High tech brands enjoy greater loyalty while traditional brands are losing it

The recent issue of Brandweek contained the results of Brand Key’s “Loyalty Leaders Rankings” survey that ranks brands according to customer loyalty established by the brands.

The top 10 brands with the highest consumer loyalty according to the survey of 21,000 consumers are:

1. Google
2. Avis
3. Yahoo!
4. Treo
5. Samsung mobile phones
6. BlackBerry
7. Verizon long distance
8. Canon office copiers
9. Miller Genuine Draft
10. Marriott Hotels

It seems that technology brands are gaining the most ground in terms of loyalty--which makes sense. We are all becoming more and more dependent upon technology and much of it is very personal to us including PDA’s, cell phones, and search engines. Many of these brands allow us to personalize them according to our wishes to the point where we simply cannot live without them or easily switch to a competing brand. The pain involved in switching is just too high. Just think about how we organize our lives in PDA’s and keep extensive lists with names and addresses in our mobile phones and handheld devices. These brands become almost a part of us and we are very loyal to the brands that serve us well.

Some of the biggest losing brands in the survey are Starbucks, Coca-Cola and Sprint. These brands are losing loyalty because of category commoditization, too many line extensions, and losing focus on core brand values. Sprint, for instance, always seen as a technology leader, is now focusing on low price—which almost always leads to loss of loyalty and commoditization. Coca-Cola and Starbucks have seen much competition enter into their markets with a myriad of “me too” products that seem indistinguishable and have also suffered from line extensions that lead to brand dilution.

Strong brands enjoy high consumer loyalty and it seems like the technology sector is doing the best at brand-building these days. Traditional brands are struggling to deliver unique value that consumers are willing to reward with their loyalty.


Links:

Brandweek
Brand Keys
How to Build and Maintain a Powerhouse Brand & How to Brand and Market a Commodity