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10 Junk Food Brands That Made a Buck in Iraq
Nov 14th
When American and British troops returned to Iraq in 2003 — to liberate, or to invade, depending on who exactly you are listening to — they soon found that many of their fast food favorites from back home had followed them into the war zone. Camp Victory (the optimistically-named main US Army base situated around Baghdad International Airport) and other such installations housed most of the usual junk food suspects within their temporary walls. However, following the announcement this summer that many of the outlets will be closing down their operations due to continued troop withdrawals, it looks as though the Iraqi branch of the war on the waistline is coming to an end. Saddam Hussein himself loved Doritos — but what would he have made of these companies making inroads into Iraq?
10. Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut, the 53-year-old purveyors of generously topped circular doughy-ness, were one of the first of the big fast food chains to open up for business in Iraq. Their first franchise was set up in a British military base near Basra, to rapturous applause from soldiers. The restaurant was run by Kuwaiti franchise holders, with an undisclosed percentage of profits going to charity. Further branches later opened, including outlets at Camp Victory; the huge installation at Balad, 40 miles north of Baghdad; and the similarly massive Al Asad Airbase, 100 miles west of the Iraqi capital. In news of booming business in 2004, a US Department of Defense press release read, “At any given time throughout the day, at least 50 to 75 people were waiting in line for a taste of golden fries or pizza.”
9. Burger King
The world’s second largest hamburger chain (after you-know-who) has been in Iraq since 2003, when they opened an outlet near Basra. The home of the Whopper went on to establish several more branches, and soldiers have been able to have it their way in Tallil, Tikrit, Balad, Kirkuk, Taji and Camp Liberty. On opening day in the Iraq International Zone in 2005, the new BK apparently averaged more than 80 Whoppers an hour and finished up serving 888 Whoppers and 357 pounds of fries. It would take more than two hands to handle that lot.
8. McDonald’s
The opening of a “culturally sensitive” McDonald’s in Baghdad may well have been part of George W. Bush’s grand plan for Iraq several years ago, but the reality of such a vision hasn’t quite transpired. While a genuine Big Mac and fries can be obtained in Baghdad’s Green Zone, MaDonal, an Iraqi imitator in Sulaymaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan, has proved to be more popular and more prolific. Owned by former Kurdish resistance fighter Suleiman Qassab, MaDonal is a successful restaurant, especially popular with young people. Qassab is just one of many who applied for an official McDonald’s franchise in Iraq but, according to a journalist from Canada’s Globe and Mail, “[t]he flow of applications to open an Iraqi McDonald’s stopped as quickly as it started, and the corporate lawyers never came to Sulaymaniyah.”
7. Taco Bell
Taco Bell serves more than two billion customers every year in America, and since the occupation of Iraq, they have been doling out their Mexican-inspired fare to US soldiers based there as well. Situated in various Army and Air Force Exchange Service bases, including Camp Victory, Taco Bell has been another familiar chain giving soldiers a little taste of home. However, with the news that the fast food tour of duty is drawing to a close, those remaining will have to find other options.
6. Subway
The foot-long sandwiches of Subway have been another constant at US bases in Iraq, including Camp Victory, Al Asad Air Base, and Joint Base Balad — where, as of 2009, Indian and Bangladeshi workers were preparing and selling the food to grateful soldiers. With more than 35,000 franchises in 98 countries, Subway’s global enterprise shows no sign of slowing down as yet, although its Iraq exercise may, at least for the time being, be coming to an end.
5. Dairy Queen
Word has it there is — or at least has been — a Dairy Queen outlet in Erbil, Iraq. Soldiers desperate for an ice cold blast of home have been known to drive through dangerous territories to get their hands on a DQ Blizzard. The soft serve Queen has every reason for a successful adventure in Iraq; Iraqis are huge consumers of ice cream and enjoy the stuff all year round. The Flamethrower GrillBurger, on the other hand, might prove to be a tougher sell…
4. Baskin Robbins
Economists estimate that the war in Iraq has cost US taxpayers nearly $12 billion a month since 2003. Think how much ice cream you could buy with that! Baskin Robbins, the home of the famous 31 flavors, has been in Iraq since the early days, and immigrant workers — flown in to feed the soldiers — have served thousands of scoops to troops. The ice cream stores are a firm favorite with the so-called Fobbits — the soldiers who rarely leave the Forward Operating Base — who will have to find an alternative when the company leaves the bases.
3. Cinnabon
With outlets located at Camp Taji, Camp Victory, Al Asad Air Base and AAFES in Balad, Cinnabon’s famous large cinnamon roll has been well represented in Iraq. The Georgia-based baked goods company has grown considerably in the last decade; as of 2009 there were over 750 Cinnabon bakeries in over 30 countries worldwide. However, with the December 31, 2011 withdrawal date from Iraq looming ever closer — and outlets having already been shuttered — any remaining troops may have to look a little further afield for their cinnamon fix.
2. Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola, the world’s biggest selling soft drink, returned to Iraq in 2005 after an absence of 37 years. The reason for Coke’s disappearance from Iraq lies in the Arab League’s 1968 decision to boycott companies with links to Israel, and some feeling persists that Coke is pro-Israel. In 2005, a Baghdad shop owner repeated a widely held conspiracy theory that “[i]f you hold up a Coke can to the mirror, the writing says ‘No Allah.’” Coke’s fight for hearts and minds in Iraq may be getting easier with the news, in 2011, that Coca-Cola Icecek has acquired all of the remaining shares in Iraq drinks bottler CC Beverage for $36.9 million. Maybe Coke will be “it” for Iraqis after all.
