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Coca Cola on Top for First Time in Annual 'Best Brands' Harris Poll

Coca Cola continued to rise in the rankings of the annual Harris Poll of “best brands,” for the first time moving into the top position - up from No. 3 last year. Sony, which had been in the top position for seven straight years, dropped one spot to No. 2, according to the poll.

Toyota, previously in the fourth position, moved up to No. 3. Dell, which had been in the second spot last year drops two spots to No. 4 this year.

The other places on the top-10 list of best brands are taken by Ford (No. 5), Kraft Foods (No. 6), Pepsi Cola (No. 7), Microsoft (No. 8), Apple (No. 9) and Honda (No. 10). Two brands dropped out of this list this year, Hewlett Packard (was No. 7) and General Electric (No. 8).

“Top-of-mind association with being “best” is a good position for any brand,” said Robert Fronk, SVP, Brand and Strategy Consulting, Harris Interactive. “For a truly successful brand relationship, though, the objective is not just awareness, but to foster the ongoing process and outcome of brand engagement, which requires more custom and sophisticated measures based upon the interaction of the brand and its desired audience.”

Analysis of the findings:

• Three industries are represented on this year’s list. Four of the companies are from the Electronics industry, while three each are from Autos and Consumer and Package Goods.

• Most of the brands in this year’s Top 10 list have not moved up or down substantially. The most notable changes are Honda, falling from No. 6 to No. 10, and Kraft Foods, which rose from No. 9 to No. 6.
• Comparing the current year’s results with those from a decade ago… only four of this year’s top 10 brands were on the list back then: Ford (which was No. 1), Sony (which was No. 3), Coca-Cola (which was No. 7) and Pepsi Cola (which was No. 10).

The survey results are from of a nationwide Harris Poll of 2,372 US adults surveyed online by Harris Interactive between June 5 and 11, 2007. Survey responses were unaided and a list of brand names was not presented to respondents.