Meta, Crocs among the fastest-growing brands of 2022
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 media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, is particularly popular with Gen Xers and Baby Boomers and saw its purchase consideration (ie the share of consumers who said they would consider buying from the brand) rise by 6.5% has from January to October 2022.
“What’s interesting about Meta is that it’s really fighting against two very strong elements — an association with Facebook, which doesn’t have a very warm public opinion, and a CEO who’s very public, which our research doesn’t doing well for a brand,” Joanna Piacenza, head of industry intelligence at Morning Consult, told Yahoo Finance Live (video above).
The rise in its popularity, Piacenza said, is indicative of the success it is having in rebranding itself, along with “a greater awareness and interest” in the metaverse. More companies have shown interest in investing in the virtual reality space.
“You can’t think of the metaverse without talking about Meta,” she said.
American footwear company Crocs (CROX), which ranked second on the list, is another company that is seeing renewed interest among consumers.
The company reported record revenue in 2022, which was more than $985 million in its most recent quarterly results. In less than a year, Crocs’ revenue grew by more than 50%.
“They’ve had a very successful year in not alienating their core audience, who are just as concerned about comfort and affordability, and also chasing trends,” Piacenza said. “Staying trendy with their various accessories, that balance really works to Crocs’ advantage.”
The inflation effect
Inflation appeared to have an impact on Morning Consult’s overall findings, as many consumers pulled back on discretionary spending.
For example, subscription-based companies like Paramount+ ( PARA ), HBO Max ( WBD ), and Peacock ( CMCSA ) were among the top-growing brands in 2021, but didn’t make the cut this time around.
“Average purchase considerations for 2022 have decreased this year,” Piacenza said. “It’s different from the last three years, [and] this includes the truly traumatic COVID years that had better buys among brands. What this means for consumers is that they are no longer buying some of their favorite brands, and I think very importantly for new and emerging brands, they are not necessarily trying out new brands on the market.”
As a result, newer brands on the Morning Consult list include several cost-saving alternatives.
Breeze Airways, a Utah-based budget airline, and Roku ( ROKU ) — a digital streamer that uses a low-cost, ad-based subscription model — were among the top 10 fastest-growing brands for Gen Zers. Travel and hotel brands also appeared on the Gen Z list.
“Gen Z sorely missed out on many of the travel excursions that many of us experience as we enter adulthood,” Piacenza said. “That’s because a lot of them entered maturity and got into more discretionary funds as COVID hit. So they’re experiencing a lot of these hotel brands, travel brands and airline brands for the first time this year.”
However, things are less exciting for millennials in terms of financial well-being, which is less than stellar, she noted. They have very low average purchase considerations compared to other generations.
“This is the generation that is struggling to buy a home,” Piacenza said. “This is a generation that has young kids. Childcare costs, that comes up. They’re not a generation that’s going to look for new brands and spend a lot of money — something that these brands face to keep in mind. “
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Tanya is a data reporter at Yahoo Finance. You can follow her on Twitter @tanyakaushal00.
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