1. Pepsi
Pepsi has a long history in Iraq. The brand launched there in 1950 and became the country’s leading soft drink brand. Indeed, for many years its status as the market leader went unchallenged; Coca-Cola left the field open following the fallout after the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. However, after the Gulf War, Pepsi lost the right to do business in Iraq or trade with the country. In 2003, sanctions forced the local Pepsi maker to use counterfeit concentrate imported from Europe, but Pepsi has remained number one, thanks in part to the efforts of Hamid Jassim Khamis, the CEO of Baghdad Soft Drinks Co, which holds the license to distribute Pepsi in Iraq. It faces a strong test in the future, however, and not only from Coke — back on the shelves since 2005 — but from other Arabic soft drinks, all competing for 26 million consumers.
View full post on Business Pundit
Top 5 Best Selling Car Brands of 2011
Nov 1st
In the United States of America, there are about 246 million cars, down from 250 million. 2010 saw a decrease in cars as economic hard times set in. So, what cars are Americans buying? What car brands make up that 246 million? Here’s a look at the Five Families of Car-Making in America.
#1 The most popular brand of car right now is Ford. Their famous F-series has sold more units (264,079) in 2011 so far than any other type of vehicle, 80,000 more than the next most prolific car of the year, the Chevrolet Silverado.
#2 Chevrolet’s Silverado (notice the domestic trend in popularity) sold 180,000 units in the first half of 2011, making Chevrolet’s #2 spot somewhat of a mystery, given its gas-mileage and cost. However, Chevrolet has a handful of their cars on the top 25 cars of 2011–proof that they know how to make a car people like.
#3 Toyota double-tapped the list, with the Camry listed as the third-best selling car of 2011 and the Corolla as the fourth. Critics doubted that Toyota would fully recover from the safety scandal a few years back and the subsequent Congressional inquest, but the Asian automaker has proven that they are still producing quality cars.
#4 Nissan, usually a second-tier manufacturer, jumped into the Top 5, beating out Honda as the fourth most bought car brand with their well-marketed Altima. The Altima sold more than 131,000 units in the first six months of 2011.
Honda, usually a staple of the Top 5, comes in as last of the bunch with the old and reputable Civic, which sold 127,000 units. (To give Honda their due, the Accord is #6 out of the Top 25.) Honda, known for good service and cars with great gas mileage and longevity, has slowly lost ground in recent years, replaced with up-and-comers like Nissan.
What does this mean for drivers? First, domestic cars outsold foreign cars (bucking a long-standing popular trend). Domestic cars traditionally have lower gas mileage than foreign cars. However, in recent years, domestic automakers have worked to increase mileage to boost sales and environmental protection. Second, Toyota is quickly reestablishing themselves as an excellent upper middle-class car maker. Third, the general populace continues to look to save money on auto insurance by buying cars that qualify for lower rates (newer cars are safer, so rates are lower). Fourth, Honda continues to drop in popularity (the downward slope began in 2008). This could mean excellent chances for car-buyers to pick up quality cars for bargain prices. Fifth and last, these statistics show that the demand for cars–despite the drop in American’s fleet size–is still sizeable. America isn’t shifting away from personal vehicles any time soon.
View full post on Business Pundit
We First: How Brands and Consumers Use Social Media to Build a Better World
Aug 27th
I’m really loving the transformation in our view of social media. Not long ago we were still trying to figure out what to do with social media tools with books like New Community Rules. And then we learned enough about how to target and measure social media to take it beyond the consumer markets and into the B2B world with Social Marketing for Business.
Today’s featured book is called We First: How Brands and Consumers Use Social Media to Build a Better World. It’s a book about using social media to create a better world. Reading the cover, I was immediately reminded of the beginning of The Facebook Effect, where people used Facebook to organize government protests in South America.
I’m thinking about how timely We First is. As I write this, I’m reflecting on the role that Twitter and social media played in organizing demonstrations in Iran and in Egypt. So far, the biggest role social media has played has been in getting the word out and organizing people. But to what degree is social media making the world a better place?
About the Author
Simon Mainwaring (@simonmainwaring) is the founder and CEO of We First, a brand consulting firm that helps companies use social media to build communities, profits and positive impact. As I perused the cover of the book, I asked myself, What does a branding company have to do with making a “better world?” I got my answer in the introduction.
Simon Mainwaring was at the World Economic Forum in January of 2008 when he heard Bill Gates speak. As soon as Mainwaring heard the words “creative capitalism” and “change the world,” he was hooked. As he thought about how he could use his skills and talents in branding to make the world a better place, he came up with the term “contributory consumption”–the idea that each consumer transaction goes toward building a better world.
Doing the Right Thing and Making Money are Not Mutually Exclusive Principles
The basic definition of capitalism is that it’s an economic system in which the means of production are owned and operated for private profit. Prices are set by the free market, profits are paid to investors, and wages are paid to workers by companies.
Mainwaring points out that our current focus is more of a “me” focus than a “we” focus. Early in the book he talks about Bob, a representative amalgamation of the American success story. Bob has worked hard and is living the good life. The corporations that produce the products Bob purchases are interested in profits and expanding their business around the world. Investors who invest in the companies that produce the products that Bob buys are interested in getting a great return on their investment. Bob is also interested in peace and freedom and living in a great community. Yet all these choices by all these constituencies affect other countries and other people around the world.
We First explores the possibilities that are available when we think about taking on the challenge that Bill Gates threw out to take on creative capitalism. We First explores ideas and strategies that allow as many constituencies as possible to pursue their self-interest without destroying the planet or each other.
