Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Harris Poll Rates- Verizon 4th and 5th, Bell South (#6), up from #11, AT&T (#7), AT&T Wireless (#8) and Nextel (#9)]

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2003 05:24:01 -0400

Smithsonian Institution Ranks #1 in Quality Among All Brands ...

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Aug. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Ranking at the top among world-class
brands for quality is important to any company or product brand. Harris
Interactive(R) has just released the results of the Spring 2003 EquiTrend(R) brand
study which show Smithsonian Institution at #1, Craftsman Tools still holding at
#2, Crayola Crayons & Markers (#3), Bose (#4) and Hershey''s Kisses, up from #8
last wave to #5 now.

Smithsonian, a newcomer to the survey this year, achieved a very positive result
at #1 among all brands. Reynolds Wrap Aluminum Foil moved up from #10 in the fall
2002 survey to #6 now. M&M''s Chocolate Candies maintains a strong ranking at #7,
while Discovery Channel moved from #4 to #8 this wave. WD-40 made the top-ten list
of quality brands overall, moving up to #9 from #11 in the fall 2002; and, Ziploc
Food Bags moved up from #15 to #10.

Moving out of the top-ten list as a world-class brand for overall quality this
wave are Waterford Crystal (#1 in fall 2002), Mercedes Benz (#7 in fall 2002) and
TLC (The Learning Channel) (#9 in fall 2002).

Interestingly, newcomer to the survey, Harley-Davidson Motorcycles (which ranked
#32 overall) outranked many brands within the automotive brand category, including
Porsche (#4), Bentley (#5), Ferrari (#6), BMW (#7) and Lexus automobiles (#8), to
capture the #3 spot behind Rolls Royce (#1) and Mercedes Benz (#2). The quality
score of each of the top-ten automotive brands was above 7, which is considered a
strong rating.

In the retail brand category, Barnes & Noble (ranked #45 overall, and #1 in the
retail category) and Home Depot (#2) maintain their strong rankings for overall
quality. Walmart (#3) moved up from the #10 position in fall 2002. Most of the
retail brands maintained a steady presence in the top-ten for that category, while
a few: Victoria''s Secret (#8), Bed, Bath & Beyond (#9) and Discovery Channel
Stores (#10), moved up to enter that list in this spring 2003 survey.

Nokia Cellular Phones (#1), Motorola Cellular Phones (#2) and Motorola Pagers (#3)
continue to top the telecommunications brand list while Verizon holds on to the
4th and 5th positions. Bell South (#6), up from #11, AT&T (#7), AT&T Wireless (#8)
and Nextel (#9) hold strong positions, while T-Mobile Wireless, new to the survey,
captures the #10 spot for this category.
Financial services brands didn''t see much of a change in quality rankings since
the previous survey.  Most brands have maintained their positions, with American
Express Travelers Cheques, Visa, Mastercard, Fannie Mae and Discover in the top
five. Western Union Money Transfer Service, not measured earlier, takes the #6
position. American Express (#7) and State Farm Insurance (#8) remain consistently
strong brands while Blue Cross/Blue Shield moved up from #12 to #9 in front of
Fidelity, which has maintained its #10 spot.

