What is Japan's strongest brand? The Japanese business newspaper Nikkei (via VGC) has now attempted to find out in its annual survey (the 26th in the series), in which 37,000 people ranked 1,000 brands of various kinds. The results are then broken down by age group under 20, and all of them are summarised as a complete picture.
As you've already figured out from the headline, the survey went very well for Nintendo among the younger audience. Although YouTube did come in first, the Switch boasts a solid second place, which is impressive in itself, but becomes truly formidable when you consider that Nintendo came in third and Pokémon seventh. Just under a third of the top 10 are thus Nintendo brands.
However, when we look at Japan as a whole, something interesting happens. The Switch plummets to 59th place, showing that the console isn't as well-known among older people, while Nintendo ranks 12th. For them, Nintendo is still significantly better known than the Switch.
Incidentally, the most well-known brand in Japan overall is Suntory, a spirits brand, which perhaps made its breakthrough in the West primarily thanks to the film Lost in Translation, where a young Scarlett Johansson and Bill Murray delivered an original, thought-provoking, and surprising story.
We assume Nintendo is very pleased with its strong standing among younger Japanese people, which shows that the future looks bright for them. Are you surprised by Nintendo's strong position, or does it look roughly as expected among Japanese brands?