Global advertising company Wunderman Thompson has released its list of 2022’s most inspiring brands. In a rather unsurprising turn of events, Google, Apple, Samsung and Amazon top the list.

Now in its third year, the Inspire Score was created by Wunderman Thompson, using a proprietary diagnostic tool which measures a brand’s inspiration status. The annual list of Top 100 Most Inspiring Brands in the World tracks and analyses the brands that are inspiring customers. 

Key insights

The report took note that TikTok has animating and brightening lives and social interactions, therefore it cracked the top 100 list for the first time. TikTok has been joined by Disney+ in the lineup of first appearances in the list.

Tracing back to the pandemic, beer and spirit companies have become more influential – Wunderman Thompson has said that this might be due to a growing desire for spontaneity since the world has reopened.

The determining factors to find the most inspiring brands

The study showed that a brand’s Inspiration Score is based on how strong it is across three factors: elevating, magnetic, and motivating. 

Elevating: this factor looks at how brands demonstrate a positive impact on society with a caring customer approach. It breaks it down into whether the brand cares for the customers, is socially responsible and is helpful.

Magnetic: looking at the social power of a brand, magnetic scores are decided by looking at the leader and whether or not it would be recommended to a friend by the consumer.

Motivating: does a brand offer something different? Then this brand is motivating its consumers. This factor’s metrics include good value and simple UX.

Wunderman Thompson’s list leaves little wiggle room at the top. The dominant brands are described as “powerful inspiration engines with the ability to be at the centre of people’s lives”. However, when it comes to inspiration and some of the controversies that surround these brands, perhaps inspiration isn’t the apt descriptor. Is this not just a case of dominance of the top? The aforementioned brands own market share of the industries, therefore it gives little leeway for other brands to be able to inspire, or prove inspiration.