US Public Choose Top Ten Brands
July 30 2003
For the fourth year running Americans have voted Sony number one in the annual Harris Poll of 'best brands'. Kraft moves up from fourth to second place this year while Dell slips from second to third place. General Motors jumps from tenth to fourth place. Microsoft, Kellogg's and Procter & Gamble are new to the list.
Survey responses were spontaneous and respondents did not choose from among a list of brand names. The full top ten is as follows:
| 1 | Sony |
| 2 | Kraft |
| 3 | Dell |
| 4 | General Motors |
| 5 | Microsoft |
| 6 | Ford |
| 7 | Coca-Cola |
| 8 | Procter & Gamble |
| 9 | Kellogg's |
| 10= | General Electric |
| 10= | Pepsi Cola |
The two brands which dropped out of the top ten this year are Tide and Honda.
The eleven companies fall into three distinct sectors, or groups of sectors:
- Five of them are consumer and packaged goods brands (Kraft, Coca-Cola, Pepsi Cola, Procter & Gamble and Kellogg's)
- four are from high-tech or electronics companies (including GE and Microsoft), compared to three last year and five in 2001. Microsoft's anti-trust case ended this year, which may have contributed to its achievement of its highest place - last year it did not make the top ten.
- the two remaining are motor manufacturers.
The poll highlights the strong link between between corporate reputation and brand image. All of the brands mentioned are also company names, and between 65% and 89% of those who picked each of them said that the reputation of the company was a very important reason for choosing the brand as the best brand.
This linkage is particularly strong for Dell, General Motors, Ford, and General Electric. It is strong but somewhat less so for Pepsi Cola, Kraft and Coca-Cola.
More information and complete data tables are available at
www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=388 The Harris Poll(r) was conducted online by Harris Interactive(r) within the United States between June 16 and 22, 2003, among a nationwide cross section of 879 adults.
All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.
