• by Laura Weinert , June 20, 2006

Which celebrities do Americans trust most? Tom Hanks and Oprah. What celebrities do Americans see as the most trend-setting? Oprah again, followed by Halle Berry, then Beyoncé Knowles.

So says the Davie-Brown Index, a new tool for brand marketers and agencies to determine a celebrity’s marketing influence. For a membership fee of $20,000, DBI members gain access to a dynamic database, updated weekly, ranking celebrities in key areas: appeal, notice, trendsetting, influence, trust, endorsement, and aspiration.

“Our company is the largest purchaser of celebrity talent for corporations,” says Jeff Chown, president of Davie-Brown Talent. “Our clients were always asking us to quantify and qualify celebrities. There wasn’t a tool out there, so we took it upon ourselves to go ahead and create one.”

With more than 1,500 celebrities in the database, the company tests 120 each week with 1,000 members of its 1.5 million-person consumer panel, with each celeb tested four times a year. Rankings can be viewed in any combination of the key areas, or broken down by age range, ethnicity, and gender.

DBI has worked with agencies BBDO and Young & Rubicam, and pr firm Porter Novelli.