• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, June 1, 2010

Give Protobrand, a Boston-based branding company, credit for trying to break down marketing barriers in the provinces: The company surveyed 350 top marketing execs everywhere but New England, asking them to name the area's 25 most powerful brands. ESPN was named the most powerful, followed by General Electric and Dunkin' Donuts. Subway, Ben & Jerry's, L.L. Bean, Bose, Samuel Adams, Ocean Spray and Staples rounded out the top 10.

Why step outside New England for opinions about how companies within Red Sox Nation are doing? "Protobrand is a branding company that focuses on New England businesses," a spokeswoman for the company tells Marketing Daily. "And there are already plenty of rankings of the most powerful national brands."

In order to be considered as a potential New England powerhouse, Protobrand says it only considered companies based in New England, that have marketing direction within New England, and have a national footprint. It also required that the company earn at least some portion of revenue from consumer markets, which ruled out such large companies as State Street and Boston Scientific.

Protobrand also asked the marketing executives it surveyed to name the New England brands they most admired. Shoe marketer New Balance came in first, followed by Bose, Ben & Jerry's, ESPN and L.L. Bean. "Brand Momentum" was also a category, and in that list, Dunkin' Donuts dominated, followed by CVS/Pharmacy, Samuel Adams, Subway and ESPN.