel Corporation. Red Horse had a 65.1 percent market share in the Philippines in 2021, while San Miguel Light got 24 percent, as cited by Statista.

Bud Light is marketed as a healthier option, with an alcohol by volume (ABV) of 4.2 percent and 110 calories per can, which are said to be lower than its competitors.

The brand, however, was previously embroiled in a series of controversies. In 2015, Bud Light drew flak for its tagline: “The perfect beer for removing ‘no’ from your vocabulary for the night.” The company then pulled out the bottles bearing the message just hours after its release. This was only one of its many reported scandals in the past.

Restaurant: Texas Roadhouse

Texas Roadhouse emerged as the restaurant which is gaining the most popularity out of all other food chains in the country. A whopping 274-percent increase in online searches about the American brand was recorded among shoppers in the study by Business Finance. 

Dining at a steak restaurant, whether that’s for date night or dinner with family or friends, is apparently becoming a “trend” nowadays. Just one search on TikTok, and you’ll find a whole lot of steak recommendations. This could be driving the growing popularity of Texas Roadhouse in the local setting, especially since its steak itself has long been considered “legendary.” As of 2023, the steakhouse chain already had more than 700 branches worldwide.

Smartphone: Tecno

As for smartphone brands, Tecno is rising the fastest in the Philippines, despite an uptick of just 33 percent in related online searches from 2021 to 2023. This is significantly lower than the growth of those in other categories, which are over a hundred percent.

But Tecno, which is under China-based Transsion, is something its competitors may have to watch out for, as more shoppers have actually been leaning toward the brand in recent years. From January to March, Transsion came in fourth among the five smartphone makers with the largest market shares, joining the likes of giants Apple and Samsung.

Brands that have gained the most popularity worldwide

As it turns out, Bud Light is the brand whose popularity surged across various industries in the world. According to BusinessFinancing.co.uk, a total of 20 countries searched for the beer brand the most in the last two years.

Among these are Canada, where Bud Light ranked first out of all brands, beating fast-food chain McDonald’s. The beer brand saw its year-on-year search volume going up by 390.95 percent in the said country.

But in the United Kingdom, it was Cruzcampo, a Heineken brand, that was considered to have the fastest growing popularity. Online searches for the brand soared to 372.76 percent.

“People in the UK want Spanish lager, so we thought we’d make it more accessible by launching Cruzcampo into the mainstream,” Heineken UK’s Serena Smith told Business Financing. “If you go to Spain on holiday and just ask for a beer, this is what you will get.”

Dunkin’, meanwhile, came on top in the U.S. after it garnered a staggering 1212.77-percent jump in online searches every year from 2021 to 2023. It is now the second biggest coffee chain in the said country after Starbucks. 

In Australia, Crocs garnered the most popularity among all brands. The iconic shoe maker, known for its brightly colored rubber clogs, recorded an increase of 106.58 percent in search volume year-on-year.

Citing Dr. Jason Pallan, a senior lecturer at the RMIT University in Melbourne, Business Financing said one of the reasons Australians have embraced the brand is because they have this mindset of "wanting to look too cool to care.”

“It’s like, ‘Are you cool enough to get away with wearing something that looks ridiculous and doesn’t look cool?’ But you are actually so cool. [So], you can get away with [it],” said Pallan.

All in all, American brands — most notably Bud Light, McDonald’s, and New Balance — dominated 135 countries, showing the “growing appetite for star-spangled products.” A study showed the U.S. claims six of the top 10 most valuable brands across the globe in 2024. In terms of categories, fashion and beauty brands were the ones that gained the most traction in a total of 36 countries in the past two years.

BusinessFinancing.co.uk, a business finance and lending research and information publisher, determined the brands that have gained the most popularity worldwide by identifying the year-on-year increases in search volume per country. The list of the over 1,000 most popular global brands used in the study was extracted via FT.com, BrandDirectory.com, and Comparably.com.