Frosch of Mainz is Brand of the Year 2026!
Trusted brand of eco pioneer Werner & Mertz defends its leading position in the Laundry & Cleaning Products category
Once again Frosch wins over consumers: In a representative ranking by YouGov in cooperation with the Handelsblatt, the brand from the medium-sized company Werner & Mertz of Mainz took first place yet again in the Laundry and Cleaning Products category. Frosch has prevailed over well-known brands from significantly larger companies such as Persil and Ariel and has earned the title Brand of the Year.
Frosch celebrates a birthday: Consumer trust is a key to success
YouGov expert Felix Leiendecker says customer loyalty is an important factor for the brand’s success. The Handelsblatt article about the ranking quotes him: “Being recommended by customers is the least expensive type of marketing for brands.“
The Frosch brand is known for having a loyal customer base. This year Frosch celebrates its 40th birthday. Werner & Mertz attributes the brand‘s success to the company’s systematic maintenance of well-founded consumer trust by providing innovative, appealing and effective products and clearly communicating concrete, verifiable implementation.
Untiringly on the way to independence from petroleum and natural gas
The pursuit of independence from petroleum and natural gas since the Frosch brand’s founding in 1986 is just one example of such implementation.
Packaging plays a central role as well. Since the Recyclate Inititiave was established in 2012, the company has been working to keep plastic from household waste collections in a closed loop. Currently, the PET bottles for the Frosch brand are made of 100 percent used plastic from the Yellow Bag. This particular development avoids carbon emissions in two ways. One, the plastic is recycled for high-quality use instead of being incinerated and two, climate-damaging manufacturing of new plastic for packaging is eliminated.
Werner & Mertz sets a good example with its choice of ingredients too. While conventional cleaning products still frequently use fossil-based surfactants made from petroleum and natural gas, sustainable cleaning products require the use of surfactants made from renewable plant-based raw materials. Werner & Mertz goes a step further and continuously increases the share of surfactants based on European oil-producing plants such as rapeseed, olive, flax and sunflower.
The Frosch brand now offers more than 80 products for cleaning, laundry and personal care. The highly diverse products adhere to shared standards, i.e., high performance products for everyday use that are in tune with Nature, oriented toward natural cycles, and largely independent of fossil fuels.
About the study:
To obtain a representative ranking in cooperation with the Handelsblatt, YouGov asked consumers about brands in 32 categories in online interviews conducted from September 2025 to August 2026. A total of 961 brands could achieve a score between -100 to +100. Those with the highest evaluation in their categories were designated “Brands of the Year.”
Link to the previously mentioned article in the Handelsblatt (German only)