Table 1 Top Ten World Class Brands Overall (Among 1,152 total brands included in
the survey) SPRING 2003 FALL 2002 SPRING 2002 BRAND RANK QUALITY SALIENCE EQUITY
RANK QUALITY RANK QUALITY Smithsonian Institution 1 8.23 79 64.9 NA NA NA NA
Craftsman Tools 2 8.17 88 71.6 2 8.23 2 8.37 Crayola Crayons & Markers 3 8.12 94
76.2 3 8.20 6 8.15 Bose Stereo & Speaker Systems 4 8.12 72 58.7 5 8.18 4 8.15
Hershey''s Kisses 5 8.08 99 79.6 8 8.12 3 8.16 Reynolds Wrap Aluminum Foil 6 8.08
97 78.6 10 8.11 7 8.12 M&M''s Chocolate Candies 7 8.05 98 79.3 6 8.17 10 8.09
Discovery Channel 8 8.02 93 74.9 4 8.20 1 8.38 WD-40 Spray Lubricant 9 8.01 90
72.4 11 8.07 5 8.15 Ziploc Food Bags 10 7.98 98 77.9 15 8.00 17 7.96 * The Overall
Quality score is the average rating on a 0 - 10 scale. Note: Scores are ranked to
the third decimal place. There are no ties. Source: Spring 2003 EquiTrend(R) brand
study by Harris Interactive(R) Table 2 Top Ten Automotive Manufacturer Brands
(Among 62 automotive brands included in the survey) CATEGORY CATEGORY RANK RANK
CATEGORY RANK FALL SPRING BRAND SPRING 2003 QUALITY SALIENCE EQUITY 2002 2002
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars 1 7.88 57 44.7 2 2 Mercedes-Benz Automobiles 2 7.78 72 56.0
1 1 Harley Davidson Motorcycles 3 7.76 72 55.7 NA NA Porsche Automobiles 4 7.60 66
50.1 3 5 Bentley Automobiles 5 7.60 45 34.3 5 3 Ferrari Automobiles 6 7.50 58 43.3
4 4 BMW Automobiles 7 7.45 71 53.0 6 6 Lexus Automobiles 8 7.41 67 50.0 7 7
Diehard Car Batteries 9 7.40 73 54.3 10 10 Michelin Automobile Tires 10 7.33 73
53.5 8 8 * The Overall

Quality score is the average rating on a 0 - 10 scale. Note: Scores are ranked to
the third decimal place. There are no ties. Source:

Spring 2003 EquiTrend(R) brand study by Harris Interactive(R) Table 3 Top Ten
Retail Brands (Among 100 retail brands included in the survey) CATEGORY CATEGORY
RANK RANK CATEGORY RANK FALL SPRING BRAND SPRING 2003 QUALITY SALIENCE EQUITY 2002
2002 Barnes & Noble Book Stores 1 7.66 90 69.2 1 1 Home Depot Home Improvement
Retailer 2 7.36 90 66.4 2 2 Wal-Mart Discount Stores 3 7.29 97 71.0 10 4 Lowe''s
Home Improvement Warehouses 4 7.26 79 57.1 6 5 Target Stores 5 7.18 94 67.7 3 7
Borders Book Stores 6 7.15 71 50.5 5 6 Office Depot Office Supply Stores 7 7.00 90
62.9 9 8 Victoria''s Secret Stores 8 6.96 77 53.6 17 10 Bed Bath & Beyond Stores 9
6.94 78 54.1 11 NA Discovery Channel Stores 10 6.94 59 40.6 NA NA * The Overall
Quality score is the average rating on a 0 - 10 scale. Note:

Scores are ranked to the third decimal place. There are no ties. Source: Spring
2003 EquiTrend(R) brand study by Harris Interactive(R) Table 4 Top Ten
Telecommunication Brands (Among 25 telecommunication brands included in the
survey) CATEGORY CATEGORY RANK RANK CATEGORY RANK FALL SPRING BRAND SPRING 2003
QUALITY SALIENCE EQUITY 2002 2002 Nokia Cellular Phones 1 6.81 73 49.9 1 1
Motorola Cellular Phones 2 6.62 63 42.0 2 2 Motorola Pagers 3 6.17 46 28.5 3 3
Verizon Communications 4 6.04 71 42.6 7 6 Verizon Wireless 5 6.01 65 39.3 4 4
BellSouth 6 5.66 48 27.0 11 11 AT&T 7 5.66 91 51.3 9 7 AT&T Wireless 8 5.60 65
36.3 5 9 Nextel Wireless 9 5.59 43 24.2 8 12 T-Mobile Wireless 10 5.57 36 19.8 NA
NA * The Overall Quality score is the average rating on a 0 - 10 scale. Note:
Scores are ranked to the third decimal place. There are no ties. Source: Spring
2003 EquiTrend(R) brand study by Harris Interactive(R) Table 5 Top Ten Financial
Services/Insurance Brands (Among 57 financial services/insurance brands included
in the survey) CATEGORY CATEGORY RANK RANK CATEGORY RANK FALL SPRING BRAND SPRING
2003 QUALITY SALIENCE EQUITY 2002 2002 American Express Travelers Cheques 1 7.33
69 50.9 1 1 Visa 2 6.98 89 62.3 2 2 MasterCard 3 6.66 84 56.0 3 3 Fannie Mae 4
6.32 48 30.3 5 4 Discover 5 6.25 70 44.0 4 5 Western Union Money Transfer Service
6 6.16 50 30.7 NA NA American Express 7 6.11 67 41.0 6 6 State Farm Insurance 8
6.02 68 40.9 9 9 Blue Cross/Blue Shield Insurance 9 5.93 74 44.1 12 18 Fidelity
Investments Financial Services 10 5.92 34 20.1 10 8 * The Overall Quality score is
the average rating on a 0 - 10 scale. Note: Scores are ranked to the third decimal
place. There are no ties. Source: Spring 2003 EquiTrend(R) brand study by Harris
Interactive(R)

