Business executives in a national survey rate The Walt Disney Company as the strongest corporate brand of California-based companies, according to Corporate Branding, a global brand strategy and communications firm. Apple comes in at number 13, according to the survey.
Coming in ahead of Apple, in descending order, were Disney, Toyota, Honda, Hewlett-Packard, Hilton Hotels, the Clorox Company, Intel, Dole Food Company, Gateway, Yamaha, Kinko’s, and Charles Schwab & Company. Rounding out the top 20, and trailing Apple, were Nissan North America, The Gap, Wells Fargo & Company, Cisco Systems, Petco Animal Supplies, Callaway Golf Company, and Netscape Communications.
All of brands in the top twenty have maintained or improved their BrandPower scores since the previous year, with the exception of Callaway Golf whose score has dropped from 38 to 35. Cisco, the biggest achiever in the group, has a score of 40 in 2000, up from 30 in 1999.
“Corporate brand power is even more important during a difficult economy than during a good one,” James Gregory, CEO of Corporate Branding, said in a statement. “Our past studies have proven that 5 to 7 percent of a company’s stock price is determined by the strength of the brand. When performance is good, a strong corporate brand will boost the stock performance. When business conditions are less favorable, a strong brand will help mitigate the downward movement of the stock price and enable a company’s stock to rebound more readily than the stock of a weaker brand,” Gregory said.
For the study, Corporate Branding compiled Corporate BrandPower scores for 75 of publicly traded companies with headquarters located in California. Corporate BrandPower, a metric linked to stock price leverage, gauges the familiarity and favorablity ratings of a company among senior business decision-makers, a group defined as vice president level executives and above at the top 20 percent of U.S. corporations. Favorability is comprised of overall reputation, perception of management and investment potential. Corporate Branding conducts over 10,000 interviews annually. Over 300 respondents evaluated each company in the study.
“We expect to see some shifting in the scores for 2001 because many of the companies with the strongest brands are experiencing a difficult year. But the beauty of a strong brand is that it helps companies to weather the economic storm,” said Gregory.