We First Challenges Businesses of All Shapes and Sizes
We First asks a lot of questions that some people might find uncomfortable. I wouldn’t call myself politically inclined, but there is something about this book that made me think that people on either extreme of the political spectrum might be challenged by what Mainwaring is proposing.
I’m specifically thinking about Chapter 5: “Instilling We First Values Into Capitalism.” Mainwaring gives the example of Greenpeace and its controversial program against palm oil sourced from Malaysian and Indonesian suppliers involved in deforestation. When New Zealand’s consumers heard about this, they started a Facebook page boycotting Cadbury products. Finally, after a year of consumer pushback, Cadbury announced it would no longer use palm oil in its candy.
I can just imagine the spirited discussions that would erupt after a statement such as this one:
“Global citizenry is the antithesis of the Milton Friedman philosophy of capitalism, where the sole function of the corporation is to make money for shareholders. If capitalism is to become sustainable and succeed, companies must begin to acknowledge their human side, including the ability to demonstrate compassion, understanding and empathy.”
We First Will Make You Think
I really enjoyed this book for its thought-provoking value. There are some arguments I agreed with and some I wasn’t quite sure about. But the one thing I absolutely loved about this book is how it pulled statistics together and made me think and rethink my opinions on business and the economy.
The other thing I enjoyed about this book is its challenge to our business community and the call to action to take a moment and rethink what you’re up to. Mainwaring provides enough studies to show you that today’s consumer is thinking about the global picture and–increasingly–making purchasing choices based on those values.
We First is a terrific read for anyone who follows economics, politics and business. I promise you that no matter where you stand philosophically, you will find confirmations and challenges to your point of view. It’s a fantastic book for business book clubs and business students as well.
We First: How Brands and Consumers Use Social Media to Build a Better World
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
23 Things Great Brands Do In Social Media
Aug 17th
No one wants to invest time in something only to be mediocre at it. We want to be great. But before you can be great you have to understand what being great looks like. What are you trying to achieve and what are you aiming for? What do people who are great at X look like? Because before you can be better than them, you at least have to be equal. And that takes some understanding on your part.
Do you want to be great at social media? Well, below are 23 things that great businesses do in social media. Maybe you can help me and add to my list in the comments.
Ready?
Great social media brands…
- Bring sexy back to word of mouth marketing.
- Dedicate time to answering questions from customers, potential customers and people first learning about the brand.
- Constantly poll their community for opinions, feedback, and criticism.
- Make it a habit to highlight other brands that are doing cool things, even if they’re doing it outside of their particular industry.
- Start conversations that others are scared to have.
- Give their employees a unique voice and the permission to connect to others.
- Regularly save the day.
- Push back the curtain to give their audience a better understanding of how things work, why they work that way, and what the company believes.
- Bleed company culture.
- Use tools to monitor their social media activity and makes adjustments when things aren’t working.
- Don’t take social media too seriously, but are too smart to view it as a joke.
- Understand the importance donuts and share them regularly.
- Don’t forget to tie offline events into what they’re doing online so there’s cohesion between strategies.
- Track their brand name in social media and knows when to respond, how to respond and how to engage brand advocates.
- Give us “the why” to go along with their social media calls to action.
- Plan for social media as to not leave channels voiceless for long periods of time just because they’re busy.
- Never, ever automate human interaction.
- Understand social media doesn’t belong to just the marketing department, but the company as a whole.
- Enter the waters with a social media plan to help guide their interaction and make sure they’re getting something for their investment.
- Use their social media plan to avoid falling victim to Shiny Object Syndrome.
- Understand that social media is the medium, not the message.
- Pass on insights gleaned from social media throughout the entire organization so that the right people are hearing the right conversations.
- Have clear social media guidelines so that employees know how to engage on behalf of the brand and connect with customers.
What else? What makes a brand stand out for you?
23 Things Great Brands Do In Social Media
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
Advertising Budgets of the Top 200 Brands
Jun 23rd
With marketing & advertising becoming more and more of a need to succeed, this infographic provides an industry-by-industry looking at where the leading U.S Brands are spending their dollars.
Image courtesy of Ad Age
Embed this Infographic on Your Site:
View full post on Business Pundit
User Interface and Site Usability – Brands Who’ve Done It Right
May 10th
How many times have you clicked on a search result only to land on a page that’s just not user friendly? If you’re like most Internet users, it’s a regular occurrence. And, like most, you probably click that back button within seconds. However, when you find a site that has a great interface and you seem to automatically know how to use the features, you bookmark it just as quickly so you’ll always know how to find it again.
If this sounds like you, check out these sites. Every one is extremely usable with a great user interface–they’re definitely worth a place of honor on your favorites list.
Metrofax
This company recently launched their new site on May 3rd. As you explore the Metrofax Internet Faxing redesign, notice that the site’s purpose is instantly recognizable and you can immediately see how to navigate the site. “Overview” “Features” and “How it Works” is clearly right in the front under a slider box- your eyes are drawn to whatever information you would need. If you saw the old site you would notice how much it’s changed.
Digg
Digg is an increasingly popular site that offers a great looking and fast-loading user interface- and while there are some qualms about the change in interface and usage, you have to admit that it’s a bit cleaner. If you have a lot of content to put on your site, but you don’t want it to look too busy or cramped, you can’t find a better example of an exceptional format.
Edmunds
Edmunds recently ventured off their blog and made an Edmunds Tumblr- where they’ll be focusing more on sharing their company culture (such as Edmunds’ rides) rather than general publisher informaton. You’ll see that they pulled in the colors and designs of the Edmunds site, while keeping the layout nice, clean and evenly spaced.
