How the Millennial brand rankings work
HarrisQuest's QuestBrand module tracks equity every week among US adults 18+, at roughly 200 respondents per brand. Equity blends familiarity, momentum, consideration, and quality into one score out of 100.
The Q2 2026 Millennial brand rankings compare that score against Q1 2026. To qualify, a brand needs at least 125 respondents in both quarters and 40% current familiarity.
This quarter's cut line sits at +7.5 points, up from +4.5 in Q1. Every brand on this list moved well past that bar.
The World Cup halo, but only for brands that showed up
Kayak ranks #2 on the Millennial list this quarter, up 14.0 points. It launched an "Ask AI" feature on April 23, timed to the tournament, and posted a 13-point recall gain, the cleanest marketing signal on either generational list. Its 12-week trend sits at the 99th percentile of its own history, at peak.
MLS rose 7.8 points, its trend also at peak, with recall up 5 points among a deep base of 730 respondents. Sierra Nevada rose 7.5 points with Millennials, and even more with Gen Z, on a beer-and-summer-soccer cluster.
Not every brand near the tournament got the same lift. Turkish Airlines moved 8.0 points this quarter too, but the driver is route expansion, four new US destinations announced at the June IATA summit, not the World Cup. Lenovo, the tournament's official technology partner, saw no gain in 30-day ad recall with Millennials, so its reputation movement can't be tied to the sponsorship with confidence.
The pattern holds: sponsorship value shows up in the data when a brand builds something people notice, and it doesn't when a logo is the whole plan.
Millennials are the Black Flag generation
Ubisoft leads the entire Millennial list this quarter, up 16.0 points with all four equity pillars individually significant. The driver is anticipation: Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag Resynced was revealed in March, showcased April 23, and launches July 9.
The audience that grew up on the 2013 original is now 30 to 45 years old. Millennial equity for Ubisoft closed the quarter at an all-time high, a full quarter before the game ships. Anticipation is measurable in brand data well before it shows up in sales.
Three brands winning fans faster than sales
Sweetgreen's comparable sales fell 12.8% this quarter, while its equity rose 12.7 points on a viral wraps launch and a new summer campaign. Kohl's is positive across every cohort even as store traffic still declines, with its back-to-basics revamp and $2 billion Sephora partnership landing in perception first. HEYDUDE's equity is recovering ahead of its revenue.
In all three cases, brand measurement moved before the commercial numbers did. That's a leading indicator worth watching.
The mega winners: Two instruments, one verdict
Two brands from this Millennial list, Disney+ and Southwest Airlines, also posted a meaningful reputation gain on HarrisQuest's separately fielded QuestRQ battery this quarter. Equity and reputation run on different instruments and different samples, so agreement between them is a strong signal.
Disney+'s Millennial equity rose 9.3 points on a genuinely busy content quarter: Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord premiered to a 100% Rotten Tomatoes debut, followed by Daredevil: Born Again's second season and The Mandalorian & Grogu. Its reputation rose 6.1 points.
Southwest Airlines rose 8.5 points in its first full summer under assigned seating, winning new customers even as some loyalists pushed back. Its reputation rose 5.8 points.
Claude also appears here, up 8.0 points with Millennials and anchoring the cross-generational AI story alongside Microsoft Copilot and SpaceX, both of which posted clean gains across familiarity, equity, and recall this quarter.
What this means for Millennial marketers
Anticipation, sponsorship, and perception all moved equity this quarter, well before any of them showed up in a sales report. Ubisoft's gain landed a full quarter ahead of launch. Sweetgreen, Kohl's, and HEYDUDE are all gaining fans while their commercial numbers lag behind.
Treat brand measurement as an early signal, not a lagging scorecard. And when sponsorship is part of the plan, check ad recall before crediting the reputation gain. Kayak and Lenovo sat next to the same tournament this quarter, with very different results.
Speak with our team to find out where your brand sits.
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