The rise of discounters, the expansion of private labels, and shifts in consumer behavior have made it necessary to look at brands more holistically, beyond just their performance within a single category.

The research now covers all seven markets in the Adria region, assesses the entire brand including its extensions, uses logos for brand recognition, and adds "irreplaceability” as a crucial new indicator of brand strength.

Inclusion provides public recognition of your brand's strength, validates its market position, and offers access to exclusive, in-depth reports and strategic analyses with unique regional insights.

The methodology is the most transparent and designed for today's market. It incorporates a new "irreplaceability" metric to distinguish top-tier brands, considers the brand as a whole, and uses a visual-first approach with logos, reflecting how modern consumers interact with brands.

The research is conducted by VALICON, a marketing research company focusing on Adria region for more than 25 years, cooperating with most of the bigger brands and the retailers in this region. VALICON operates the biggest profesionnal access panel in all of the countries Opinia.Club.

A list of brands is automatically included based on their performance in previous studies and spontaneous recall data. If your brand is not on this initial list, you can have it included for a symbolic listing fee (200 EUR / brand country).

Customized in-depth reports, specific insights, and portfolio analysis across all countries are available as a premium service. You can contact the research team for a special offer.

The research methodology has been significantly updated to reflect the current market. Here are the key components:

• Expanded Geographic Scope: The study now covers all seven markets of the Adria region: Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Macedonia, Montenegro, and Kosovo.
• Holistic Brand Definition: A brand is evaluated as a whole, including all its horizontal (cross-category) and vertical (price/quality tier) extensions. This provides a comprehensive view of the brand's overall strength.
• Four-Pillar Brand Strength Measurement: Brand strength is calculated based on four key indicators:
  1. Recognition: How well-known the brand is.
  2. Experience: How many consumers have tried the brand.
  3. Usage: How many consumers regularly use the brand.
  4. Irreplaceability: A new metric that measures how essential the brand is to consumers, separating top brands from truly irreplacable ones.
• Modern Data Collection: The survey is conducted online with a representative sample of the population aged 15-75 in each country using Opinia.Club professional online panels. To reflect the visual nature of shopping, the survey uses brand logos instead of just names.
• Transparent Brand Selection: The initial list of brands to be measured is created based on their performance in previous studies and spontaneous recall surveys. Additionally, clients can pay a listing fee to have their brands included, ensuring that any brand can be part of the research.

The research is returning after a ten-year hiatus because the market has changed dramatically and there is a need for new understanding of the FMCG brands landscape. The rise of discounters, the growth of private labels, and shifts in consumer behavior required a complete overhaul of the research methodology. The previous approach was no longer sufficient to capture the true strength of brands in the current landscape.

Being listed in the TOP BRANDS research offers several key benefits:

• Public Recognition: It provides public visibility and confirms your brand's strength and status in the market.
• Business Credibility: The listing serves as a credible endorsement that can be used to strengthen relationships with retailers and other market operators.
• Strategic Insights: You gain access to exclusive, in-depth reports and strategic analyses with unique regional insights that are not available anywhere else.

The final deadline for inclusion in this year's research is December 4th, 2025. Data collection will be conducted in mid December 2025. The results will be published in the first beginning of Februrary.

If your brand is not on the initial list, you can propose it for addition. The research team is open to nominations and will review your brand to see if it meets the criteria for inclusion. In some cases, a listing fee may apply. You should submit your email to be contacted by a local expert who will guide you through the process.

• The final deadline for inclusion in this year's research is December 4th, 2025.
• Status verification for your brand is free. If your brand automatically qualifies for the list, inclusion is also free.
• For brands that do not automatically qualify, a symbolic listing fee (200 EUR / country brand) is charged to cover the additional costs of expanding the research.
• In-depth reports, benchmarking, and strategic analyses are also available for a fee.

The research is designed to evaluate a company's entire brand portfolio. More brands means more listings. If the company has some brands not listed yet, it needs to apply for them to be added.

Absolutely not. Being ranked on the TOP 25 list is a huge success. In the measurement there are already 500 brands that were carefully selected. The research is designed to be a strategic tool for brand improvement, not a public critique. A low ranking should be viewed as a valuable opportunity to identify areas for growth and to better understand your brand's position in the market. The detailed analysis provides the insights needed to improve your brand's strength and ranking in the future.