MAM
Wunderman Thompson reveals world’s most inspiring brands for 2022
Mumbai: On Friday, Wunderman Thompson revealed that Google, Apple, Samsung, and Amazon are the most inspiring brands in the world.
Wunderman Thompson’s proprietary diagnostic tool, “Inspire Score: Top 100 2022,” proves that inspiring brands are able to grow their market share more quickly and charge a higher premium for their products and services than their competitors.
Wunderman Thompson’s Inspire Score is a proprietary diagnostic tool that measures a brand’s inspiration status and uncovers the brand attributes that fuel business growth through their ability to inspire people.
As per the report, Google once again takes the top spot as the most inspiring brand in the world today, while Apple, Samsung, and Amazon remain in the top four for the second year running, cementing their position as powerful inspiration engines thanks to their ability to place themselves at the centre of people’s lives — and stay there.
Colgate has taken the fifth spot for 2022 as they strive to reimagine a healthier future for all people, their pets, and our planet.
Commenting on the report, Wunderman Thompson global chief executive officer Mel Edwards said, “As the world’s foremost researcher on inspiration, we have again proven that there is a strong correlation between inspiration and brand growth. The Inspire Score demonstrates how inspiring brands can drive growth in market share and command a price premium, which is increasingly important in the face of these changing economic conditions. The brands at the top of our list have shifted with the zeitgeist and placed themselves at the centre of people’s lives, perfectly positioning themselves to take advantage of inspiration as a powerful lever for growth.”
“This year’s Inspire Score has taught us that a brand’s inspiration status and, therefore, propensity to grow, is highly dynamic. As the focus of people’s lives changes, so may the things that inspire them. Google, Apple, Samsung, and Amazon have once again scored highly given their ability to elevate consumers, make them feel like they’re making a popular, exciting choice, and motivate them to accomplish their goals, but 30 per cent of the Top 100 Most Inspiring Brands in the World for 2022 were not in the Top 100 last year. This reminds us that there is everything to play for when it comes to inspiration—these are metrics that brands can impact, thereby moving the needle on growth,” added Wunderman Thompson global chief strategy officer Neil Dawson.
Other key insights from the study include:
There have been strong gains for mobility brands such as Tesla and Uber as the world has opened up again post-covid, with a large number of automotive brands also featuring in the top 100.
Social media brands have also seen gains, showcasing their role in animating people’s lives and social interactions, both physical and virtual. The inspiring power of brands such as Instagram and WhatsApp also continues to grow, with TikTok making the top 100 for the first time this year.
Streaming brands continue to inspire, too. Netflix is now in the top 20, and Disney+ is a new entrant in the top 100, out-inspiring even its master brand.
Impulse brands have done well, perhaps because life is becoming a bit more spontaneous again, and beer, spirits, and treats have all risen.
The Inspire Score: Top 100 was first launched in 2020 as part of Wunderman Thompson’s global brand study, Inspiring Growth, the world’s largest ongoing research project into inspiration. This chapter explores why brands need to be inspirational, how inspiration drives growth, and what brands can do to inspire their customers. Meanwhile, the annual list of the Top 100 Most Inspiring Brands in the World tracks and analyses the brands that are best at inspiring their customers, revealing how inspiration affects a brand’s ability to drive growth in market share and command a price premium.
Digital
Content India 2026 opens with a copro pitch, a spice evangelist and a £10,000 prize for Indian storytelling
Dish TV and C21Media’s three-day summit puts seven ambitious projects before an international jury, and two walk away with serious development money
MUMBAI: India’s content industry gathered in Mumbai this March for Content India 2026, a three-day summit organised by Dish TV in partnership with C21Media, and it wasted no time making a statement. The event opened with a Copro Pitch that put seven scripted and unscripted television concepts before an international panel of judges, and by the end of it, two projects had walked away with £10,000 each in marketing prize money from C21Media to support development and international promotion.
The jury, comprising Frank Spotnitz, Fiona Campbell, Rashmi Bajpai, Bal Samra and Rachel Glaister, evaluated a shortlist that ranged from a dark Mumbai comedy-drama about mental health (Dirty Minds, created by Sundar Aaron) to a Delhi coming-of-age mystery (Djinn Patrol, by Neha Sharma and Kilian Irwin), a techno-thriller about a teenage gaming prodigy (Kanpur X Satori, by Suchita Bhatia), an investigative crime drama blending mythology and modern thriller (The Age of Kali, by Shivani Bhatija), a documentary on India’s spice heritage (The Masala Quest, hosted by Sarina Kamini), a documentary on competitive gaming (Respawn: India’s Esports Revolution, by George Mangala Thomas and Sangram Mawari), and a reality-horror competition merging gaming and immersive fear (Scary Goose, by Samar Iqbal).
The session was hosted by Mayank Shekhar.
The two winners were Djinn Patrol, backed by Miura Kite, formerly of Participant Media and known for Chinatown and Keep Sweet: Pray & Obey, with Jaya Entertainment, producers of Real Kashmir Football Club, also attached; and The Masala Quest, created and hosted by Sarina Kamini, an Indian-Australian cook, author and self-described “spice evangelist.”
The summit also unveiled the Content India Trends Report, whose findings made for bracing reading. Daoud Jackson, senior analyst at OMDIA, set the tone: “By 2030, online video in India will nearly double the revenue of traditional TV, becoming the main driver of growth.” He noted that in 2025, India produced a quarter of all YouTube videos globally, overtaking the United States, while Indians collectively spend 117 years daily on YouTube and 72 years on Instagram. Traditional subscription TV is declining as free TV and connected TV gain ground, forcing broadcasters to innovate. “AI-generated content is just 2 per cent of engagement,” Jackson added, “highlighting the dominance of high-quality human content. The key for Indian media companies is scaling while monetising effectively from day one.”
Hannah Walsh, principal analyst at Ampere Analysis, added hard numbers to the picture. India produced over 24,000 titles in January 2026 alone, with 19,000 available internationally. The country now accounts for 12 per cent of Asia-Pacific content spend, up from 8 per cent in 2021, outpacing both Japan and China. Key exporters include JioStar, Zee Entertainment, Sony India, Amazon and Netflix, delivering over 7,500 Indian-produced titles abroad each year. The top importing markets are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, the United States and the Philippines. Scripted content dominates globally at 88 per cent, with crime dramas and children’s and family titles performing particularly strongly.
Manoj Dobhal, chief executive and executive director of Dish TV India, framed the summit’s ambition squarely. “Stories don’t need translation. They need a platform, discovery, and reach, local or global,” he said. “India produces more movies than any country, our streaming platforms compete globally, and our tech and creators win international awards. Yet fragmentation slows growth. Producers, platforms, and tech move in different lanes. We need shared spaces, collaboration, and an ecosystem where ideas, technology, and people meet. That is why we built Content India.”
The data, the pitches and the prize money all pointed to the same conclusion: India is not waiting for the world to discover its stories. It is building the infrastructure to sell them.
