Team One's Legacy Lab Unveils The 2026 Legacy Makers 100: Americans Back Brands That Have Their Backs
New research reveals the 100 brands consumers believe have their best interests at heart and what it means for achieving brand vitality
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 28, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Legacy Lab, Team One’s think tank exploring brands making a long-term impact in a short-term world, today announced its annual 2026 Legacy Makers 100 list. Unlike rankings of only the hottest or most popular brands of the moment, The Legacy Makers 100 identifies the brands consumers believe will still be in their lives years from now: organizations committed to making a durable difference in their lives and the world around them. For the second consecutive year, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital claims the top spot.
Each year, The Legacy Lab asks more than 10,000 U.S. consumers to evaluate an extensive list of brands nominated by leading business and communication schools in the United States. This year researchers also introduced a revealing new question: “Does this brand have my best interests at heart?” The responses offer a fresh perspective on what drives consumer belief, advocacy, and loyalty. Consumers who believe a brand has their best interests at heart are also more likely to want to spend more time and money with it.
“This one additional question helped explain which brands consumers believed in most, recommended, and stayed loyal to. And it revealed something interesting: the brands people backed most strongly weren’t necessarily the ones promising to save the planet. They were the ones whose interests aligned with their own,” said Mark Miller, Chief Strategy Officer at Team One and Founder of The Legacy Lab. “Even sustainability works that way. ‘Helps me live more sustainably' emerged as one of the strongest new drivers in the study. When someone tells us a brand has their best interests at heart, what they're really saying is simple: this brand has my back.”
While some familiar names continue to lead, this year's ranking also reveals a changing mix of brands earning consumer support. Thirty brands are new to the 2026 list compared with last year, including 19 appearing for the first time since the study launched in 2023. One of the year's biggest standouts is Bobbie: the infant formula brand graduated from last year's emerging-brand Radar list to No. 6, ranking ahead of household names including NASA, Apple, and Google.
The 2026 Legacy Makers 100 brands are:
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- St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
- Johns Hopkins Medicine
- Girls Who Code
- Habitat for Humanity
- Mayo Clinic
- Bobbie
- Aimé Leon Dore
- Cotopaxi
- RIMOWA
- NASA
- The Citizenry
- Loro Piana
- Amazon
- Faherty
- Buck Mason
- The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
- Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
- John Varvatos
- Filson
- Dr. Bronner’s
- The Row
- IWC Schaffhausen
- Shinola
- A24
- Veja
- Apple
- Sesame Street
- NVIDIA
- Lucchese
- Away
- The Olympics
- HYBE
- National Geographic
- Martin Guitar
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met)
- TED
- Bang & Olufsen
- BYD
- PBS KIDS
- Arc’teryx
- LOEWE
- Microsoft
- Taylor Guitars
- Toyota
- FIGS
- Visa
- Gates Foundation
- Aesop
- Substack
- Sanrio
- TELFAR
- Khan Academy
- Tecovas
- Blue Origin
- Breitling
- REI
- Intel
- NPR
- Medium
- Costco
- H-E-B
- General Electric
- Miu Miu
- USAA
- Seventh Generation
- Strava
- Patek Philippe
- Lilly
- STANLEY Tools
- YouTube
- Fender
- Crayola
- Off-White
- MSCHF
- Chick-fil-A
- Pixar
- Disney
- Sol de Janeiro
- The Bluebird Cafe
- Patagonia
- The Ordinary
- Samsung
- Reformation
- Veuve Clicquot
- Duolingo
- GSK
- Sonos
- GoFundMe
- Harman Kardon
- On
- The Home Depot
- MasterClass
- Trader Joe’s
- Dyson
- Carhartt
- LEGO
- Vuori
- Moncler
- Fenty Beauty
“Since launching the study four years ago, we’ve learned something new each year about the brands consumers value most,” Miller added. “In year one, brands with the strongest beliefs rose to the top. In year two, belief alone wasn't enough; the highest-ranked brands needed high-quality products to back them up. Year three belonged to brands making their solutions the standard for their entire category. This year's Legacy Makers are doing all these things in service of something more personal: being a trusted ally in their consumers' lives and the world they live in. The takeaway is clear: the brands that look out for their consumers are the ones earning their loyalty in return.”
Beyond more established leaders, the study also publishes its annual Legacy Makers Radar list, spotlighting ten up-and-coming brands, each 15 years or younger, that are already earning deep support from the consumers who know them.
On this year's new best-interests question, Radar brands clearly outperform their more established counterparts, one of the most pronounced differences between younger and established brands across the study.
The 2026 Legacy Makers Radar brands are:
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- Gentle Monster
- Yield Giving
- BÉIS
- TOGETHXR
- Coursera
- Cursor
- Kosas
- Credo Beauty
- ClassPass
- Perplexity
“Our Radar list has developed a track record of identifying future legacy makers,” noted Miller. “While our data doesn't guarantee that a Radar list recipient will deliver a long-term durable difference, it does show that the consumers who know these emerging brands best are already behind them. And that kind of support is a strong foundation from which to build any legacy.”
For more information about The 2026 Legacy Makers 100 and Legacy Makers Radar lists, visit https://www.teamone-usa.com/the-legacy-lab.
ABOUT THE LEGACY LAB
Launched by Team One in 2012, The Legacy Lab is a Los Angeles–based think tank exploring the dynamics of long-term brand building in a short-term world. It focuses on ambitious leaders: remarkable individuals who have succeeded in making their brands enduringly unique, inspiring, and influential—even as the times, technology, and competition change around them. The Legacy Lab includes The Legacy Lab Consultancy, which helps brands build legacies with the understanding that aspirational brands endure over time and have lasting value, as well as The Legacy Lab Foundation—a nonprofit created to invest in leaders and organizations aiming to make a durable difference in the world. The Legacy Lab is an enterprise of Team One. For more information, visit The Legacy Lab and follow all the latest learnings on LinkedIn.
ABOUT TEAM ONE
Team One is Publicis Groupe’s fully integrated media, digital, and communications agency dedicated to helping premium and luxury brands achieve their highest aspirations in the modern media landscape. With more than 400 employees, Team One has six North American offices, including its Los Angeles headquarters, Dallas, New York, Chicago, Atlanta and Boise. Team One clients include Lexus and the Lexus Dealer Association, Marriott International, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, The RealReal, HKS Architects, Metabo HPT, The Duckhorn Portfolio, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and HP Inc., Moët Hennessy, and Cathay Pacific Airways. Team One continues to be recognized for its industry-leading work and unique culture, which encourages innovation at all levels. To learn more about the agency’s work, team, and innovation ethos, visit TeamOne-USA.com.
PRESS CONTACT:
Shelby Griffin
Communications, Team One
AMG@teamone-usa.com
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