Taptu
The beauty Taptu is that they’ve taken simple to a new level. Notice the big buttons that instantly catch your attention and draw the eyes to the navigation tools. It has also effectively used all of the available screen space to display a ton of thumbnails without overwhelming the viewer.
Yellow Pages
When the Yellow Pages took their famous phone directories from those legendary paper versions to an online model, they carried their branding, including that vivid yellow color, with them to give users a familiar experience. As you view this site, notice the effective use of spacing to emphasize important information.
Amazon
Some of you may not know this, but Amazon started off primarily as a bookseller. It was the go-to place to find the most obscure publications imaginable. Now that they’ve spread out to other markets, they’ve continued to make shopping easy and reliable through an extremely usable interface.
Bank of America
As a mobile app, Bank of America has made this program extremely simple and intuitive. When you arrive at the home page, there’s no question about what the over-sized buttons mean. Click one to sign in, another to find nearby locations and others for information about Bank of America and online banking in general.
Whether you’re using the full-blown version of Facebook or the mobile app, all those dedicated users can’t be wrong. This site features one of the richest, yet easy, interfaces in today’s online world. It loads fast, provides tons of content, looks great and even noobs can use it with ease. Not much to improve on here!
As you review these sites, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by their usability.
What website do you love that has a great interface?
View full post on Business Pundit
Brands and Other Small Business Basics
May 10th
Brands and business basics is a roundup looking at what is out there for your small business as you work to develop your company’s identity. Remember that brand will be important (and not just for the marketing department. ) They define how you behave as a company and who you are. There are plenty of other important tips in this roundup for operating your small business effectively plus success stories and other features. Got some ideas you would like to add? Leave a comment below.
Branding & Marketing
Not every brand is good. Even the world’s most wanted terrorist tried actively to create an image, one that would resonate with supporters and enemies alike. But this particular exercise demonstrates how not all attention is good. In the end the al-Qaida chief’s “message” alienated the West and the majority of the Muslim world as well, according to polls. This may be one of the world’s worst ever personal brands. Yahoo! News
Getting started with social media. You know, of course, that despite the ongoing debate over ROI, social media is important for your small business’s future. But like so many small business owners, you lack the time even to educate yourself about the options. Above is a link that will help, complete with infographic. V3 Integrated Marketing
Twitter benefits business. Have you ever had your doubts about the benefits of the planet’s most popular micro blogging platform when it comes to marketing your business? Well, there are many ways you could use Twitter to better your business, especially when it comes to online presence. Here’s one small business owner’s take. Sian’s Just the Way I Am
Success Stories
Turning lemons into lemonade. What would you do if you were diagnosed with not one but two rare conditions that threatened not only to seriously impact your health but also to prevent you from ever seeking conventional employment again? Yonatan Maisel’s story is one of triumph and inspiration for anyone who has ever faced setbacks and should remind small business owners that no barrier is insurmountable. Yonatan Maisel Blog
Chis Zane and 31 other small business success stories. Chris Zane has built his cycle shop empire on a pretty simple concept: That the key to success is viewing the long term value of customers. Read Chris’s incredible story and browse the other success stories in this section for more entrepreneurs with a vision. Inc.com
Operations
Non-disclosure agreements: an overview. If you don’t know what a non-disclosure agreement is and you’re not clear why your small business needs one, it might be a good idea for you to check out this basic review. Discover why non-disclosure agreements are of invaluable benefit to entrepreneurs and how you might use them in your own business. 365 Days of Startups
Finance
Personal finance skills for your business? If you think that how you manage your personal finance doesn’t affect your business, think again! Here are seven basic personal finance skills every entrepreneur should know. Ignore these tips at your own risk. Managing your finances is a simple but important step toward better small business management too. Solo Biz Coach
Sales
How can you create better content? And what exactly is better content for your business Website or social media channel anyway? Well, for lack of a more exact description, Facundo Villaveiran would say it should be entertaining, viral and support the buying process. But where to begin? Channelship
You are your own sales team. That’s right. When you start out with a small business (or even a startup that wants to be huge some day) you have to understand that in the beginning it will often be just you. Who’s going to bring those clients in the door then? Same answer! Bloggertone
Tech
Google offers look inside your business. As if it weren’t enough to see maps of your business location on Google’s pages, the search giant has announced plans to provide a service that will let customers check out the inside of your business too. Want to let perspective customers get to know your small business even better? Find out more. Bloomberg BusinessWeek
Brands and Other Small Business Basics
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
In search of six major brands
May 8th
For a high-profile project (can’t announce it yet) for charity that we’re doing in September, we’re looking for six companies with significant marketing budgets that want to participate and be featured. Household names, or brands on the way to becoming one are ideal.
If you’re the CMO or part of the team, and want to know more, drop a note to Lauryn by Wednesday. Thanks.
View full post on Seth’s Blog
25 Least Trustworthy Brands of the Past Decade
Apr 25th
Image: Alex E. Proimos/Flickr
What makes you stop trusting a company? Was talking to their customer service people akin to having a conversation with a brick wall? Do your bills more closely resemble Pandora’s Box than something you can actually pay? When you try to resolve things with the company, do they suddenly become slippery?
These things and more can make any sane person stop trusting a brand. Sadly, many companies still choose bucks over good behavior, especially if they operate in monopolistic or oligopolistic market conditions. Here are 25 of the least trustworthy brands of the past decade.