How Brands Are Rated and Scored

EquiTrend measures brand equity across many categories, and the study provides a
comprehensive view of a brand''s current position against competitors, helping to
identify potential synergies in the marketplace. It can also be used to assess
goodwill in a brand - normally an elusive element to quantify.

The study measures: -- Quality - rated on a scale ranging from 0-10
("0"-unacceptable/poor) ("5"-quite acceptable) ("10"-outstanding/extraordinary).
If the mean score is 8 or above, the brand is considered "world-class." Seven (7)
is considered a "strong" rating and approximately 15 percent of all the brands
fall within the "7" to "8" range. As a rule, the majority of brands score within
the "6" to "7" range. -- Salience - the percentage of people who feel aware and
informed enough about the brand to rate it. --Equity - equals (quality) times
(salience) divided by 10 Methodology

The Harris Interactive Spring 2003 EquiTrend(R) brand study was conducted via the
Internet within the United States between May 1 and 12, 2003. A nationwide
cross-section of 43,626 consumers, ages 15 and older were randomly selected from
among the Harris Interactive online panel of respondents and invited to
participate. Approximately 2,900 respondents rated each brand out of a total of
1,152 brands measured, each respondent rating 100 randomly selected brands.

Figures for age, sex, race, education, income, presence of children (under 18
years old) in the household, and geographic region were weighted where necessary
to align them with their actual proportions in the population. Survey data were
weighted using 2000 U.S. census data. The data were also propensity weighted to
adjust for differences in attitudes between the general consumer population and
those of the online panel. This ensures that the online data accurately reflect
the general population.
In theory, with randomly selected online sample of this size, one can say with 95
percent certainty that the consumer perceived brand quality rating results have an
average statistical precision of plus or minus 0.14 percentage points of what they
would be if the entire 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. These include refusals to be interviewed (non-response), question wording
and question order, and weighting by demographic control data. It is impossible to
quantify the errors that may result from these factors. This online sample was not
a probability sample.

These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council
on Public Polls.

About Harris Interactive(R)

Harris Interactive (http://www.harrisinteractive.com/) is a worldwide market
research and consulting firm best known for The Harris Poll(R), and for pioneering
the Internet method to conduct scientifically accurate market research.
Headquartered in Rochester, New York, U.S.A., Harris Interactive combines
proprietary methodologies and technology with expertise in predictive, custom and
strategic research.  The Company conducts international research through wholly
owned subsidiaries-London-based HI Europe (http://www.hieurope.com/) and
Tokyo-based Harris Interactive Japan-as well as through the Harris Interactive
Global Network of local market- and opinion-research firms, and various U.S.
offices.

To become a member of the Harris Poll Online(SM) and be invited to participate in
future online surveys, visit http://www.harrispollonline.com/.

http://www.finanznachrichten.de/nachrichten/artikel-2417517.asp

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