A 21st Century Survey?

Two recent surveys with very different results show us how important it is to find monitoring and evaluation organisations that can help Public Relations decision making.

One should not be too distressed to see two surveys with almost diametrically opposed findings as was the case in research finding Microsoft 'World's Most Valuable Brand' - Digital-Lifestyles.info:

"Two new studies into branding have produced two very different results, with a UK study declaring Microsoft the strongest brand in the known universe, while research in the US saw consumers slapping Microsoft down to near-bottom of their 'most trusted' list.

Microsoft topped the list, with the study showing most consumers held positive feelings about the brand. Andy Farr, executive director at MBO commented, 'When you look at what customers and consumers say to us, they do hold Microsoft in high regard.'

Across the pond, a brand study by Forrester Research saw Bose, Dell and Apple Computer being declared as technology brands trusted by U.S. consumers, with users warily eying the likes of Toshiba, Hitachi, Microsoft, Gateway and LG.

With Microsoft's brand scraping in at a lowly 20th spot out of the 22 companies included in the poll, Forrester's warned that Microsoft faces big a consumer defection risk.

With a deft turn of marketing-speak, Forrester analyst Ted Schadler observed that, 'A decline in trust causes brand erosion and price-driven purchase decisions, which in turn correlates with low market growth.'"

Well, now we know what nonsence much marketing is based upon and what trite conclusions can be drawn by 'experts'.

The trouble is that the marketing companies are not interested in values. The values people hold and the values of the organisations they are investigating. It is the dissonance that is the issue not a fired from the hip answer to a question.

Picture: All femail survey crew