25. Comcast
Image: D.C. Atty/Flickr
Comcast isn’t exactly an Internet connection provider you run towards. They have a labyrinthine pricing structure subject to change at anytime—ever been caught with a $70 monthly bill after your promotion runs out?—service centers that rival the DMV in terms of warmth, and connection speeds the company will almost always tell you are working fine, even if it takes 10 minutes for your email to load. Comcast has cornered the “big and everywhere and omnipotent” theme, so consumers, bereft of choice, keep signing up.
24. United Airlines (US Airways, Continental)
Image: drmcmartin/Wikimedia
Depending on the flight, the United experience can range from decent to exquisitely bad. Yet customers, including myself, keep booking because they often offer the best prices. I’m almost reverential, because in all my years of traveling, only United has:
* Overloaded a 737 in Mexico City to the point that the plane tipped over (12 hours delay).
* Flown from Vancouver to San Jose with a small hole in the wing.
* Diverted a full San Diego-bound flight to LAX, then left us stranded at LAX overnight without hotel or shuttle access. The pilot, before leaving my home airport, announced on the PA: “Well, folks, I have to see my family for Christmas, too.” So I’m just gonna drop you off, suckaz!
* After my luggage went MIA one New Year’s eve, a United representative told me, without blinking, that “we’re part of a union, and we don’t really care. So don’t expect too much.”
* United actually lost my friend’s mom. She was on her way to India, and they screwed up her connection in Chicago to the point that she had to re-book the flight and prove she’d actually booked it in the first place. I’m duly impressed that United can lose humans as well as luggage, which they lost for her after she arrived in India, too.
I’ve met some really nice flight attendants and talented pilots on this unwieldy beast of an airline. That fact that they’re getting even bigger now, in the wake of the United-Continental merger, doesn’t give me much hope, however.
23. Orbitz
Orbitz may have good travel deals, but they seem to be on vacation when it comes to customer service. Saving money by cutting customer service staff and outsourcing what little they have left to people with limited training (and probably low pay, too) does not yield good results. One such outcome is that Orbitz has a reputation for not admitting its own mistakes. Customers complain that they don’t get clear information after booking, either, and that Orbitz customer service is about as pleasant to deal with as a rattlesnake on a hiking trail. Bonus: Other complaints include being charged multiple times through the Orbitz website and not actually insuring you through their “travel insurance” programs. Yowzas.
22. AT&T
Sluggish repair service, billing practices that make you say “Huh?”, sneaky fees, impossible-to-reach customer service, and the cherry on top of dropped calls make AT&T a favorite for customer complaints. Many utilities companies get away with straddling mediocrity when it comes to being loved by consumers. Still, that doesn’t make it right.
21. Verizon
“Can you hear me now?” Many a customer has wanted to say this when begging Verizon to clarify their mysterious charges. You often need to spend an hour or more parked at your local Verizon store just to figure out the basics of how your plan works. They used to sneak in texting charges, but a class action lawsuit stopped that. Now they gouge you when you go over your texting and calling allowances (to their credit, they have started texting you warnings before you go into 10-cents-a-line territory). Their phone reception is good, but they could definitely be more receptive to customers’ needs for transparency.
20. DirecTV
Image: Bisteca/Wikimedia
Word on the street is, you pay for using DirecTV. Not just the usual monthly fee, but equipment fees, contract cancellation fees, fees for equipment you never actually had, fees for contracts you never signed, fees for their mistakes, and fees for your fees. Why a company whose brand appears in your living room every time you turn on the tube would choose to associate itself with that much frustration is beyond me. It seems that someone decided cutting out decent customer service was a good idea. Word to the wise, it’s not.
19. Citibank
Image: Uris/Wikimedia
As with other big banks, loyal customers don’t seem to count in the eyes of this behemoth, known for doubling credit card interest rates at whim, canceling other cards without warning, sketchy recordkeeping, and an unresponsive fraud department, to name a few. But if this bank really is a zombie, why expect soulful behavior?
18. Bank of America
Image: Brian Katt/Wikimedia
Another member of the Wall St. bailout herd, BofA has the cash flow to make their customer experience smoother, but you wouldn’t know it, possibly because customer fees are the bank’s flow source. That, and government bailout money, funded by…citizen fees. The circularity is mind-blowing. (If you need details on exactly what they do wrong, there’s an extensive forum dedicated to that cause).
17. Facebook
Image: denneyterrio/Wikimedia
On software that requires your real name and email address, and which you use for personal updates, you’d expect something akin to respect for privacy. But Facebook, with its sneaky default settings and ever-changing ideas about what confidentiality means, reflects anything but a respectful attitude. Perhaps the silliest thing about it is that everyone keeps using it, despite the fact that founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said that the “age of privacy is over.” Shame on them–and us.
16. American Airlines
Image: Brian/Wikimedia
Yet another casualty of big-airline syndrome, American isn’t exactly celebrated for its service or on-time flights. They also seem to have a knack for getting stalled by mechanical problems after everyone has boarded the plane. And if their mechanical problems make you miss another flight which you then have to rebook, you’re in airline jungle hell, as adeptly described here.
15. Delta
While each of the ‘three stooges’ airlines on this list flaunts mediocrity like a banner, each also has a special niche that really puts the “sucks” into their jet engines. American has its mechanical delays, United’s ramshackle beast of an organization makes packrats look methodical. Delta, it seems, specializes in Guantanamo-level customer service. Losing count of customers on a plane, delivering baggage damaged, dirty and wet, and flipping your seat on a plane to another customer without your knowledge are just a few complaints angry customers have posted online. The overarching theme in all of them is that Delta staff basically treat customers like inmates, without any guarantees that said passengers will arrive at their destinations anywhere close to on time.
