In today’s society, few things define us more than the brands we consume. Especially in younger generations, identities are built in relation to important brands. The result is that companies compete not only in sales but also in recognition, that is constructed through the association of their brands to a series of values.

The following 11 maps help us to profile a portrait of Spain based on their preferred brands, with clear differences between regions. In many cases, the preferred brand by category varies according to the territory, identity and tradition. We also see that the brand with the greatest coverage or implantation does not always coincide with the one preferred by consumers. Perhaps our aspirations do not always coincide with reality.

1.Map of preferred beer brands in Spain ⁽¹⁾

As football fans, beer lovers are loyal to a brand. It is a choice that mixes the rational, the emotional and in some cases a regional pride. Thus, people from Andalucía, Aragón, or Murcia, they boast of their beer brand, as they could do of their folklore or their sausage.

Estrella Galicia, whose beer group only reaches fourth place in national sales, is winning the battle over preferred beer in several territories in the west and even the east of the country. The greatest resistance is offered by Mahou, which dominates the interior of Spain and whose brewing group, Mahou-San Miguel, is the leader at national levels.

2.Map of preferred shampoo brands in Spain ⁽¹⁾

In the case of shampoos preferences, the Spanish population is divided in 2 brands.

3.Map of preferred technology brands in Spain ⁽¹⁾

The most sold mobiles in Spain in 2018 correspond to the Chinese brands Xiaomi and Huawei. However, in a majority way, they choose Apple as their reference technology company, despite not being the number one in sales of mobile phones or computers. In this field, the aspirational factor is particularly strong.

4.Map of Spain’s preferred telecommunications brands ⁽¹⁾

The north of the country is mostly Telefonica blue, a brand that loses the battle in terms of preferences against Orange in Catalonia and Madrid. The Yoigo-Masmovil group burst onto the scene as the favourite brand in Castilla La Mancha and Euskaltel remains the favourite of the Basque Country population.

5.Map of preferred fashion brands in Spain ⁽¹⁾

Two are the reference brands of the Spanish population when it comes to textile fashion: Levi’s and Zara. When asked about their favourite brand, they choose, by far from others, one of these two brands throughout the country, becoming the “top of mind” of Spanish consumers.

6.Map of preferred supermarket brands in Spain ⁽¹⁾

As Apple is to Technology, Mercadona is to supermarkets for the Spanish consumers. This brand is the preferred one even in the Basque Country, where its presence is more recent and faces the local one, Eroski. Mercadona has acquired a legion of apostles, despite not being a leader in coverage in most communities (as its shown in the next map)

7.Map of the brands with more supermarkets in Spain ⁽²⁾

Few trade wars are as fierce in Spain as the one that neighbourhood by neighbourhood is fought to be the supermarket of reference in an area. In terms of number of establishments, DIA is the leading chain in the Centre, Catalonia and Aragon, despite the closure of hundreds of stores this year. Mercadona, the preferred brand, is only the coverage leader in the Region of Valencia and Murcia. In other regions, the queens are in many cases local companies and all with Spanish capital.

8.Map of best-selling car brands by region⁽³⁾

In terms of car sales from January to June 2019, Seat is the leader in overall sales, prevailing in the most populated regions. Are notorious the reigns of Jeep in Aragón, and DACIA in Extremadura and Balearic Islands. In the Islands, is the tennis player Rafa Nadal who promote the brand.

9.Map of the brands with the most petrol stations in Spain ⁽⁴⁾

The giants Cepsa and Grupo Repson (it includes Campsa and Petronor), the Canarian DISA, and the Basque Avía, are the ones that fit on this map. The international brands as BP, Shell or Galp are found in almost all the Regions but always at a big distance from the leaders.

10.Map of the banks with more branches by region ⁽⁵⁾

CaixaBank is the leader in number of branches, although Santander leads in several regions. However, the heirs of the savings banks are the kings of promise in the least populated communities

11.Map of the main business groups by regions based on their relevance ⁽⁶⁾

Finally, we consider the main business groups according to their relevance in terms of turnover, brand recognition and jobs generated in the establishment community. Several industrial groups such as Arcelor Mittal, Balboa, Volkswagen, Seat, Renault, Opel, the textile giant Inditex or the brewing group Heineken (contains Cruzcampo) sneak in here due to their sales and workforce. In the Balearic Islands, Air Europa is number one over some important hotel groups. Palacios and El Pozo (meat products) lead the ranking of relevance in their communities.

(1) Based on the results of 2,000 digital surveys carried out on a national scale among Internet users over 18 years of age (Source: DataCentric – carried out in May-June 2019). (2) Ranking of top supermarkets according to the number of establishments in DataCentric’s MarketBase Database (Source: DataCentric – August 2019). (3) Ranking of best-selling car brands by community, according to data prepared by estadisticacoches.com, with data on the employers of the sale and distribution of vehicles (ANFAC – January to June 2019).  (4) Ranking of top oil companies based on the number of service stations by business group in DataCentric’s MarketBase Database (Source: DataCentric – August 2019). (5) Ranking of Top Banks according to the number of branches in DataCentric’s MarketBase Database (Source: DataCentric – August 2019). (6) Based on the DataCentric relevance index, it is constructed by combining and weighting multiple data: surveys of local professionals, digital and advertising presence, employee size and national turnover of each business group.

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