But how can one measure something like cultural relevance? How can the effects of the sometimes significant investments companies make in hiphop culture be made visible? For the past three years, THE AMBITION has been working with the renowned market research institute YouGov to address this question. After conducting the “Ambition Score” twice in 2021 and 2022, focusing primarily on brand awareness and association with hiphop to calculate an index, the two companies have scrutinized the score for 2024 and developed a new setup. The result was the addition of a new, significant factor to the previous survey: credibility.

Assessing the credibility of a brand’s hiphop presence allows for statements on the extent to which target audiences are convinced that the hiphop engagement and statements of the brands are genuine or merely perceived as marketing activities. Additionally, for the first time, the panel underlying the survey is also representative of the population. In total, 1,183 individuals between the ages of 18 and 79, who self-identify with at least one element of hiphop culture, were surveyed.

Under these conditions, this year, 80 brands across eight categories were examined: “Automotive,” “Retail,” “Fashion,” “Soft Drinks,” “Alcohol & Smoking,” “Food,” “Beauty,” and “Service.” The brands under scrutiny were pre-selected based on their awareness and potential for cultural relevance.

The top 3 brands with the highest relevance in hiphop culture are Nike (70.3), Snipes (69.7), and Adidas (66.7). Once again, the sportswear and streetwear brands Nike and Adidas secure their positions on the podium. Soft drink brand 4Bro (9th place) significantly dropped in the ranking and barely made it into the top 10 this year. Red Bull (6th place), G-Shock (7th place), and Puma (10th place) also made it into this year’s top 10.

All results, analyses, insights, and interpretations of the study are now available as a free whitepaper for download on this page. Enjoy reading – and feel free to give us a call in case you want a deep dive into your results.