14. Time Warner Cable
Shipping faulty cable boxes, so-called past due balances with epic backdates, tardy technicians, spotty service. These complaints and more orbit around Time Warner’s servicesphere. This all might have something to do with Time Warner’s messy identity crisis: Merge with AOL, see ship start to sink, divest Time Warner Cable, diversify to Chile, claw at the walls to stay organized while befuddling customers. One can only hope that the newly independent Time Warner Cable is on a learning curve and will, with increased competition from online viewing, focus more on providing a good experience for customers.
13. Circuit City
Image: Tom Raftery/Flickr
Shoddy service, lofty restocking fees, squirrely exchange policies. These perks and more defined the shopper experience at Circuit City, which has gone online-only since liquidating its stores. I suppose all those customer complaints didn’t exactly give it a competitive advantage in the brick-and-mortar space.
12. Wells Fargo
Image: Coolcaesar/Wikimedia
Better put on your running shoes before you deal with Wells Fargo, because chances are, it’s going to be like an obstacle course. Jump through hoops to cash your check, clear all the hurdles around transferring money, avoid slipping in the mud as they change your loan modifications on you with minimal notice. Wells Fargo will brandish a fly swatter at customers and expects them to skulk out without complaining. And that, my friends, is why Internet discussion boards are full of such complaints.
11. JPMorgan Chase
True story. A friend of mine—call him Michael–called Chase bank to check his account balance and the customer service rep informed him that he didn’t have any money with them. Michael had to argue with the rep and go through a host of security questions to reassure the rep that he actually had a Chase account. The rep then admitted that whoops, yes, Michael actually did have an account. I ask of you, how trustworthy is that, calling your bank and having a stranger tell you that you’re wrong about your account info? Add to that Chase’s sneaky fees, questionable in-bank customer service, and its eminent position on Wall Street’s bankster lane, and you have one money cache of questionable trustworthiness.
10. Walmart
Image: galaygobi/Flickr
It’s the cheapest megamarket in town (and the next town, and the one after that). The companies on this list have proven that if you chase rock-bottom prices, you’ll generally also get bottom feeder service. Walmart, which does precious little to motivate its low-pay employees to be good service providers, is no exception. The thing Walmart has going for it is price. Do you walk into one of their superstores expecting good service, clean bathrooms, a pleasant shopping experience that makes you want to linger? Not really. Do you count on their products to last a long time? No. Do you come in expecting to pay less than anywhere else? You betcha. And this is why the disgruntled masses keep coming.
9. Pfizer
Image: Erich Ferdinand/Flickr
Distrusting a pharma company is a mixed bag. On the one hand, they produce quality medicine that might save your life one day, or at least, in Pfizer’s case, your erection. On the other hand, big profits breed size, which breeds bureaucracy and lust for power, which in turn opens peepholes for corruption. All of a sudden, the same company that’s selling lifesaving medicine is embroiled in litigation, testing formulas illegally, and spilling toxic ooze into the environment. Medicine that holds so much promise has mutated into a mess. Talk about a bitter pill.
8. Ticketmaster (now Live Nation Entertainment)
Image: Rick/Flickr
The company formerly known as Ticketmaster seems to have taken a hint from our banking system as to how to make money. That is, they jack up fees and service charges to obscene amounts just so their poor sods of customers can go see the artists they love. In some cases, the markups are almost half the ticket price. As with most gougers, Ticket Overlord—err, Master–harnesses a monopolistic market in which they’re the primary ticket seller for most professional sports teams, major musicians, etc. With their recently introduced “dynamic pricing,” Ticketmaster is ensuring that it scoops up all the profits it can, even from lower-selling events. They also opt you in their marketing program and make it nearly impossible to opt out. Luckily for everyone, competition in the online ticket space is heating up, so these fat cats might have some real competition soon.
7. Assurant Health
Image: Erich Ferdinand/Flickr
If, God forbid, a meth dealer fleeing the fuzz were to broadside you in traffic one day, causing brain trauma and other serious injuries, you’d think your health insurance would cover that, right? Not Assurant (or Time, as they’re also known). When this very accident happened to Colorado’s Jennifer Latham, Assurant denied her claims based on a Joseph Mengele-ian rescission that claimed she hadn’t properly disclosed an ER visit for a panic attack and a uterine condition in her insurance application. How this relates to Assurant’s inability to do its own job is anyone’s guess. A jury nailed Assurant with a $37 million fine after the case went to court, but that’s still raindrops in the bucket compared to the more than $150 million Assurant has saved through rescissions over the years, according to the Denver-based indy newspaper Westword. Sadly, the business model of ripping off anyone who doesn’t know any better (or isn’t a professionally trained health bureaucrat) continues to be standard practice for both Assurant and its health-conglomerate compadres.
6. BP
When your oil rig explodes in the Gulf of Mexico, you probably wouldn’t go around spewing quotes about the “little people” who have been affected, or absolving yourself of responsibility in the chain of events. Unless you’re BP, of course, and you’ve engineered one of the most colossal PR failures in the 21st century. Note to Big Oil: When your earth juice spills over and starts killing dolphins, make sure people don’t hate you more than they already do.
5. WellPoint Insurance
Image: Joel Flintham/Flickr
When it comes to health care conglomerates, the question isn’t “how good is this company?” It is “how bad does this company get?” In the case of Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield parent company WellPoint, the answer is pretty bad. The Milwaukee Express sums up WellPoint’s version of the industry’s “bilk the ill for profit” policy:
• According to the House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, WellPoint rewards its employees for finding ways to drop coverage to sick policyholders.
