CoreBrand Releases Annual Brand Power Top 100 Rankings Report

NEW YORK, May 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- CoreBrand, a leading brand strategy and communications firm, and creator of the Corporate Branding Index®, which provides continuous benchmarking data, insights and corporate brand valuation for over 1,000 companies, across 54 industries, released today its Fifth Annual Brand Power Top 100 Rankings Report , which ranks 100 corporate brands in terms of market reputation and awareness.

"Our Brand Power rankings demonstrate that even in this difficult economic climate, corporate brands continue to positively impact companies that know how to capitalize on their value," commented James R. Gregory, founder and CEO of CoreBrand. "Some companies benefit from being perceived as lower-cost alternatives within their market as others utilize their brands to be more appealing to customers."

Mr. Gregory added, "Companies can utilize this valuable insight to pinpoint trends in their brand's strength and make more informed branding decisions to help drive positive business outcomes."

CoreBrand's Brand Power rankings are derived from an annual survey of more than 10,000 business decision-makers from the top 20 percent of U.S. businesses who represent the investment community, potential business partners, and business customers. Brand Power is a measure of size (familiarity) and quality (favorability), familiarity representing whether or not a survey respondent is familiar with the brand and favorability representing the brand's overall reputation, perception of management, and investment potential. Brand Power rankings compare the size and quality of a brand to all other brands in the Corporate Branding Index. The Brand Power rankings provide a market-view evaluation of corporate brand strength regardless of industry affiliation.

Key Observations

• The retail industry has seen lots of movement over the past three years, as consumers shift to a more value-based purchasing mindset. The growth in brand strength of Wal-Mart (+15), Lowe's (+5), Home Depot (+10), The Gap (+7), Kohl's (+25), and J.C. Penney (+22), shows that consumers are still spending money but looking for cost-effective purchases to make their dollars go further. It will be interesting to see if J.C. Penney can maintain this growth momentum as a result of its new strategic branding efforts.
• The technology sector shows significant growth while "Big Blue's" brand continues to struggle. Apple (+20) leads the sector, growing from the 53rd to 33rd position. Apple's steady climb through the rankings over the past half a decade mirrors its stock performance success. Microsoft (+14) and Dell (+14) each grew equally over the past year. Microsoft's growth may be attributed to the advertising campaign it launched to support Windows 7. IBM (-18), however, has declined since 2010.
• The internet industry, represented by three companies in the Brand Power Top 100, grew 19 ranks on average over the past year. These companies show the continued prominence of the virtual marketplace, as consumers are increasingly turn to the Internet for their purchases. Yahoo (+46) continues to see brand growth, rising over three years, almost half of which was in the past year alone. This is despite the company's recent struggles to identify itself and mark its territory more clearly amongst its peers. Google (+79) and eBay (+59) have also risen dramatically since 2008.
• The food industry is the most represented industry within the Brand Power Top 100, with 10 companies in the top 65. In the past year, most food companies' brands have remained stable; however, since 2008, Nestle has improved the most, rising 32 ranks. Sara Lee (+27) and Kraft Foods (+21) have also shown strong growth since 2008. Food companies represent three of the top five ranked brands with Hershey, Campbell Soup and Kellogg's ranked second, fourth and fifth respectively.

Companies in the CoreBrand Brand Power Top 100 represent 28 of the 54 industries that CoreBrand tracks. Food companies were represented by nine companies in the CoreBrand Brand Power Top 100. Motor Vehicles and Toiletries & Household Products were represented by seven companies each.

The complete Brand Power Top 100 Rankings Report can be viewed HERE.

About CoreBrand

CoreBrand, an independent branding firm based out of New York, is the only firm that links brand identity to financial performance through data and analysis. CoreBrand helps organizations understand, build, express and measure their brands. Thanks in part to its unique CoreBrand®Analysis, the company is able to gauge the impact of a brand initiative upon the success of an organization.  CoreBrand is the creator of Corporate Branding Index®, a 20 year old index that provides continuous benchmarking data, insights and corporate brand valuation for over 1,000 companies, across 54 industries. To learn more about CoreBrand please visit http://www.corebrand.com.

SOURCE CoreBrand