Daily Research News Online no. 2821 - Sony Number One Brand in Italy Too

Sony Number One Brand in Italy Too

December 22 2003

Sony, already voted the best brand by British and American respondents earlier in the year, is also no.1 in Italy, according to research by HI Europe. Sony is the only brand to feature in all three top tens.

Brands other than Sony appearing in Italy's top 10-list include four consumer electronics makers (Nokia, Philips, Samsung and Panasonic), three automotive brands (Ferrari, Mercedes and BMW), a food brand (Barilla), and one sports equipment and apparel label (Adidas).

'Clearly, Sony is a superior brand that appeals immensely to consumers across borders and oceans', said George Terhanian, President of HI Europe.

Italians named mostly foreign-based brands while Americans named mostly US-based brands. The British top ten is split evenly between British- and foreign-based brands. Sony is the only non-US based brand in the US top ten. Barilla and Ferrari are the only Italian-based brands making the top-10 in Italy.

Top brands in Italy lean more toward consumer electronics and automobile categories than in the U.S. or Great Britain. Italians named five electronics brands to its top-10, Americans named three (Sony, Dell and General Electric) and Britons named only Sony. Americans and Britons are more likely than Italians to choose food and packaged-goods brands as their nation's best, with the British top ten including no less than six food brands.

National retail chains (Marks and Spencer, Tesco and Boots) appeared only on the Great Britain top-10 list.

Consumers were asked to name the three best among the 'brands or names of products and services you know'.

	ITALY	UNITED STATES	GREAT BRITAIN
Base:	1392	879	4098
1.	Sony	Sony	Sony
2.	Nokia	Kraft	Heinz
3.	Barilla	Dell	Marks and Spencer
4.	Philips	General Motors	Kellogg's
5.	Ferrari	Microsoft	Tesco
6.	Mercedes	Ford	Flora
7.	Samsung	Coca-Cola	Coca-Cola
8.	Panasonic	Procter & Gamble	Boots
9.	BMW	Kellogg's	Nestlé
10.	Adidas	} General Electric } Pepsi-Cola	Cadbury
		} General Electric } Pepsi-Cola

Replies are spontaneous / unprompted. The US base of respondents did not include respondents, aged 15-17 but eliminating 15-17 year old respondents from the Great Britain and Italy surveys would have made no impact on the brands (and on their rank-ordering) appearing on the lists.

Industries Represented in the Top Ten
	Italy	US	GB
Electronics	5	4	1
Automobiles	3	2	0
Sports Equipment & Apparel	1	0	3
Consumer & packaged goods	1	5	6

The Italian survey was conducted between October 6th and October 12th among 1,392 Italians, aged 15 and older. The British survey was conducted online between July 29th and August 16th among 4,098 Britons, aged 15 and older. The US survey was conducted between June 16th and 22nd among a nationwide cross section of 879 adults. All three surveys were conducted online within the relevant countries, and figures from all three were weighted to represent the population and to allow for respondents' propensity to be online.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.