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Top 10 Brands of 2011 Ranked by Positive Buzz Score

Top 10 Brands of 2011 Ranked by Positive Buzz Score

Each year, market research company YouGov surveys American consumers to analyze positive and negative perceptions of brands based on brand reputation. Using the data, YouGov assigns each brand a BrandIndex Buzz score. At the end of 2011, the 10 brands with the best reputations that consumers feel the most positive emotions toward aren’t that different from the leaders of 2009 and 2010.

According to the YouGov study, consumer sentiment toward Subway in 2011 was so consistently positive that the brand landed in the #1 spot in the Brand Buzz Rankings chart for the second year in a row. Apple came in at #10. You can see the top 10 brands based on consumer sentiment with each brand’s YouGov BrandIndex buzz score below:

  1. Subway = 41.0 buzz score
  2. Amazon = 37.5 buzz score
  3. History Channel = 36.7 buzz score
  4. Google = 35.7 buzz score
  5. Cheerios = 35.5 buzz score
  6. Lowe’s = 35.5 buzz score
  7. Ford = 35.4 buzz score
  8. Discovery Channel = 34.8 buzz score
  9. Target = 33.7 buzz score
  10. Apple = 33.0 buzz score

While Subway held on to the number one position, Amazon took the number two position in part thanks to the successful release of the Kindle Fire. Ranking at #5, Cheerios was the only other food brand to make it into the top 10, and Ford was the only automotive brand to appear in the top 10 coming in at #7 in 2011.

Google was able to climb one spot to rank #4 in 2011 with the launch of Google+ undoubtedly driving the brand’s positive buzz in the latter half of the year. Also, the increased sales of Android mobile devices helped to boost the Google brand in 2011. However, Google still has a long way to go to recoup the #1 spot, which it held back in 2009.

A key Google competitor, Apple, made it into the top 10 list for the first time since 2007. The hype around the release of the new iPad and the new iPhone models brought a great deal of positive buzz to the brand in 2011. At the same time, the death of Apple’s leader and brand champion, Steve Jobs, added to the nostalgic sentiment consumers felt for the Apple brand overall.

What do you think of the top 10 brands based on positive consumer sentiment and buzz in 2011? Do any of the brands that made it to the top of the list surprise you? Leave a comment and share your thoughts about the top 10 brands by buzz score in 2011.

Image: Thomas Hawk

Authenticity and Audience – Being Human: interview with Mallen Baker

It seems obvious that not all your stakeholders are the same, with the same needs; yet for many companies it would seem that one size fits all when it comes to corporate responsibility reporting and communication. Simply producing a CR report isn’t enough to communicate with all of your audiences; and not all of them want all the information there is in your report.

Paul (Corporate Eye CEO) talked to Mallen Baker about the importance of identifying the different audiences for your corporate responsibility communications: about providing them with the information that interests them; about creating the opportunity to engage with them and to discuss the issues that matter.

I’ve broken the interview down into smaller pieces, so that you can quickly find particular points you’d like to hear about. I’ve also included the whole interview and a transcript.

Part 1: Tailoring content and conveying authenticity

Key topics:

  • understanding the different audiences
  • tailoring content for those audiences
  • conveying authenticity and generating trust

Soundbites:

“The key distinguishing features between a good report online and a mediocre one are a couple of things. First of all is that the company is clear about who its audience or audiences are… and the second part is the integrity of information and the authenticity of the voice that you’re hearing.”

“If you care about your audiences, you use a medium and an approach that they will relate to as your starting point.”

“Consumers see through the fluff very quickly. And all of the polls show that they’re becoming more and more cynical about the claims that companies make in the environmental and ethical space.

