Research conducted by branding agency Principals in conjunction with research firm The Navigators has found Swedish furniture brand IKEA to be the most authentic brand in the Australian market.

The Brand Alpha study sought the opinion of Australian consumers around four key drivers of authenticity: visibility, value, vitality and virtue.

The research is conducted multiple times each year and has been running for more than 10 years, with a minimum of 300 nationally representative respondents assessing a list of 140 brands.

The most recent wave of research was conducted in April and May, and placed IKEA as the most authentic brand, with the furniture business performing well on the four ‘V’ factors.

Wayde Bull, founder and planning director at Principals, said IKEA rated well with consumers on practically everything.

“Often brands do well on one key dimension, such as CommBank, which performs best on visibility, but IKEA performed over and above on value, vitality and visibility, and performed as expected on virtue,” he said.

Here’s the list of the top 20 most authentic brands in Australia, according to the study:

1. IKEA
2. Apple
3. Bunnings
4. Aldi
5. Amazon
6. Qantas
7. Google
8. ABC
9. Mazda
10. Toyota
11. Coca-Cola
12. Netflix
13. Hyundai
14. Australia Post
15. Foxtel
16. Commonwealth Bank
17. NAB
18. Telstra
19. Optus
20. Woolworths

The top five brands in the study all rated well with the public in multiple dimensions, and while tech brands have a history of excelling in brand related studies – Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook took out the top five places in WPP and Kantar Millward Brown’s recently-released BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands ranking – more human service driven offerings such as Bunnings, Qantas and Aldi feature in the top rankings of Brand Alpha.

“This gives hope to the non-tech brands that differentiation can be achieved through service and the human aspects of the brand,” Bull said.

Other key findings of the study include automotive brand Mazda overtaking Toyota. In previous years, Toyota placed higher in the rankings. With Brand Alpha acting as a forward indicator of brand performance, Bull said Mazda can be expected to see a continued lift in its brand.

Elsewhere, iconic Australian brand Qantas has moved into sixth place on the list. At the time of Brand Alpha’s inception, the airline ranked second, but in recent years it has fallen down the list.

Conversely, this is the first time the survey has asked for public opinion on Amazon, which debuted at number five.

“Amazon is a brand that is well understood by Australians,” Bull said.

“Even if people haven’t personally used it, they know what it is about. In fact, it is the second strongest brand we have ever measured in terms of value.”