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These are the brands Swedes love the most

Revealed: Swedes' top-20 favourite brands.

These are the brands Swedes love the most
What brands do the Swedes love the most? Photo: Per Groth/Magnus Hjalmarson Neideman/SvD/Pontus Lundahl/TT

The Evimetrix Brand Awards asked thousands of Swedes in their annual survey what brand they like the most. A few international giants also made the cut, but most of the love was for homegrown brands.

It produced somewhat different results to a YouGov survey investigating essentially the same thing, which listed the top-ten brands in Sweden last month. Read that one here.

The 2016 winners (how well they performed last year in brackets)

20. Samsung phones (23)

South Korean multinational electronics company liked by tech-savvy Swedes.

19. Mio (39)

A Swedish furniture chain less famous than that other one.

18. Samsung TV (12)

Apparently the Swedes are big Samsung fans, see above.

17. Astrid Lindgrens Värld (21)

Theme park in Vimmerby, Småland, entirely dedicated to the works of Swedish children's author Astrid Lindgren.


Swedish children's book character Pippi Longstocking. Photo: Örjan Karlsson/Astrid Lindgrens Värld

16. Gevalia (28)

Swedes' favourite coffee brand. From Gävle, but not related to the arson-prone Christmas Goat that gets torched every year. These days it is owned by American Kraft Foods.

15. SVT Play (15)

Public broadcaster SVT's online streaming service. Some programmes work abroad, too, so this is where your Swedish partner will make you watch shows like 'Allsång på Skansen' and 'På spåret'. When they ask if you want to sit through seven episodes of 'Melodifestivalen', just say no.

14. Volvo (14)

Won another recent survey on the Swedes' favourite brands. It may be owned by China's Geely these days, but is still associated with all things Swedish: robust, square, reliable, safe. Let's hope it manages to hold on to that when that self-driving car project really kicks off.

13. Wasabröd (9)

They may take our lives, but they'll never take our crisp bread! Ancient Swedish saying.

12. Friskis & Svettis (13)

A gym chain where fitness-crazed Swedes get to stand around with strangers in a ring doing sit-ups, knee-bends and push-ups. The name is a cutesy spelling of 'healthy and sweaty' in Swedish.


A Friskis & Svettis session in Stockholm. Photo: Pontus Lundahl/TT

11. Clas Ohlson (20)

A Swedish hardware store that was originally set up as a mail order firm in 1918 by Clas Ohlson in Insjön, Dalarna (a town which is also known for its sex pig couples harrassing Pokémon-hunting teenagers), who named it after himself.

10. iPhone (20)

Hey, Swedes love their smartphones.

9. Google (3)

Major search engine which you should not use to find out more about Swedish celebrities Tove Lo, Zara Larsson and PewDiePie according to a recent online safety report.

8. Kolmårdens Djurpark (16)

A zoo near Norrköping famous for its dolphins.


This is not a dolphin. This is… something else at Kolmården. Photo: Stefan Jerrevång/TT

7. Fjällräven (34)

A Swedish outdoor clothing range known for its Kånken backpack, which has successfully managed to rebrand itself from pretty-uncool-backpacks-worn-by-Swedish-schoolchildren to super-mega-cool-backpacks-worn-by-hipsters-worldwide.

6. Zoégas Kaffe (7)

Coffee roastery founded in Helsingborg in 1886 by Italian Carlos Zoéga, then bought up by Nestlé in 1986. Sells about 20 percent of all filter coffee in Sweden, second behind Gevalia.

5. Liseberg (4)

Gothenburg institution dreaded by parents. Sweden's biggest amusement park, where kids go to get sugar highs and throw up on the roller coaster. Its mascot is a giant green bunny.


The Liseberg bunny. Childhood nightmares waiting to happen. Photo: Björn Larsson Rosvall/TT

4. Ica (5)

Sweden's dominant supermarket chain claiming 50 percent market share. Its stores are run by franchise holders. The name stems from the merger in 1838 of four wholesalers, whose owners clinked glasses over dinner and resurfaced under the name Inköpscentralens AB, or Ica for short. 

3. Gekås Ullared (18)

More than 4.5 million Swedes visit this budget superstore every year to stock up on bargains (to put that into perspective, Stockholm's Vasa Museum welcomes around 1.2 million annual visitors). There are even special buses and chartered flights here. And a reality TV show.

2. Yes (2)

The most affirmative washing liquid in the world and the Swedish version of Fairy.

1. Ikea (1)

A Swedish furniture chain which contrary to popular belief did not invent meatballs.


The Swedes really, really, really love Ikea. Photo: Jonathan Stålhös/TT