[audio:https://www.corporate-eye.com/main/audio/mallen-baker-interview-pt-01.mp3] Length: 8:40
Download: Mallen Baker interview: part 1

Part 2: Communicating commitment

Key topics:

  • the Centrica report interviews
  • CEO commitment; embedding sustainability in the business
  • discussing issues that are in the public domain

Soundbites:

“[they] had the courage to step up and say ‘We are prepared to be placed in an area that’s just slightly outside of the comfort zone’ ”

“Whenever there’s a controversy in the press relating to a company the first thing that I will do is go to their website and see what they say about it… the mind boggles just how often the answer to that question is ‘Nothing'”

[audio:https://www.corporate-eye.com/main/audio/mallen-baker-interview-pt-02.mp3] Length: 4:13
Download: Mallen Baker interview: part 2

Part 3: Authenticity and audit

Key topics

  • third party commentary
  • collaborating with the audience to solve a problem
  • using neutral spaces to exchange ideas and information

Soundbites:
“Having trusted third parties who have had the time – and the incentive presumably – to look carefully at what the company’s doing and to talk to them, and then to give their own reflections, good and bad… that generally plays pretty well”

“The other thing that provides authenticity is when people not only are admitting that something has gone the wrong way this year but actually seek to engage their audiences with problems that they face that they haven’t yet worked out how to solve”

“It’s shifted the focus a little bit from ‘the company is the star, the company is the centre of the universe’ and puts it into a position where there are sustainability issues and the company is one of the actors… one of the creators of environmental consequences alongside the rest of society”

[audio:https://www.corporate-eye.com/main/audio/mallen-baker-interview-pt-03.mp3] Length: 7:15
Download: Mallen Baker interview: part 3

Part 4: Audience and integrated reporting

Key topics:

  • integrated reporting
  • importance of the audience
  • interim sustainability reporting

Soundbites:

“integrated reporting could be … a very positive thing, and potentially a dangerous thing in equal measure.”

“The encouraging thing is that… it will lead you to be clear about the communication that you send to one of your key audiences… the danger, the downside, is if you begin to believe that that integrated report is what you produce for all of your stakeholder audiences.”

“Many of your direct stakeholders do not get their information from reports.”

“Where you are engaging your customers or your supply chain or your employees with what you are doing and what’s happened, then the more up-to-date and current that is, and preferably more of a discussion and two-way flow that is, then the more likely you’re going to succeed.”

[audio:https://www.corporate-eye.com/main/audio/mallen-baker-interview-pt-04.mp3] Length: 6:47
Download: Mallen Baker interview: part 4

Part 5: Social media and CSR

Key topics:

  • the right social media mindset
  • going to where the audience is
  • expanding the audience for CSR

Soundbites:

“You can’t have a discussion with a corporate entity. You can only have a discussion with a human being or a highly trained parrot.”

“One of the big challenges for the companies who are used to corporate communications and to being faceless – except for maybe the CEO in certain contexts – is that they find it very difficult to shift to a medium where it’s personal.”

“If you really want to engage the people who are your stakeholders… you need to go to where they naturally gather. And social media potentially creates tools that enable you to do that.”

[audio:https://www.corporate-eye.com/main/audio/mallen-baker-interview-pt-05.mp3] Length: 9:13
Download: Mallen Baker interview: part 5

Part 6: Trends in CSR communication

Key topics:

  • conflicting trends in CSR communication
  • legislation and innovation
  • the human element; stories

Soundbites:

“The evolution of corporate responsibility reporting or sustainability reporting to date is completely unsustainable in itself, ironically, because… the current state of the art doesn’t connect with audiences.”

“The trend has been more and more GRI reports, more and more standardisation. And I start to see a counter trend now, which is from the leading companies [who are starting to say] “We’re going to find ways that actually communicate better with some of our key audiences… we’re interested in finding the way that works.”

“It’s the human element, the story. … and it is the most elusive element because it requires you to be prepared to corporately communicate on a human level. That will always be a minority sport. But I think there can be some very, very good rewards for those who will pick up the intelligence about how it’s done well and give it a go.”

[audio:https://www.corporate-eye.com/main/audio/mallen-baker-interview-pt-06.mp3] Length: 7:32
Download: Mallen Baker interview: part 6

Here’s the whole interview, in case you’d rather listen to it end-to-end; and the transcript, for those who prefer to read.

[audio:https://www.corporate-eye.com/main/audio/mallen-baker-interview.mp3] Length: 43.43
Download: Mallen Baker interview (whole interview)
Download: Transcript

Many thanks to Mallen for taking the time to talk to Paul.

