Sony Tops the List in Annual "Best Brands" Survey for Sixth Consecutive Year

Sony tops the list in the annual Harris Poll of "best brands" for an impressive sixth consecutive year. Dell and Kraft each move up one spot to #2 and #3, respectively while Coca-Cola, previously in the second spot, moves down a couple of notches to #4.

These are some of the results of a nationwide Harris Poll of 2,339 U.S. adults surveyed online by Harris Interactive^® between July 12 and 18, 2005. Survey responses were spontaneous and respondents were not asked to choose from among a list of brand names.

The other places on the top-ten list of best brands are taken by Ford (#5), Toyota (#6), Honda and General Electric (tied for #7), General Motors (#9), and Microsoft and Hewlett Packard (tied for #10)

Microsoft and Hewlett Packard both return to the top-ten list this year. Interestingly, no brand dropped out of the top-ten list.

Other brands that receive a significant number of mentions but not enough to join the top-ten list include Procter and Gamble, Apple, Pepsi-Cola, General Mills, Kellogg’s, Maytag, Whirlpool, Kenmore, Nike and Chevrolet.

Electronics and consumer & packaged goods brands made room for automotive brands in this year’s top-ten list. Four of the top-ten brands are from automotive companies—the highest showing for these brands since we began asking this question. This may possibly reflect the attention by the automobile industry toward high gas prices and other economic factors affecting consumers.

"We would like you to think about brands or names of products and services you know. Considering everything, which three brands do you consider the best?"

(All three replies combined)

Base: All Adults

Note: These are spontaneous replies. Respondents are not read or shown a list of brand names.

* Not in top 10.

Procter and Gamble (#8 in 2004)

* Includes General Electric and Microsoft

The Harris Poll^® was conducted online within the United States between July 12 and 18, 2005 among a nationwide cross section of 2,339 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.

Though this online sample is not a probability sample, in theory, with probability samples of this size, Harris Interactive estimates with 95 percent certainty that the results have a sampling error of plus or minus 2 percentage points of what they would be if the entire U.S. adult population had been polled with complete accuracy. Unfortunately, there are several other possible sources of error in all polls or surveys that are probably more serious than theoretical calculations of sampling error. They include refusals to be interviewed (nonresponse), question wording and question order, and weighting. It is impossible to quantify the errors that may result from these factors.

Note: This survey measures the public's unprompted responses to a question which does not include a list or suggest the names of any brands. This poll is designed to measure "top of mind" attitudes. To score highly in this survey, therefore, a brand must both be very well known and be very favorably regarded. Other surveys, including some Harris Interactive surveys measure perceptions only of brands which are listed. In those surveys, less well known brands which are not "top of mind" score more highly. Other surveys calculate favorability only among those adults which are familiar with a company.

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