• May 21, 2003

The sixth annual Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Awards recorded a record number of first-time winners. The survey also identified more young and emerging companies showing up for the first time in 2003 than in all previous five years the survey has been conducted. First time winners for 2003 included Bud Light, CNN's American Morning, FedEx, Gateway computers, JetBlue, L.L. Bean, Marriott, Miller Genuine Draft, New York Life, Pizza Hut, Southwest Airlines, Starbucks, Subway, Texaco, Vanguard Mutual Funds, and Verizon. Companies showing up for the first time on the customer loyalty radar screen in 2003 included: JetBlue, Subway, Arby's, Hardee's, Jack In the Box, White Castle, Siemens, Nextel, and Mountain Dew. Brand Keys, which specializes in customer loyalty metrics, uses data generated by its bi-annual surveys to paint a detailed picture of the "drivers" that bond customers with their "ideal" brand in each category.