Who were we speaking to?

Mallen BakerMallen Baker is a writer, speaker and strategic advisor on corporate social responsibility and Founding Director of Business Respect. He is responsible for the Business Respect email newsletter on CSR, which is the longest running CSR internet newsletter in the world.

He is a regular columnist and contributing editor with Ethical Corporation.

Mallen was formerly the development director with Business in the Community, where he was responsible for developing BITC’s approach to marketplace issues, which includes how companies manage issues that arise around their core products and services. He produced the Marketplace Responsibility Principles working with a leadership team of CEOs from major companies headquartered in the UK.

He initiated the Business Impact Review Group – the group of 20 companies who developed a common approach to CSR reporting, and was responsible for the work of the Business Impact Taskforce which produced the landmark “Winning with Integrity” report.

Mallen chaired Kingfisher plc’s Stakeholder Advisory Panel 2007-2010, and was a board member of CSR Europe 2006 – 2008.

Marketing Your Brand with a Social App

Should your brand build a custom social app? That’s the question Michael Lazerow, CEO of Buddy Media, tries to answer in an article he wrote for Advertising Age. Michael summed up his opinion quite succinctly when he wrote, “Applications need to bring value to people and should be social by design.”

It’s easy to get caught up in the hype of social apps, particularly when other brands experience great success with social apps that integrate directly into Facebook and puts the brand in front of a huge potential audience of over 800 million Facebook members. However, Michael warns us that the vast majority of social apps don’t work.

He reminds us that apps are not a social strategy. They’re a tool to help a brand connect with people. Your social strategy should be focused on offering those people something so you can interact with them and cultivate relationships with them. To support his view, he referred to a speech Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg delivered in 2011 and explained, “Facebook is not nearly as concerned with how many users they have, as much as how those users are interfacing with the platform and each other.”

With those tips in mind, Michael shared his suggestions for building a social app for a brand so it has a chance for success:

  • Useful: Your social app needs to be useful and actually do something for users by making their lives easier or helping them in some way.
  • Value-driven: Your social app needs to add value to the people’s lives who use it. Just as products need to benefit consumers, so must your social app or there is little reason to use it.
  • Social: Your social app should have built-in social functionality, so a user’s friends see them using it with no additional effort (e.g., on their Facebook News Feeds) and are intrigued enough to try it themselves.

You can read Michael’s complete article with more details about his tips for social app success and social strategy development here. What do you think of his view of social apps for brands? Will you re-strategize your brand’s social app plans? Leave a comment and share your thoughts on branded social app strategies.

Image: Babyben

DIY Trend Opens Opportunities for Brands

While the United States has been struggling through a recession, consumers have embraced the do-it-yourself (DIY) trend like never before. DIY has permeated all aspects of life and business. However, that doesn’t have to mean that brands end up losing business. In fact, the DIY trend can actually open new doors of opportunity for brands.

This week, JP Morgan’s Chase Card Services released the results of an online survey that revealed some interesting information about the DIY trend among American consumers. If the results of this survey are accurate, Americans have no plans to abandon the DIY trend anytime soon. Kate Rogers shares in her report for Fox Business that the DIY trend will stick around in many areas of consumers’ lives in the years to come.

For example, gym memberships and salon visits aren’t likely to pick up in 2012 as approximately one out of two survey respondents claimed they planned to skip paying for these types of experiences in the future. Beauty salon expenditures and tourism-related expenses will suffer similar fates in 2012 as respondents stated they would use DIY methods to keep up with beauty regimens and to enjoy time off from work.

For brands, this shift in consumer behavior means more than simply weathering the storm of the economic downturn. Instead, this shift means it’s time for brands to rethink their strategies and look for new opportunities to add value to consumers’ DIY lives. Launching a new product or service, rebranding with a new brand promise and focus, or modifying a brand’s message to communicate more relevant benefits and emotional triggers are all potential opportunities for brands to better connect with the DIY consumer mindset.

It’s a perfect time to conduct some research that gives you insight into the DIY consumer mind as it relates to your industry, so you can better align your goals and strategies with shifting audience preferences and behaviors. What do you think? Has your brand evolved to leverage the DIY trend? Leave a comment and share your thoughts on the DIY trend and strategies to turn the trend into brand opportunities.

