• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, August 7, 2018

Amazon and other platform giants, along with snacks and confections, continue to dominate parents’ favorite brands, according to the 2018 Brand Love study from market research consultancy Smarty Pants.

Amazon, Crayola and Netflix took the top three ranking positions for the second year in a row.

But this year, Amazon bested Crayola by a single point, versus 23 points in last year’s study, based on brand evaluations by more than 8,900 children and their parents.

Amazon’s popularity reflects its “revolutionary” effects on family life through its Prime Video and Echo Dot Kids Edition, as well as back-to-school and other shopping, observes Wynne Tyree, president of Smarty Pants.

Google, at #4, bumped Hershey down by one place this year. YouTube, which was #10 on this ranking last year, dropped to #23 this year (and declined from #1 to #2 on the soon-to-be-released 2018 kids’ rankings), according to the research firm).

Following Hershey are four more confections and snack brands — and one produce brand.

M&M’s retained its #6 position. Doritos — which didn’t make last year’s top 50 — leapt to #7 this year. Reese’s rose to #8, from #9, and Kit Kat rose to #10, from #11.

Halos mandarins, at #9 (versus #16 last year) became the first fresh produce brand to make the parents’ top 10. It also bested rival mandarins brand Cuties, which declined to #19 this year, from #13 last year.

The other brands in this year’s top 25 are Target (#11, and the only traditional retailer in the top 25); Chips Ahoy! (#12), Lego (#13), Oreo (#14), Nike (#15 and the only apparel/footwear brand in the top 25); Scholastic (#16), Twix (#17), Pringles (#18), Uno (#20), Snickers (#21), Sharpie (#22), Lay’s (#24) and Goldfish (#25).

For this year’s study, 8,904 children and their parents (a representative sample of U.S. households with children ages six to 12) evaluated 379 consumer brands across 19 categories. The parent rankings use the firm’s Parentfinity scale metric, which factors in brand awareness and "love."