• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, July 5, 2004

Top Product, Retail Stores and Online Outlets In Brand Equity

Harris Interactive recently released the 2004 edition of EquiTrend, a measurement and comparison tool for over 1,000 brands. The new results rank Reynolds Wrap Aluminum Foil as the number one brand in overall brand equity, followed closely by Hershey's Milk Chocolate Candy Bars, Ziploc Food Bags and Heinz Ketchup.

EquiTrend has five key measures:

• 1. Familiarity
• 2. Quality
• 3. Purchase Intent
• 4. Brand Expectations
• 5. Distinctiveness

Deanna Wert, vice president of research, for Harris Interactive, said "... EquiTrend allows an intuitive comparison of brands across product categories. In our measurement, basic awareness - a mass of 'familiarity' - forms the foundation for the brand. The momentum is measured by the promise of quality and purchase potential. We measure all these aspects in our equity score and further our understanding with descriptive variables: brand expectations and distinctiveness."

The result provides big-picture perspective: an understanding of a brand's widest appeal among the general population, and its status within the universe of brands at large.

Top Ten Scoring Brands for Overall Brand Equity (Among 1,031 brands)

Brand	Rank	Equity	Quality	Familiarity	Purchase Intent	Brand Expectations	Distinctiveness
Reynolds Wrap Aluminum Foil	1	75.1	7.47	96%	9.00	7.93	6.70
Hershey's Milk Choc Candy Bars	2	74.0	7.51	97	8.67	7.93	7.00
Ziploc Food Bags	3	73.6	7.44	97	8.85	7.72	6.53
Heinz Ketchup	4	72.9	7.36	97	8.72	7.73	6.48
Duracell Batteries	5	72.5	7.36	97	8.75	7.58	6.29
WD-40 Spray Lubricant	6	72.3	7.48	92	8.67	7.99	7.03
Kleenex Facial Tissues	7	72.3	7.30	94	8.73	7.6	6.06
Kraft	8	72.2	7.30	95	8.69	7.51	6.38
Clorox Bleach	9	72.1	7.36	95	8.60	7.55	6.52
Oreo Cookies	10	71.6	7.37	96	8.36	7.69	7.21

Source: HarrisInteractive 2004

Selected categories ranked on the Equity score

Retail Brands (Among 97 brands in category)
Brand	Rank	Equity Score
Wal-Mart Discount Stores	1	70.8
Home Depot	2	68.9
Target Stores	3	68.0
Barnes & Noble Book Stores	4	67.2
Best Buy	5	66.1
Lowe's Home Improvement	6	65.5
Borders Book Stores	7	63.9
Office Depot	8	63.8
Sam's Club	9	63.1
Toys R Us Stores	10	62.5
Online Brands (Among 42 brands in category)
Google.com	1	69.3
Yahoo!	2	68.0
Microsoft.com	3	63.2
HistoryChannel.com	4	62.7
BarnesAndNoble.com	5	61.8
Hallmark.com	6	61.6
Amazon.com	7	61.5
Discovery.com	8	60.7
eBay	9	60.3
BestBuy.com	10	59.9

Source: HarrisInteractive 2004

Equity is a combination of the Quality, Familiarity and Purchase Intent variables, calculated by indexing Quality, Familiarity and Purchase Intent on a scale of 1- 10, weighted and indexed on a scale of 1-100

You can find out more here.