24 March 2009
Long established brands like Starbucks, Pepsi and Microsoft are losing their grip on the brand power, as is evident in the recently released CoreBrand's Brand Power Index.
The index ranks 250 of the top corporate brands in the market in terms of their market reputation and awareness.
The annual ranking is conducted by surveying 400 corporate executives across 1,200 companies and 49 industries, with financial performance, perception of management and investment potential taken into account.
Most of the brands in the top 10 list have remained unchanged except for Starbucks that took a beating from Kellogg and slipped down to number 14 from last year's standing of number 10. Kellogg was at number 15 last year.
The top two spots have been retained by all-time favourites Coca-Cola and Johnson and Johnson.
In fact the two brand have retained this slot since 2004.
Coca-Cola rival Pepsi is sliding down the ranking, dropping from fourth place in 2005 to 18th place in 2008. Microsoft tumbled all the way down from No 26 in 2005 to No 54.
After Coke and J&J, the remaining top 10 in the index are also relatively unchanged, including Hershey Foods, Campbell Soup and Hallmark Cards.
Only Kellogg (in 10th place) posted a marked increase, jumping from 15th in 2007 and 21st place in 2005.
"The common trait of these winners is that they all have a brand promise that goes beyond the product," said Jim Gregory, Chief Executive Officer, CoreBrand.
"Coca-Cola is all about refreshment, Johnson & Johnson is all about caring - there's a clear emotional benefit attached to these brands," he said.
Microsoft's arch rival Apple is hovering 37 spots lower than Microsoft in the ranking, in the 91st spot.
"PepsiCo's drop in brand power is due to a rather abrupt and drastic decline in familiarity," said Gregory.
"In 2006 their familiarity [rating] was 95, in 2007 it dropped to 91, and in 2008 it dropped again to 86. Interestingly, their favourability [rating] stood firm at 88 over those three years.
"Familiarity is much easier to rebuild than favourability, so it looks like PepsiCo should rebound quickly and perhaps their new identity is designed to prime the pump," he said.
The falloff at Starbucks, he said in a statement to AdAge, is more of an evolution. "I believe the current decline is a natural retrenchment that is quite common for any company that has been growing fast," he said.
"Starbucks lost three points of favourability, dropping from the very high score of 87 in 2007 to 84 in 2008. We need to keep a close eye on them to see if they rebound quickly, or if this is a downward trend."
General Motors Corp plunged from 30th place in 2005 to 41st last year amid its government bailout and continuing headlines regarding its solvency. The automaker's pre-eminent position in the media explains its high 95-point familiarity rating, but, as the news is usually bad, its favourability score has dropped considerably over the past year, from 81 in 2007 to 75 in 2008.
Long established brands like Starbucks, Pepsi and Microsoft are losing their grip on the brand power, as is evident in the recently released CoreBrand's Brand Power Index.
The index ranks 250 of the top corporate brands in the market in terms of their market reputation and awareness.
The annual ranking is conducted by surveying 400 corporate executives across 1,200 companies and 49 industries, with financial performance, perception of management and investment potential taken into account.
Most of the brands in the top 10 list have remained unchanged except for Starbucks that took a beating from Kellogg and slipped down to number 14 from last year's standing of number 10. Kellogg was at number 15 last year.
The top two spots have been retained by all-time favourites Coca-Cola and Johnson and Johnson.
In fact the two brand have retained this slot since 2004.
Coca-Cola rival Pepsi is sliding down the ranking, dropping from fourth place in 2005 to 18th place in 2008. Microsoft tumbled all the way down from No 26 in 2005 to No 54.
After Coke and J&J, the remaining top 10 in the index are also relatively unchanged, including Hershey Foods, Campbell Soup and Hallmark Cards.
Only Kellogg (in 10th place) posted a marked increase, jumping from 15th in 2007 and 21st place in 2005.
"The common trait of these winners is that they all have a brand promise that goes beyond the product," said Jim Gregory, Chief Executive Officer, CoreBrand.
"Coca-Cola is all about refreshment, Johnson & Johnson is all about caring - there's a clear emotional benefit attached to these brands," he said.
Microsoft's arch rival Apple is hovering 37 spots lower than Microsoft in the ranking, in the 91st spot.
"PepsiCo's drop in brand power is due to a rather abrupt and drastic decline in familiarity," said Gregory.
"In 2006 their familiarity [rating] was 95, in 2007 it dropped to 91, and in 2008 it dropped again to 86. Interestingly, their favourability [rating] stood firm at 88 over those three years.
"Familiarity is much easier to rebuild than favourability, so it looks like PepsiCo should rebound quickly and perhaps their new identity is designed to prime the pump," he said.
The falloff at Starbucks, he said in a statement to AdAge, is more of an evolution. "I believe the current decline is a natural retrenchment that is quite common for any company that has been growing fast," he said.
"Starbucks lost three points of favourability, dropping from the very high score of 87 in 2007 to 84 in 2008. We need to keep a close eye on them to see if they rebound quickly, or if this is a downward trend."
General Motors Corp plunged from 30th place in 2005 to 41st last year amid its government bailout and continuing headlines regarding its solvency. The automaker's pre-eminent position in the media explains its high 95-point familiarity rating, but, as the news is usually bad, its favourability score has dropped considerably over the past year, from 81 in 2007 to 75 in 2008.
By Vigyan Arya
© Emirates Business 24/7 2009
