Want a world class brand? Then have a simple promise -- and deliver on that promise for a long time. This old tenet was proven true once again in the EquiTrend online brand study conducted with more
than 30,000 consumers and completed in November 2001. This is the 36th wave of the study, which has been regularly conducted by Total Research Corporation since 1989.
EquiTrend is a methodology
that was developed by Total Research Corporation and is part of the brand research capability now offered by the recently combined Total Research Corporation and Harris Interactive.
Topping
the best brands list was Craftsman Tools, with a quality score of 8.21 on a scale of 0 to 10 - just nosing out Waterford Crystal, which had been first in the spring 2001 study. Newcomers into the
'world-class' (a quality score of 8.00 or above) brands list were: #3 Rolls-Royce, #8 Hershey's Kisses, #10 History Channel and #11 National Geographic Magazine.
But some other tenets were not
reinforced in this post 9/11 study. As John Morton, senior VP and founder of EquiTrend at Total Research/Harris Interactive, said, "We expected to see some major changes in the scores of brands.
Usually, a recession has a substantial impact on equity scores, let alone recession plus 9/11. In past recessions, quality scores of brands tended to drop in general -- luxury brands more than
everyday brands. But, most well-known brands were stable through this period, with the quality scores of most brands that had 60% or higher salience changing by less than a tenth of a point on our
eleven point scale."
Comfort and escape brands tended to do well. For instance, Jack Daniel's had the 3rd best improvement from March to November 2001, with Miller Beer and Fox Sports also on
the ten most-improved list.
Travel brands did not generally lose equity during this period. Surprisingly, most of the major airlines experienced an increase in perceived quality. Westin Hotels
ranked 15th in quality improvement, and Southwest Airlines (9th) and Japan Airlines (14th) did even better. While there are many possible interpretations and explanations of these results, there seems
to be no evidence of any permanent damage to consumer goodwill toward travel brands. Automotive brands also tended to do well on the most improved quality list, with Michelin (7th), Goodyear (18th),
and Exxon (19th).
Media brands, perhaps due to the 'stay-at-home syndrome', or by virtue of their special value during risky times, tended to do well. For instance, CNBC (2nd), BBC (8th), and
The History Channel (10th), all made the ten most improved in quality list. AOL, which could broadly be considered a media brand, was the brand with by far the greatest quality improvement from March
to November 2001.
Luxury brands also tended to improve their quality standing unlike in other recessions. Among the top gainers are brands like Ferrari (4th), Michelin (7th), Rolls Royce
(11th), Coach (21st), Porsche (22nd), Plaza Hotels (23rd), The Wall Street Journal (24th), and Lord & Taylor (27th).
Less familiar brands generally lost ground. All of the 65 worst performing
brands (i.e., biggest decrease in quality) had salience levels below 50%. "In other words, people went for familiarity, comfort and quality. It is probably no coincidence that ominous-sounding
Prophesy Apparel was the single biggest loser in quality during the study," Morton said.