News Excerpts   #4
 

Richard Ducote: Phone service? Where?
by Richard Ducote

More evidence: In a recent survey of 2,600 consumers, a firm based in Carefree, NameQuest, tested top advertised brand names for favorability. The No.1 favorite brand was Hershey. That's understandable. I've never had a Hershey bar charge me $50 for a phantom collect call or switch my cell phone plan without telling me. At the very bottom of the pile was Sprint, proving AT&T has no monopoly on perturbed patrons. Also wallowing in the bottom third of the list were Verizon and Cingular, which is buying AT&T Wireless. All four phone names ranked in the bottom 25 out of 130 names.

American companies face boycotts, terror overseas
By Julie Moran Alterio - Westchester County, NY

It makes sense to tone down advertising during the war, said John P. Hoeppner, a branding expert whose company, NameQuest Inc., does a survey of most-loved brands. "During this war period, especially in countries that have not been supportive of the u.S. initiative in Iraq, companies should shift into neutral and lower their profile slightly," Hoeppner said.

His customers, which include General Motors, Kellogg's, SC Johnson Wax and Fuji, have been less worried about terror threats than the rising boycott tide. "Having an American brand is still something that's very desirable, but there are subgroups out there that have an anti- American attitude," Hoeppner said.

A dozen or more Web sites urging boycotts of American goods have emerged, including www.boycottusa.org, www.boycottamerica.org and www.consumers-against-war.de, a Gennan site that Hoeppner said is getting a lot of attention from his customers.