Top 100 Brand Dropouts

Financial services companies and automakers should be making every effort to implement an intensified PR and branding program to preserve the value of their brands.

The Millward Brown’s BrandZ Most Valuable Global Brands 2009 report noted that the 15 brands that dropped out of the top 100 were all in these two categories. Among the financial names were AXA, AIG, Merrill Lynch and Wachovia.

Yet most other brands in the top 100 sustained their value. Conclusion? An April 27 Ad Age article states an important truth: that with a few exceptions, ”consumers are blaming companies and leaders for current troubles, not brands.” This finding is underscored by the most recent Harris Reputation Quotient (RQ) study which stated that a record number of Americans — 88% —describe the reputation of corporate America as “not good” or “terrible.”

Thus, with the proper public relations and branding programs, financial services and auto products have a better chance of regaining their bond with consumers than the leadership of the companies that are behind these products and services. Major $ await those brands in these two categories that act rapidly.

According to the BrandZ study’s authors, the total value of the top 100 brands — about $2 trillion — “didn't suffer the decline one might expect in a recessionary environment.”(Brand value was determined by a set of calculations that includes a distillation of the earnings represented by that bond with consumers.)

For the record, the #1 brand was Google, followed by 6 other tech and telecommunications brands in the Top 10.

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