Google Sits Atop Branding Poll

January 24, 2006  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in on January 2006 Would it be difficult to imagine Google furniture in our future?

Don't laugh too hard -- remember Thomas Kinkade, Norman Rockwell, Bill Blass?

The home furnishings business has seen its share of efforts to cash in on brand names with a perceived draw, so why should a search engine be any different?

This week, Google retook first place in a 2005 global poll of the world's most influential brands compiled by online branding magazine brandchannel.com.

The latest survey was compiled from votes from 2,528 branding professionals and students responding to the question: "Which brand had the most impact on our lives in 2005?"

Google, the Internet search engine which has expanded regionally and moved into new markets, last topped the poll in 2003, and reclaimed its top slot from Apple Computer, which came in second this year.

The poll does not take account of economic brand value, which regularly puts Coca-Cola Co. in first place, and disregards a brand's positive or negative public perception (Arabic-language television news network Al-Jazeera was a top finisher last year).

Brandchannel also breaks down results by region. In North America, the top three brands are Apple, Google and Starbucks Coffee Co. The list largely reflects global results. The poll's fourth- and fifth-place finishers in North America are, respectively, retailer Target Corp. and uber-cyclist Lance Armstrong.

Anyone pondering a Google home office brand might want to keep the following in mind: Last Friday, several news reports told of the Internet search engine's stock's largest one-day loss ever over investor concern about the future of Internet advertising and a Justice Department lawsuit regarding Internet searches – all part of the risk that goes hand in hand with the opportunities of hooking up with a name everyone knows.