Apple’s iPhone, Amazon and Virgin Atlantic have been named YouGov’s UK Advertisers of the Month for September, after each brand saw a sharp increase in consumer awareness of their advertising.
According to YouGov BrandIndex, which measures the percentage of consumers who have seen an advert for a brand in the past two weeks, all three brands posted significant gains in Ad Awareness during the month.
Amazon recorded the biggest uplift, rising from 26.5% on September 1 to 33.7% on September 25 — a gain of 7.2 percentage points. The surge followed the company’s UK Upfront event, which promoted new advertising formats across Prime Video and its growing retail media network.
The e-commerce giant also announced a landmark partnership with Netflix on September 10, allowing advertisers to buy inventory from Netflix’s ad-supported tier directly through Amazon’s demand-side platform (DSP). The tie-up marked a major step in Amazon’s ambitions to become a global hub for connected TV advertising.
Apple’s Ad Awareness score for iPhone jumped from 12.0% on September 9 to 21.5% on September 25, an increase of 9.5 points. The rise coincided with the company’s annual September product showcase, which unveiled the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and the new iPhone Air, alongside updates to the Apple Watch Series 11, Apple Watch Ultra 3, and refreshed AirPods Pro.
The high-profile launch generated extensive cross-channel marketing activity, bolstered by cinematic advertising campaigns and sustained media coverage across the tech and lifestyle sectors.
Virgin Atlantic also saw a notable uplift in Ad Awareness, climbing from 7.9% on August 30 to 13.1% on September 25 — a rise of 5.1 points. The growth was driven by the airline’s latest LGBTQ+ campaign, “Free to Be Me”, created in partnership with Attitude magazine.
The campaign celebrated inclusion and self-expression among travellers, combining digital storytelling with branded content and social partnerships to reinforce Virgin Atlantic’s positioning as one of the most progressive brands in aviation.
Together, the three brands exemplified how major product launches, partnerships, and purpose-led campaigns can translate into tangible boosts in advertising visibility — even in a competitive and cluttered media landscape.
