“Warm & Fuzzy” Matters
I thought you might be interested in two new studies of corporate brand reputation.
Harris Interactive just released its list of top corporate brand reputations for 2009. [They first ask consumers an open-ended question re companies they’ve heard about and think stand out as having “best” reputations. After compiling all those “nominations” they then ask an extensive battery of questions about the 60 “most visible” companies.]
Top 10 in Overall Reputation
- Berkshire Hathaway
- Johnson & Johnson
- 3M
- SC Johnson
- Intel
- Microsoft
- Coca-Cola
- amazon.com
- General Mills
Top 5 in Social Responsibility
- Johnson & Johnson
- Microsoft
- SC Johnson
- Lowe’s
- Whole Foods Market
Top 5 in Emotional Appeal
- Johnson & Johnson
- amazon.com
- SC Johnson
- Berkshire Hathaway
- General Mills
The second study, done by some Princeton University researchers, probes at what motivates people to trust and remain loyal to a brand.
Here’s their finding, as reported by Marketing Daily:
“Together, perceptions of warmth and competence were found to account for 46% of the variance in consumers’ intent to purchase and 50% of loyalty toward brands. However, a particularly key finding … was that two of the factors that go into determining overall perceptions of warmth are especially predictive of brand loyalty: ‘is honest and trustworthy’ and ‘acts in my best interest’.”
Sounds simple enough … your nonprofit can deliver on “warm”, right?
Tom
Behavioral Science Q & A
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