Vaseline, Lenovo and Motorola emerged as the UAE’s biggest brand movers in August 2026, while Hilton led the country’s advertisers in July with the strongest month-on-month increase in consumer ad awareness, according to new data from YouGov BrandIndex.
YouGov’s monthly Biggest Brand Movers ranking analyses more than 800 brands tracked through its BrandIndex platform, using daily surveys of consumers in the UAE. The ranking identifies the 10 brands recording the most statistically significant improvements across 13 measures covering media and communication, brand health and the purchase funnel.
Brand movers
Vaseline topped the August ranking after improving across eight metrics: Awareness, Ad Awareness, Word of Mouth Exposure, Buzz, Impression, Satisfaction, Quality and Current Customer.
Lenovo ranked second, recording gains in Awareness, Word of Mouth Exposure, Value, Reputation, Recommend, Quality and Consideration. Motorola came third after improving across Ad Awareness, Word of Mouth Exposure, Buzz, Impression, Value, Reputation and Quality.
Hotel group Rotana ranked fourth, with gains across Ad Awareness, Word of Mouth Exposure, Impression, Value, Consideration and Purchase Intent. Mashreq Bank rounded out the top five after improving across Reputation, Satisfaction, Recommend, Consideration and Purchase Intent.
Google, Sadia, Hilton, Papa John’s and Amazon Prime completed the August top 10. YouGov said all 10 brands recorded statistically significant improvements across multiple measures of consumer perception.
The August results follow a different set of brands leading the UAE movers ranking in July. Emirates NBD topped that month’s list, followed by Microsoft, Anchor, Noon and TikTok. Emirates Group, Uber, Al Ain, Netflix and Gucci Beauty completed the July top 10.
The latest Brand Movers ranking coincides with strong advertising gains among several major brands in the UAE.
Ad awareness
Hilton emerged as the UAE’s top advertiser in July, recording a 6.7 percentage-point increase in Ad Awareness, from 17.9% in June to 24.6% in July. Rotana followed with a 6.3-point increase, taking its score from 11.9% to 18.2%, while Vaseline ranked third with a 5.9-point rise from 16.7% to 22.6%.
Coca-Cola and Dubai’s Museum of the Future recorded the next-largest increases, both gaining 5.2 percentage points. Coca-Cola’s Ad Awareness rose from 39.3% to 44.5%, while the Museum of the Future increased from 20.0% to 25.2%.
Lipton Yellow Label climbed 4.9 points to 19.6%, while Apple increased 4.8 points to 53.8%, giving it the highest overall Ad Awareness score among the 10 brands featured. Burj Al Arab also gained 4.8 points, rising from 23.7% to 28.5%.
Delivery platform Instashop gained 4.5 points to reach 12.8%, while Maggi rounded out the top 10 with a 4.4-point increase, taking its score to 32.0%.
YouGov defines Ad Awareness as the percentage of consumers who say they have seen an advertisement for a brand in the previous two weeks. The monthly advertiser ranking identifies brands recording the largest increases in Ad Awareness compared with the previous month, based on daily BrandIndex tracking data.
UAE momentum
Together, the latest rankings point to continued shifts in consumer engagement and advertising visibility across the UAE, with hospitality, consumer goods, technology, food and beverage, financial services and lifestyle brands all showing momentum.
The findings were published by YouGov on August 20, 2026.
