• by Tanya Gazdik , Yesterday

The Jeep brand has been named America’s most patriotic brand for a 25th consecutive year, according to Brand Keys.

“That enduring spirit of capability, independence and adventure lives on in every vehicle we make, and we're truly humbled by the deep, lasting connection our customers have to the brand and everything it represents,” says Bob Broderdorf, Jeep chief executive officer, in a statement.

Other brands in the Brand Keys top 10 are Coca-Cola, Ford, Levi Strauss, Disney, Amazon, Walmart, Hershey’s, Ralph Lauren and WeatherTech. This year, the study features the top 100 brands.

One of the more interesting findings this year is not how much the rankings changed, but how little they did, says Robert Passikoff, founder and president of Brand Keys.

“The consistency among many of the long-term leaders is itself an important story,” Passikoff tells Marketing Daily. “In an environment where consumer sentiment, politics, culture, and trust shift constantly, maintaining a strong association with patriotism over decades is remarkably difficult.”

As America approaches its 250th anniversary, patriotism is both retrospective and forward-looking. It honors where the country has been while signaling where Americans believe it should go, he says. 

"The brands that lead our 25th annual Most Patriotic Brands survey understand that patriotism is not a seasonal campaign, a holiday promotion, or a July Fourth sales event,” Passikoff says. “It is a sustained emotional and cultural value that consumers recognize as authentic or reject when it feels performative. That’s what makes Jeep’s continued leadership especially notable.”

From a branding perspective, it represents one of the most durable emotional brand positions in modern marketing history, he says. 

"Very few brands have maintained this level of resonance around a single national value for 25 consecutive years, particularly because the meaning of patriotism itself continues to evolve across generations,” Passikoff says. “Jeep’s ability to continually align with those changing expectations suggests something larger than successful advertising. It reflects an enduring relationship between brand, identity, and country that has become embedded in American culture itself.”

Results are drawn from a 10,000-person nationally representative sample, balanced across region, gender, and political affiliation. The methodology --which is validated by the ARF, ANA, and 4As -- measures how patriotism contributes to, not just perception, but brand profitability.

Politically, patriotism has become increasingly contested terrain, Passikoff says. 

“In a polarized environment, interpretations of what constitutes ‘true’ patriotism vary across ideological and tribal lines,” Passikoff says. “Yet our research consistently shows that while Americans may disagree on policy, they still converge around foundational ideals: freedom, fairness, opportunity, and national progress. Brands that authentically reflect those enduring principles transcend partisanship.  Brands that attempt to appropriate patriotism without substance do not.”