Image: Patrick Goossens

Social Media Marketing Gives Brands Measurable Long-Term Benefits

In a study by BzzAgent, the long-term effects of social media marketing were put into metrics that the numbers-hungry executives are sure to notice. At least, we hope they notice — and listen.

According to the study, social media marketing campaigns generate an immediate boost in the likelihood that consumer packaged goods brand advocates would recommend a brand to other people. Purchase intent also gets an immediate bump among brand advocates after exposure to a social media campaign.

However, those are results that brand managers have been showing to executives for some time now. The significant findings in this study come from the long-term effects that social media campaigns have on brand advocates.

First, let’s take a look at the data from the study related to the likelihood that U.S. brand advocates would recommend a consumer packaged goods brand before and after exposure to a social media campaign. Data was obtained between summer 2010 and summer 2011:

  • Pre-campaign = 39% likely to recommend the brand
  • Immediately post-campaign = 61% likely to recommend the brand
  • 3 months post-campaign = 57% likely to recommend the brand
  • 6 months post-campaign = 57% likely to recommend the brand
  • 9 months post-campaign = 56% likely to recommend the brand
  • 1 year post-campaign = 55% likely to recommend the brand

Next, you can see how the purchase intent of U.S. consumer packaged goods brand advocates was affected before and after exposure to a social media campaign during the same time period — summer 2010 to summer 2011:

  • Pre-campaign = 38% said they would purchase
  • Immediately post-campaign = 69% said they would purchase
  • 3 months post-campaign = 69% said they would purchase
  • 6 months post-campaign = 64% said they would purchase
  • 9 months post-campaign = 63% said they would purchase
  • 1 year post-campaign = 61% said they would purchase

As eMarketer points out, this data shouldn’t be used as a barometer for how all social media campaigns will perform. However, next time you’re trying to convince your leadership team to devote a portion of the marketing budget to social media marketing, this data can help you demonstrate the positive effects that social media campaigns can have.

The important thing to remember is just as not every television ad or print ad will deliver optimum results, neither will every social media campaign. However, if you’re not experimenting and trying to learn the best ways to connect with your audience, particularly brand advocates, and motivate them to recommend your brand and purchase it via social media marketing, you’re missing an opportunity that your competitors are happy to take from you. Is that an opportunity your executives are willing to miss by leaving social media out of the marketing budget?

Image: Brian Wilkins

Twitter’s Public Commitment to Brands

If you haven’t stopped by the Twitter home page lately, go visit now. Don’t just go directly to your profile, another profile, the advanced search page, or your account. Nope. Type “www.twitter.com” into your browser search bar and take a look at the Twitter home page.

It’s changed so much since Twitter started to get noticed in 2008. For example, Twitter’s current home page clearly communicates the company’s commitment to brands. Take a look at an image from the Twitter home page below and see for yourself.

Read the copy in the image above, and notice that the message makes a point of saying that Twitter helps you, “Find out what’s happening, right now, with the people and organizations you care about.”

If there was any doubt about how Twitter feels about brands, that welcome message clears things up. Brands are a priority for Twitter.

In 2011, Twitter rolled out Promoted Tweets, Promote Accounts, Promoted Trends, and Enhanced Profile Accounts. Each promoted product helps Twitter earn the revenue it needs to generate and gives brands the opportunity to connect with consumers in a variety of ways. More recently, Twitter rolled out a quiet launch of self-service ads, which could open the doors for small businesses to invest in Twitter advertising and promoted products, too.

It’s safe to assume that this is just the beginning of initiatives that Twitter will launch to partner with brands. The opportunities for Twitter to make money and for brands to connect with the audiences they want to find online are huge and ready for the taking. 2012 should be an exciting year for brands to leverage Twitter marketing and the new opportunities that are likely to come along.

What is your brand focusing on as it relates to Twitter marketing in 2012? What do you think will be the big Twitter marketing trend in 2012? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

It’s funny to think just a few years ago there was a debate over whether brands should be on Twitter at all! There is no doubt who won that debate.