Google #1 for Brand Loyalty

October 20, 2008

For the past 11 years, Brand Keys has conducted a comprehensive survey of brand loyalty among consumers. This year 371 brands were included in the survey across 57 categories, and 26,000 consumers were surveyed about those brands in September 2008.

The results of the survey are not entirely surprising with Google topping the list for the second year in a row. Other brands appeared to be directly affected by the state of the U.S. economy with brands like Wal-mart rising (from 63 to 18) and brands like Hyatt falling (from 8 to 32).

The top 5 brands overall are:

Google
Avis
Mary Kay
Maybelline
Estee Lauder

It’s interesting that three of the top five brands are from the cosmetics category which is known for emotional branding and relationship branding. Despite the changing economy, female consumers remain loyal to (and perhaps become even more loyal to) brands that they are emotionally connected to. It can certainly be argued that creating emotional brands and relationship brands should be a key component of any brand strategy as those brands tend to withstand both the test of time and external conditions such as the fluctuating economy.

You can follow the links to view the complete results of the brand loyalty study by category as well as the methodology of the study.

What do you think? Do you see any surprises from the study?

Image: Flickr

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Susan Gunelius

President & CEO at KeySplash Creative, Inc.

Susan Gunelius is the author of multiple marketing, social media, branding, copywriting, and blogging books, and she is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She also owns Women on Business, a leading blog for business women. She is a featured columnist for Entrepreneur.com, a featured writer for Forbes.com, and the Guide to Blogging for About.com. Additionally, her marketing-related articles have appeared on websites such as MSNBC.com, FoxBusiness.com, WashingtonPost.com, TheStreet.com, SmartMoney.com, TodayShow.com, BusinessWeek.com, Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo! Small Business, and more. She has nearly 20 years of experience in the marketing field having spent the first decade of her career directing marketing programs for some of the largest companies in the world, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC. Susan also appears at in-person and virtual events where she speaks about marketing, branding, social media, and more (visit www.SusanGunelius.com for more information). You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.