News Excerpts   #2

General Mills scores high in 'love that brand' survey
Bob Geiger - Minneapolis Star Tribune

Three of the country's top 20 best-loved brand names belong to one Minneapolis-based company: General Mills Inc.

And, General Mills would be happy to know, consumer preference for its General Mills, Betty Crocker and recently acquired Pillsbury brands is not directly tied to ad spending.

John Hoeppner, president of Carefree, Ariz.-based NameQuest Inc. said, "Expenditures on advertising are not a determinant factor in terms of high 'Loving The Brand' preference scores."

The research also examined the correlation between brand preference and ad spending. NameQuest's' proprietary Preference Index suggests that factors such as trust, quality and value rank above ad spending in contributing to consumers' brand preferences.

NameQuest compared high and low spenders in seven brand categories with consumers' high and low brand preference scores and found no correlation between brand preference and advertising expenditures.