Leading brands ranked in US customer loyalty index

"Shifts in customer expectations are important because they identify unmet consumer needs. Brands that meet or exceed customer expectations can more easily differentiate themselves from the competition," Passikoff added.

Of 32 industries examined in the 2004 Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Index, 24 indicated shifting consumer expectations, most notably in: Banks, Car Rental Companies, Energy Providers, Long Distance and Wireless Providers, Mobile Telephones, Office Copiers, and Search Engines.

Selected 2004 Brandweek Customer Loyalty Award Winners:

1. Airline: JetBlue Airways
2. Athletic Footwear: Skechers and New Balance (tied)
3. Banks: Fleet and Wachovia (tied 1st)
4. Car Rental: Avis
5. Long Distance: Verizon
6. Mobile Tel: Samsung
7. Office Copiers: Canon
8. Search Engines: Google.

Get the complete loyalty awards winners list at: www.brandkeys.com/awards.

Brand Keys' Customer Loyalty Index, the basis of the 2004 Brandweek Customer Loyalty Awards powered by Brand Keys, determines (with a 95 percent confidence level) which products and services people will buy in the coming 18 to 24 months. Brandweek magazine published the complete winners list in its May 24 edition: www.brandweek.com.

"Brands which come closest to meeting or exceeding category ideals find that customers demonstrate the greatest loyalty," said Brand Keys' Passikoff. "Some companies recognize 'customer values' have become a new marketing compass. To maintain brand differentiation and customer loyalty, companies must find ways to track, predict, and respond to changing customer loyalty values and expectations."

Brand Keys conducted 16 600 assessments among Americans, 21 - 60 years of age, who use the brands.

"Brand Keys has taken measuring customer loyalty to a level that provides working leading indicators of profitability. Since the inception of the Customer loyalty Index, they have taken loyalty metrics beyond the standard questions marketers have relied upon. 'Would you buy this product again?' and 'Would you recommend this product to a friend?," said Charlotte Erwin, Publisher, Brandweek.

"Companies recognize the problems of differentiation and profitability and have turned instinctively to familiar tools in their marketing toolboxes: focus groups, tracking surveys, satisfaction studies. The problem is while these efforts produced data, they have failed to produce profitable
insights," noted Erwin.