• According to the Feb. 13 issue of the Los Angeles Times, WellPoint sent out thousands of letters to doctors looking for conditions they could use to cancel coverage for patients.
• The House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee found that WellPoint lists 1,400 conditions, including cancer, that can lead to revocation of insurance coverage.
• The Feb. 11 issue of the Los Angeles Timesreported that WellPoint was fined $15 million for dropping coverage for thousands of members after they submitted expensive medical bills.
That’s not to mention the up-yours rate hikes they’ve sent millions of customers. Their CEO gets in excess of $9 million per year for encouraging this kind of activity. Sadly, this is standard behavior for the industry and its leaders.
4. Monsanto
Image: Spedona/Wikimedia
When a powerful group of individuals who profit off a common interest gang up on individuals and threaten them into submission, we usually refer to that as organized crime. Monsanto spies on farmers, documents their behavior, then sues the plow out of them if they’re violating the terms of Monsanto’s contract. A little slicker than the Mafia, to be sure, but with the same basic mechanics. Can we expect anything else from a company started on the premise of killing life, from insects to Agent Orange? Trust is not the operative word here. More like fear for your life and assets.
3. Goldman Sachs
Image: Jerchel/Flickr
When a popular journalist calls you a “great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity,” and everyone in the country starts calling you “Squid,” chances are, you’ve done something to deserve it. Goldman Sachs is the ultimate manifestation of what Umair Haque calls the “bromance” between business and government in this country. The revolving door between Sachs and the gub’mint is oily with corruption, but, with tens of billions in tax breaks and bailout money, they’re thumbing their noses at us all. The odd caveat to this all is this: Would you trust Goldman Sachs to make you money? You would, right? They’re so well-connected and corrupt, it’s almost like having a family inroad to the stash of wealth controlled by America’s upper crust. But a button man in the Mafia could also make you money by beating the crap out of someone and taking their wallet, so this isn’t the kind of trust we need to tout.
2. Corrections Corporation of America
Image: Casey Serin/Flickr
Americans are a funny breed. Our country is built on layers of immigration—after herding our original inhabitants out of sight, that is—and each generation of immigrants seems to hate the one that comes after it. If you trace back the blood lines of the (surprisingly diverse) Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) exec team and board, surely an ancestor or two snuck into the States under the legal radar. That doesn’t stop the hardworking team from sustaining an industry off corralling and enslaving immigrants. If you come to the US to work and CCA catches you, work you will. It’ll just happen in an orange jumpsuit, for pennies an hour.
1. Halliburton
Image: Jason Sussberg/Flickr
When you land a $7 billion contract in the weeks leading up to the Iraq War, and you’re the only company to bid on the contract, and the Vice President of the United States happens to be your former CEO, well, you’re not all squeaky clean, that’s for sure. Among its many questionable activities, the company has admitted to bribing Nigerian politicians. It also mixed cement that it knew had quality issues into the Deepwater Horizon rig, but was laissez-faire about passing on the info and taking responsibility. To boot, the Halliburton CEO lives and works in Dubai. That’s shady business and politics.
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25 Most Trustworthy Brands
Apr 20th
Image: Valerie Everett/Flickr
What makes you trust someone? For one, they do what they say they’re going to do. They help you out when you need it most. They don’t do anything to make you distrust them, like charge you for borrowing their DVDs or stealing your stuff.
Trusting brands works the same way. When you buy something associated with a brand, you know the product isn’t going to, say, poison you or disintegrate in your hands. If you do have a problem with something that company provided, you know you can tell a real person about it and they’ll do something about the problem. You can rely on your brand the same way you do the people in your life that you trust.
Perhaps companies have to try harder to be trustworthy than people, though. Many on this list built their strategy around the customer experience. Some have made quality products for a long time. Those products, in turn, either soothe customer anxiety or create an experience that customers crave. Customers know what to expect when they’re dealing with the brands on this list.
Who are these stellar brands, and why do we trust them so much? Here’s a list of the 25 most trustworthy brands in America.
(Note: These were chosen to represent a sample across industries.)
25. WebMD
If you have a health issue, your overpriced MD probably isn’t your first line of defense anymore. The Internet is. WebMD lets you can look up any symptom under the sun, as well as tips for your general health and nutrition, and educates you on health issues you’ve never heard of. An attractive, intuitive layout and expert-written blog don’t hurt, either. On a more subtle level, any good, complete website that soothes your need for information when you’re panicky and desperate, as we often are during health scares, is bound to engender a positive, trustworthy association.
24. Kellogg’s
Who can argue with Corn Flakes or Cheez-Its? Many consumers default to Kellogg’s cereals and snack foods because they’ve grown up with them and they taste good. The company’s natural and frozen products have also nudged their way into consumer’s loyal hearts, and are a staple at most grocery stores. Aside from a packaging snafu in 2010 that made several of their cereals taste soapy, Kellogg’s has consistently produced products with a good taste and texture. Some are a far cry from actually being healthy, but if anything, that makes people even more loyal to the cereal giant.
23. FedEx
Image: coolcaesar/Wikimedia
Shipping companies are lucky. What better way to foster trust with consumers than delivering something that’s precious to them, quickly, safely and on time? Having the US Post Office, which many people see as sluggish or unreliable, as your main competitor also helps. If you FedEx something, it will almost always arrive at its destination on time and secure. In the rare instances a problem does crop up, FedEx is generally accountable and helpful–another one-up on the postal service. By virtue of doing what it does well, FedEx is one of the most trusted brands around.
