2012 Harris Poll EquiTrend: What America Loves to Eat: Chobani Greek Yogurt Debuts as Yogurt Brand of the Year; Orville Redenbacher is America's Popcorn Brand of the Year

NEW YORK, May 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- America has a love affair with food, and the 2012 Harris Poll EquiTrend® study (EQ) shows which brands Americans are likely to reach for when they are hungry. EQ is an annual study that measures the perceptions of 38,500+ American consumers about more than 1,500 lifestyle, product, and service brands.

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Chobani Debuts as Highest Ranked Yogurt

In its first appearance in the EQ study, Chobani Greek Yogurt has earned the highest brand equity score and is rated as the top yogurt brand in the country. While it is less familiar to consumers than ubiquitous Yoplait, Dannon, and Stonyfield, those who are familiar with Chobani rate it at the top for Product Quality and Purchase Consideration. Its award-winning debut suggests that as Greek-style yogurt becomes better known and trial usage increases, consumers become smitten. Other brands ranked above the category average include Yoplait, Dannon, Stonyfield and Stonyfield Oikos-O Greek Yogurts.

"The Harris Poll EquiTrend study confirms that while Americans tend to be brand-loyal, they are happy to experiment with new products, even if they are substantially different from the traditional competitors," says Lorraine Julian, Senior Vice President at Harris Interactive. "Greek-style yogurt is a relatively recent phenomenon, and the Harris Poll EquiTrend study demonstrates that a good number of Americans have been open-minded enough to alter their ideas about what a yogurt should be. This would suggest that if food mega brands ensure that their products are of exceptional quality, they can benefit greatly from innovation."

Popcorns Burst into EquiTrend

In the newly-minted popcorn category, Orville Redenbacher Popcorn is the Popcorn Brand of the Year.  Not only is Orville Redenbacher the most familiar among the seven popcorn brands surveyed, it also received top-ranked scores for Quality and Purchase Consideration. The only other brand to rank above the category average was Pop Secret Popcorn, with Purchase Consideration second only to Orville Redenbacher.

Milk's Favorite Cookie is America's Favorite, Too

Oreo is the 2012 Harris Poll EquiTrend Cookie Brand of the Year. The brand has been in the study for eight years and has always been the top-ranked among all cookie brands surveyed. Top scores for Familiarity, Quality, and Purchase Consideration drive this perennially top-ranking brand. After Oreo, Pepperidge Farm Milano Cookies, Keebler Fudge Shoppe Fudge Stripes Cookies, Nilla Wafers, Pepperidge Farm Soft Baked, and the Chip Ahoy triplets—traditional, chunky, and chewy—all ranked above category average as well.

How Americans Get Their Salt Fix

As enticing as cookies are, Americans also enjoy their salty snacks. Like Oreo cookies, Lay's Potato Chips have been perennially top-ranked among salty snack brands surveyed over the last eight years. The 2012 Harris Poll EquiTrend study finds that Lay's Chips are followed by Doritos and Tostitos to comprise the top three salty snack brands. Also rounding out brands above the category average are Cheez-It, Fritos, Goldfish Crackers, Ruffles, and Snyder's of Hanover Pretzels.

Protein-rich CLIF Bar Looms Large

Within the new energy bar category, CLIF becomes the 2012 Brand of the Year. Odwalla and Luna compete in a close equity race and rank second and third respectively. Kashi GOLEAN earns fourth place, while PowerBar rounds out the list of brands that ranked above the category average. 

About Harris Poll EquiTrend

Harris Poll EquiTrend® is a leading Brand Equity tracking study conducted by Harris Interactive that measures and compares brand health for more than 1,500 brands. The study was conducted online from January 31 through February 20, 2012 and analyzes the responses of over 38,500 consumers on key measures of brand health - including how well the public knows a brand, how positively they think of the brand and their consideration to do business with or donate to a brand. Each brand is rated 1,000 times among respondents who are familiar with the brand. Harris Interactive has conducted its EquiTrend study regularly since 1989, and can offer yearly trended data from 2005. The Equity Score, a key take-away from EquiTrend, has been validated against financial performance by Georgetown University.

These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

The Harris Poll EquiTrend® study results disclosed in this release may not be used for advertising, marketing or promotional purposes without the prior written consent of Harris Interactive.

Product and brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

For a complete listing of all the brands covered in the study, contact Corporate Communications at 212-539-9600 or [email protected].

About Harris Interactive

Harris Interactive is one of the world's leading custom and multi-client market research firms, leveraging research, technology, and business acumen to transform relevant insight into actionable foresight. Known widely for the Harris Poll® and for pioneering innovative research methodologies, Harris offers proprietary solutions in the areas of market and customer insight, corporate brand and reputation strategy, and marketing, advertising, public relations and communications research. Harris possesses expertise in a wide range of industries including health care, technology, public affairs, energy, telecommunications, financial services, insurance, media, retail, restaurant, and consumer package goods. Additionally, Harris has a portfolio of multi-client offerings that complement our custom solutions while maximizing our client's research investment.  Serving clients in more than 215 countries and territories through our North American and European offices and a network of global partners, Harris specializes in delivering research solutions that help us - and our clients - stay ahead of what's next. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.

SOURCE Harris Interactive