Despite a tumultuous year for the company, Meta (META) is the fastest-growing brand among all US adults, according to a new report from Morning Consult.
Meta, the parent company of social networks such as Facebook and Instagram, is very popular among Gen Xers and Baby Boomers and saw its purchase consideration (ie the share of consumers who said they would consider buying from the company) rise 6.5% January to – October 2022.
“What’s interesting about Meta is that it’s really fighting two strong things – the organization and Facebook, which doesn’t have a warm public opinion, and a very public CEO, which, according to our research, is not doing well. the product,” Joanna Piacenza, head of industry intelligence at Morning Consult, told Yahoo Finance Live (video above).
Its rise in popularity, Piacenza says, is an indication of the success it has had in rebranding itself, as well as the “increasing awareness and interest” in the metaverse. Many companies have shown interest in investing in the virtual reality space.
“You can’t think about the metaverse without talking about the Meta,” he said.
American footwear company Crocs (CROX), which took second place on the list, is another company that is seeing renewed interest among consumers.
The company reported record revenue for 2022, reaching $985 million in its latest quarterly results. In less than a year, Crocs’ revenue grew by more than 50%.
“They had a really successful year of not alienating their core audience, who are concerned with comfort and affordability, and chasing trends,” Piacenza said. “Staying trendy with their different accessories, that balance really benefits Crocs.”
The effect of inflation
Inflation appeared to be having an impact on Morning Consult’s findings as many consumers pulled back from discretionary spending.
For example, subscription-based businesses like Paramount+ ( PARA ), HBO Max ( WBD ), and Peacock ( CMCSA ) were among the top-grossing brands in 2021 but fell short this time around.
“The purchase estimate for 2022 has decreased this year,” Piacenza said. “That’s different three years ago, [and] that includes the painful years of COVID that had better consideration for shopping among brands. What that means for consumers is that they’re not buying other products that they like, and I think it’s very important for new and emerging companies, they’re not trying new products on the market.”
Therefore, the new brands on the Morning Consult list include several cost-saving alternatives.
Breeze Airways, a Utah-based budget airline, and Roku ( ROKU ) — a digital broadcaster that uses a low-cost, ad-based subscription model — were among the 10 fastest-growing brands for Gen Zers. Travel and hotel brands also appeared on the Gen Z list.
“Gen Z really missed out on a lot of the travel that most of us experience as we get older,” Piacenza said. “That’s because a lot of them were getting older and going into a lot of entertainment expenses as COVID hit. So they’re meeting a lot of these types of hotels, travel brands, and airlines for the first time this year.”
However, things are not so rosy for millennials in terms of financial well-being, which is less than stellar, he noted. They have a very low average purchase consideration compared to other generations.
“This is a generation that is struggling to afford a home,” said Piacenza. “This is a generation with young children. Child care costs, that includes. It’s not a generation that’s going to be chasing new products, spending a lot of money – something these consumer-facing brands need to remember.”
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Tanya is a data reporter at Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter @nyakaushal00.
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