Nine out of ten of the hospitality & theme park brands in MBLM’s Brand Intimacy Study saw a rise in their Brand Intimacy Quotient (BIQ) scores in 2019.

This meant the hospitality & theme parks industry also moved up one place, from 15 to 14 place in the largest study of brands based on emotions. Jumeirah topped the list across the industry, followed by Hilton, Ferrari World, Yas Waterpark, and Marriott. Rounding up the top 10 are Rotana, The Address, Dubai Park & Resorts, IMG, and Aquaventure, in order of their Brand Intimacy ranking.

Brand Intimacy is defined as the emotional science that measures the bonds we form with the brands we use and love. Top intimate brands continue to significantly outperform other brands in the Fortune 500 and S&P indices in both revenue and profit over the past 10 years, according to the Brand Intimacy 2019 Study. MBLM leverages the yearly study to help client brands create, sustain, and measure ultimate brand relationships.

“The opportunity to focus on relationships rather than transactions is evident in this industry, as it continues to be one of the lower ranked categories in terms of building bonds with consumers.” stated William Shintani, managing partner at MBLM.

“Jumeirah is one of the few brands that has demonstrated a genuine ability to deepen the emotional connections with its guests.”

Additional noteworthy findings in the hospitality & theme parks industry include:

• 39% of users reported an immediate emotional connection with hospitality & theme park brands.
• Jumeirah ranked highest in Brand Intimacy with women, high-income users, and millennials.
• Hilton is ranked second as the Most Intimate Brand in the industry across age and gender categories.
• Rotana performs best among the 35-64 year age bracket.
• Ferrari World is the Most Intimate Brand in the industry for men.
• Yas Waterpark is the industry brand users most often report that they can’t live without.

During 2018, MBLM with Praxis Research Partners conducted an online quantitative survey among 6,200 consumers in the U.S. (3,000), Mexico (2,000), and the United Arab Emirates (1,200).

Participants were respondents who were screened for age (18 to 64 years of age) and annual household income ($35,000 or more) in the U.S. and socioeconomic levels in Mexico and the UAE (A, B, and C socioeconomic levels).

Quotas were established to ensure that the sample mirrored census data for age, gender, income/socioeconomic level, and region. The survey was designed primarily to understand the extent to which consumers have relationships with brands and the strength of those relationships from fairly detached to highly intimate. It is important to note that this research provides more than a mere ranking of brand performance and was specifically designed to provide prescriptive guidance to marketers.

Through factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and other sophisticated analytic techniques, the research allows marketers to better understand which levers need to be pulled to build intimacy between their brand and consumers.