Methodology for Buzziest Brands

The inaugural edition of Morning Consult’s Buzziest Brands surveyed 947,604 adults across the United States to rank which companies, organizations or brand names garnered the most attention, for positive or negative reasons. The data come from Morning Consult Brand Intelligence.

The top 20 brands — drawn from at least 900 — caught the eyes of U.S. consumers surveyed online from Jan. 1 through Dec. 7 among a national sample of adults who were asked to indicate whether they’d seen, heard or read something positive or negative about a given brand. Between 10,000 and 117,000 adults rated each brand, and the results have a margin of error between 0.3 and 1 percentage point.

The survey contains three principal sections: company evaluations, demographics and political tracking. Respondents answered broad demographic questions before answering political tracking questions designed to help validate results. Respondents then evaluated a randomized set of brands across a range of questions such as favorability, buzz, community impact and purchasing intent. The survey concluded with an additional set of demographic questions.