Following three consecutive years in second place, Tayto has claimed the number one position as Ireland’s most emotionally connected brand in 2025, the latest Brand Reaction Index (BRI) report by the Red C research agency shows. The iconic crisp brand has narrowly overtaken confectionery brand Cadbury, which drops to second place.
The BRI, now in its fifth wave, measures emotional connection with 176 brands across 21 categories. Joining Tayto in the top three is the Credit Union, which climbs five places, reflecting the growing importance of trust and community in today’s value-driven consumer landscape. Irish supermarket chain Dunnes Stores was fourth.
The German discounters, Aldi and Lidl, were in eight and tenth position respectively. Completing the top 10 are Wild Atlantic Way (fifth), Brennans (sixth), An Post (seventh), and Netflix (ninth). The brands stand out by embodying emotional themes such as nostalgia and community – Brennans’ ‘Today’s Bread Today’ and Cadbury’s ‘A Glass and a Half’.
Integral
The other themes include trust and community – brands people rely on every day; value and accessibility – quality choices that support everyday life; sense of place and identity – deep cultural and geographic roots (Wild Atlantic Way, Tayto), and comfort and familiarity – brands that are integral to daily rhythms and routines.
As consumers often make rapid, instinctive decisions, emotional shortcuts – known as system one thinking – play a crucial role. The BRI tracks this fast, intuitive reaction using three mental heuristics: recall – is the brand front-of-mind at point of choice? recognition – does it stand out from the crowd?, and reaction – does it evoke a positive emotional response?
Based on principles from behavioural science and psychology, including work by Gerd Gigerenzer, the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, and Paul Ekman, the BRI measures reactions using a facial recognition method. Participants respond quickly to a brand based on various emotional expressions, capturing the emotional resonance each brand elicits.
Movers in 2025
- RTÉ claims the accolade of most improved brand (+22 points vs 2024), recovering from last year’s decline and re-entering positive BRI territory. TG4 also fosters more positivity among consumers (+5 points vs 2024), bringing it within close reach of the top 50 brands overall. Pictured is Drivetime presenter Sarah McInerney.
- Irish Rail climbs into the top 50 after a +7-point increase, leading the transport category.
- Bon Secours (+8 points), Mater Private (+9 points), and Blackrock Health (+5 points) fuel strong growth in emotional connection for the private hospitals sector.
- VHI and Bank of Ireland each post double-digit scores following gains of 10 and eight points respectively.
- At the other end of the spectrum, social media remains the lowest-ranked category with negative emotional scores across the board. Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) suffers the steepest decline in the study, falling by 13 points to the bottom of the overall rankings.
Red C is part of the Business Post group.
