Chapman's Ice Cream scoops up title as Canada's most valued brand

TORONTO, ON, May 12, 2025 -- In a time when global trade tensions have made buying Canadian a priority, new research from the Ted Rogers School of Management has ranked the brands Canadians value most.

The inaugural Great Canadian Brand Index (or GCBI) – believed to be the first made-in-Canada ranking of homegrown brands – found the two brands Canadians value the most are Chapman’s Ice Cream and the internationally-acclaimed performance company Cirque du Soleil.

“The highest-rated brands on the GCBI reflect our national values of friendliness, niceness, and respectfulness that consistently define the top performers,” says Rishad Habib, Professor of Marketing Management at Toronto Metropolitan University’s Ted Rogers School of Management.

“Canadians approach branding through a lens of trust and social fit,” adds Marketing Management Professor Eugene Chan. “Across categories and regions, the data reveal a shared cultural expectation: a brand must be more than functional or famous—it must be good.”

Rounding out the GCBI top three was the outdoor clothing and equipment supplier MEC (also known as Mountain Equipment Company). The food vendor BeaverTails, retailer Indigo Books & Music, fashion brand Roots, beverage company DavidsTea, home equipment supplier Canadian Tire, sweet maker Purdy’s Chocolates and beverage vendor Booster Juice filled out the top 10.

The GCBI surveyed 2,135 Canadians over the age of 18 on their feelings about how brands measure up on the qualities Canadians value most: friendly, nice, respectful, honest, tolerant, adventurous, and sustainable. The full index ranks 131 well known Canadian brands, from Four Seasons Hotels (#65) to Molson (#46) to Second Cup (#13).

“There have been other indices of Canadian firms but they measure market size, market capitalization, or revenue. The GCBI is unique because it gets beyond the quantified value of the brand and gets at what makes a brand the embodiment of Canadian values, as assessed by consumers. Brand perception ultimately determines the choices consumers make, as our research and many others have consistently shown,” Prof. Chan said.

Added Prof. Habib: “The GCBI shows that across the country, admiration goes to brands that reflect who Canadians believe they are—or who they aspire to be.”