The Brand Index
Aided awareness and consideration for 240 brands, measured monthly on a nationally representative sample.
Two markets. A new wave every month. Free, and it always will be.
Two markets, expanding monthly
Pick a category to see where every brand in it stands. Or open a market to see everything it covers.
UNITED STATES
Functional soda, greens and supplements, clean skincare, women's activewear, eyewear, neobanks and investing apps.
FRANCE
Optique, cosmétique clean, gels douche, compléments alimentaires, néobanques, retail électroménager, mode responsable, salles de sport, vacances plein air, ameublement.
How the index is built
Frequency
A new wave every month, in every market. The questions don't change between waves, and neither does the sample definition — so when a number moves, the movement is real rather than a change in how we asked.
The sample
300 respondents per wave, per market, nationally representative. Real people, sourced through Kantar Profiles, Cint and Dynata. Never synthetic — no model has ever generated a response in this index, and none ever will.
What we measure
- Aided awareness: the share of people who recognise the brand from a list of fifteen, shown in random order.
- Consideration: asked only of people who recognised it, so the denominator is the people who actually know the brand.
- Conversion: consideration divided by awareness — how efficiently being known turns into being considered.
How precise it is
Every figure carries a margin of error of roughly ±5.7 points. A three-point gap between two brands isn't a difference; an eighteen-point gap is. We publish the error bar because a number without one isn't a measurement, it's a claim.
Measured where you actually compete
Most brand rankings are built on categories nobody buys in. "Beauty." "Financial services." "Beverages." A brand can score well in one of those and still lose every week to the three competitors it actually sits next to on the shelf.
So the categories here are narrow on purpose.
Not soda — functional soda. Not eyewear in general — the opticians a French shopper actually chooses between. Fifteen brands in each, picked because they genuinely compete for the same purchase, from the same people, in the same moment.
That's what makes a number worth reading. Awareness of 62% means nothing against a category of four hundred brands and everything against the fourteen you're really up against.
It's also why the index grows one category at a time. Defining fifteen brands that truly compete takes longer than scraping a list, and we'd rather add a category properly than claim coverage we don't have.
What the index can't tell you
Two questions, fifteen brands, one audience. That's a real measurement and a narrow one, so here's what it doesn't cover.
Why anyone thinks what they think
Awareness and consideration are outcomes. The index shows the number, not the reason behind it — perception, associations and what your brand is understood to stand for aren't in it.
Whether anything moved
Each wave is a reading on a nationally representative sample, and month-to-month differences within a few points are inside normal variation. The index shows position, not proven movement.
Your competitive set
We picked the fifteen. If the brands you actually lose to aren't in the category, the number is describing a race you're not running.
Your audience
The sample is nationally representative. If your buyer is a specific subgroup, national awareness will understate or overstate you, sometimes badly.
Anything past the top of the funnel
Recognition and consideration, nothing further. Trial, preference, loyalty and advocacy aren't measured here.
That's not a disclaimer. It's the shape of the instrument, and knowing it is what stops a free number being misused in a meeting.
From the number to the answer
The index tells you where you sit on two questions, against fourteen brands we chose.
If that's the wrong fourteen, or the wrong two questions, or the wrong audience — that's what the paid work is for.
Brand Health
Your competitive set, your audience definition, your subgroup cuts. The full funnel, perception attributes, advertising and touchpoints, buyer profile. Where you stand, properly measured, back in 24 hours.
→ See Brand HealthBrand Tracking
Twelve monthly waves, so every shift has a month attached to it. Same questions, same audience, all year. The difference between knowing something changed and knowing when.
→ See Brand TrackingA snapshot is a position. A tracker is a direction. The index is neither — it's a reading, on a set of brands we picked, and it's free because it should be.
Questions about the brand index
The Measurement
What is the Brand Index?
A free measurement of aided awareness and consideration for 240 brands across two markets, updated monthly. Each category contains fifteen brands that genuinely compete for the same purchase, measured on a nationally representative sample of 300 respondents per market, per wave. There's no signup and no contact required to read it.
How often is it updated?
A new wave every month, in every market. The questions and the sample definition stay fixed between waves, so the figures stay comparable.
How is aided awareness measured?
Respondents see a list of fifteen brands in a category, presented in random order, and indicate which ones they recognise. Aided awareness is the share who recognise a given brand. It differs from unaided awareness, where people name brands from memory without prompting — aided figures are always higher, and the two aren't comparable.
How is consideration measured?
It's asked only of respondents who recognised the brand. The denominator is the people who know the brand, not everyone surveyed — so a brand with low awareness can still show high consideration among the people who've heard of it.
What is conversion, in this index?
Consideration divided by awareness. It measures how efficiently being known turns into being considered. A brand with 80% awareness and 20% consideration is being seen and passed over; a brand with 30% awareness and 20% consideration has a reach problem, not a desirability one.
Who answers the survey?
A nationally representative sample of 300 respondents per market, per wave, sourced through Kantar Profiles, Cint and Dynata. Real people. No response in this index has ever been generated by a model, and none ever will be.
How accurate are the figures?
Every survey has a margin of error, and most published brand data doesn't tell you what theirs is. Ours is roughly ±5.7 percentage points at 300 respondents. In practice: if a brand shows 62% awareness, the true figure is very likely between 56% and 68%. So a brand at 62% and a brand at 59% are tied — that gap is noise. A brand at 62% and a brand at 44% are genuinely different.
Using It
How do you decide which brands are in a category?
By whether they genuinely compete for the same purchase, from the same people, in the same moment — not by size or by revenue. Fifteen per category. A brand that shares a shelf but not a buyer doesn't belong in the set, and neither does the biggest company in the sector if its customers are choosing between different things.
My brand isn't in the index. Why not?
Most likely the category isn't covered yet. The index covers sixteen categories today and adds more every month, in the order people ask for them. Tell us which category you want and which brands belong in it.
Can I use these figures in a client deck or a pitch?
Yes. Cite Standard Insights and the wave date. The figures are published to be used, and agencies use them in pitches constantly.
Can I see how a brand has changed over time?
Not in the index. Each wave is a separate reading, and month-to-month differences within the margin aren't movement. Reading direction reliably takes a continuous series measured the same way, which is what Brand Tracking is for.
How is this different from a paid brand study?
The index measures two questions, on fifteen brands we picked, among a national audience. A brand health study measures your competitive set, your audience definition, your subgroup cuts, and the full funnel including perception, advertising and buyer profile. The index tells you roughly where you sit. A study tells you why, and against whom.
Is it really free?
Yes, permanently, with no signup. You can read every category without giving us anything. The monthly email is optional.
Which markets and categories are covered?
The United States and France today, sixteen categories between them, expanding to eighty by the end of 2027. Current coverage is listed at the top of this page, and each market page carries what's live, what's next, and what's coming.