C-store Beverage & Snack Suppliers Among Gen Z's Top Brands

NATIONAL REPORT — As culture and technology rapidly change from one generation to the next, there is one consensus that multiple cohorts share: brand affinity for beverages and snack food.

Market research firm Morning Consult compiled a definitive ranking of the brands that are most successfully winning over Generation Z (defined as consumers ages 18-25) in a new report entitled "Gen Z's Favorite Brands 2022."

Multiple convenience store beverage, candy and snack suppliers stand out on the top 20 ranking of Gen Z's favorite brands, which were rated as having either a "somewhat" or "very" favorable opinion of each brand.

Among Gen Z's favorite brands are:

• M&M's ranked No. 5 with 79.81 percent favorability
• Doritos ranked No. 8 with 79.32 percent favorability
• KitKat ranked No. 9 with 78.96 percent favorability
• Oreo ranked No. 10 with 78.57 percent favorability
• Gatorade ranked No. 11 with 78.54 percent favorability
• Cheetos ranked No. 13 with 77.45 percent favorability
• Sprite ranked No. 15 with 77.39 percent favorability
• Pringles ranked No. 16 with 76.71 percent favorability
• Skittles ranked No. 19 with 76.27 percent favorability

The manufacturers of these brands include Kellogg's, Mars Wrigley, Mondelēz International, Nestlé, PepsiCo and The Coca-Cola Co.

Other findings of the report include:

• When compared with the general public, gummy candy maker Trolli came in at No. 8 among Gen Z's favorite brands. According to Trolli, the brand grew 21 percent year over year.
• The most popular brands among Gen Z men are Gatorade (No. 2) and M&M's (No. 10).
• The most popular brands among Gen Z women are M&M's (No. 5), Doritos (No. 6), Oreo (No. 8) and KitKat (No. 9).

Gen Z's Favorite Brands ranking uses data from Morning Consult Brand Intelligence, which fields tens of thousands of surveys across the globe every day on more than 4,000 brands and products. 

Brand Intelligence data was collected May 1 to Aug. 21 among 16,053 adults per brand, including an average of 2,031 Gen Z adults.

The full Gen Z's Favorite Brands report for 2022 is available here.

Morning Consult has offices in New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.