• by Karl Greenberg , August 4, 2010

A couple of Japanese automakers and three domestics in the U.S. are quite possibly hearing voices under their beds, in their closets, over their shoulders: "Hey, guys, we're ba-a-a-ck." "We," of course, is Toyota -- which has seen sales recover in the U.S. and just-announced strong results for the first quarter of fiscal 2011.

And in July it appears that Toyota began to see the consumer-perception needle sputter to life. A new study from YouGov BrandIndex says that last month, Toyota was the most-improved of any brand, including those not in the auto sector in consumer perception.

Toyota and sibling Lexus were the only automakers on the list of brands that in July saw their consumer reputations improve the most during that month, per YouGov. July also marked the first time since January that Toyota's reputation on the BrandIndex made it into positive territory, meaning that buzz was more positive than negative. Just barely.

In July's results, Toyota was followed by Quiznos, DirecTV, Country Time, V8, Dish Network, Bacardi, Crystal Light, Lexus and Long John Silvers in tenth place.

In June, Toyota was in second place on the list, after Facebook. Then came A&W, Canada Dry, YouTube, Maytag, Monster, Motel 6, Crystal Light and Mike's Hard Lemonade.

That was a big change from May, when Toyota was joined by two other automakers. In that month, Goldman-Sachs was in first place, followed by Toyota, Snapple, blockbuster, Cadillac, Fox, Buick, Canon, Macaroni Grill and Chili's in tenth.

Autos aside, beverages have dominated the study since June. Canada Dry, Crystal Light and Mike's Hard Lemonade were most-improved brands. This month, it's Country Time lemonade, V8 juices, Crystal Light (a repeat winner), and Bacardi.

The BrandIndex interviews 5,000 people each weekday with subjects drawn from an online panel. The question asked of respondents to determine the buzz score is: "If you've heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, was it positive or negative?"

Ted Marzilli, managing director of the YouGov global BrandIndex unit says Toyota had nowhere to go but up. "Let's put it in context," he says. "Before the recall in January, Toyota consistently had the highest scores in BrandIndex metrics across all automakers. By Feb. 18, they had the lowest."

Prior to the crisis, it was consistently at a plus 12 to 16 score, per Marzilli, who says now it is just above zero. "That means they are getting equal numbers of people saying they have recently heard positive news about Toyota as people saying they have heard negative. So public opinion is evenly divided."

Marzilli points out that even though Toyota has built its reputation over the course of several years, the emotional issues surrounding the recall and its scale were profound enough to undercut a powerful brand reputation.

"The problem with this recall is, it was so massive -- and stories played forever in the press and politicians got in on the game -- that while the good news is they are moving in the right direction there is no guarantee they will recover to where they were," he says.

For July, the automotive brand with the highest buzz score -- meaning the auto brand with the most positive buzz -- is Ford. Next is Honda, and Chevrolet comes in at third. "And Toyota," says Marzilli, "is second to last, only ahead of Hummer. So they have a long way to go."