22. Apple
A personable front man and general high quality of products and services endear Apple to millions of repeat buyers. The company has several things going for it in terms of generating both trust and excitement. Apple’s computing devices are sleek to the touch, sexy, intuitive, and smart, kind of like what you’d want in a date. The Apple Store staff are helpful and competent. Steve Jobs is arguably the best innovator of the past 20 years. Even though some of Apple’s policies are hard to work with, most Apple consumers don’t get the sense they’re waiting to pilfer your money at every turn. To boot, Apple has set industry standards for tablets, smartphones, high-powered computers, and laptops. No wonder everyone keeps coming back for more.
21. Adobe Systems
Image: Coolcaesar/Wikimedia
From Flash to Dreamweaver, Photoshop to Illustrator, creative computer types can’t live without Adobe’s software. Fortunately, because they’re industry standards, Adobe’s products are reliable and fast (unless you ask Steve Jobs about Flash). And aside from a minor overseas pricing scandal, the company stands out as a software provider you can trust. When you don’t have many products to use as alternatives, this is a good thing.
20. Target
Image: Marlith/Wikimedia
It’s safe to assume you’ll get a good deal on most of things you buy at Target, be they fashion jeans or garden tools; that alone makes consumers trust the brand. But Target goes a step further than, say, your local dollar store. It does so by providing trendy clothes, accessories, and home decor at its superstores, making them a one-stop shop for both mundane things like orange juice and the latest pair of 1980′s aviator sunglasses. This unique strategy sets Target apart from other big discount stores, and has the effect of creating loyal customers. Moreover, unlike superstore rival Walmart, Target doesn’t have that bad-rap monkey on its back, making shoppers perceive it as nicer and more trustworthy.
19. Southwest Airlines
Image: Dylan Ashe/Wikimedia
Provide good service in an industry notoriously lacking it, and you have yourself almost instant loyalty. Southwest, unlike most other airlines, also lets you check a back for free, and offer one of the industry’s best rebooking policies–no fees, just pay the price difference and use credits within a year. That excellent treatment of customers makes it easier to overlook snafus like pieces blowing off a jet while it’s in flight, or the airline ignoring mandates to fix its planes. Note to other airlines: When you build a lot of brand equity, your inevitable mistakes (and, sadly, crashes) are easier to forget.
18. Amazon
Image: James Duncan Davidson/Wikimedia
Go online. Buy a book or one of a million other items. Get item sent to your door, pronto. Return if necessary (but probably not). This is Amazon, and it has become a classic part of the American experience. From the reliable service to the smile on the box, Amazon is the go-to ecommerce classic for millions of people. On a primitive level, ordering something from a screen and knowing it will appear at your doorway in a predictable number of days is a little bit like magic. Consumers trust Amazon to deliver that magic. It does, and we start to rely on it. That reliance and familiarity breeds trust. Perks like the Kindle, seller accounts, and streaming movies don’t hurt, either.
17. Honda
Image: motoracereports/Wikimedia
Toyota used to boast epic customer trust, but last year’s recalls ensured that it is no longer the trustworthy Japanese brand of choice, at least for the time being. Honda, on the other hand, spells reliability for many consumers. You don’t buy a Honda expecting it to break down, at least not for a whie. When it doesn’t–most don’t–you start to associate the brand with reliable cars that run forever. This is the promise of Honda’s stylized “H.” The fact that early-1990s Civics are still the country’s most stolen cars attests to the brand’s enduring value.
The carmaker’s base of small, fuel-efficient cars also lined up well with recessionary consumers’ needs, and ensured it didn’t see the kinds of steep losses that many of its competitors did. Even with Japan’s nuclear disaster denting Honda production, the brand’s perceived value, and the extent to which consumers trust it, will endure.
16. Colgate-Palmolive
Image: Pavel Savela/Wikimedia
Colgate-Palmolive’s name alone invokes images of two things you probably use, Colgate toothpaste and Palmolive dish soap. There’s something about everyday products that engenders trust, perhaps a combination of familiarity and the fact that they help you accomplish basic needs. Case in point: Washing hands and brushing teeth. Unless a runny gray sludge comes out of your toothpaste tube when you first open it, chances are, you trust the brand. Colgate-Palmolive has its work cut out for it.
The corporate giant owns a number of other brands, most of which you probably trust. They include Ajax, Handi Wipes, Irish Spring, Softsoap, Teen Spirit, and Tom’s of Maine. CP’s success may rely more on its ubiquitous, decent products than on a stellar service model, but the fact that its items are so ingrained into our daily lives makes us trust them implicitly.
15. Chipotle
Image: CW221/Wikimedia
Although this brand belongs to McDonald’s, it never movies made about how it simultaneously fattens, cheats and overworks people. Perhaps that’s because fresh-Mex brand Chipotle doesn’t actually do these things. Indeed, the custom burrito maker is about as transparent as it gets. The menu tells you about the purity of its meats, and when you order, you name the ingredients you want and watch an employee spackle them into a tortilla for you. The customization of that process, combined with the visibility and clarity of ingredients, makes Chipotle a place where you know exactly what you’re going to get (aside from the apparently sodium-laden ingredients that you don’t actually see).
While Chipotle isn’t the only restaurant to employ this kind of model–the burger joint In N’ Out has simple, delicious burgers and malts down to a science–its widespread success and numerous copycats indicate that the transparency-for-trust model truly works. (Low prices and fast service don’t hurt, either.)
14. UPS
Just like FedEx, this brown-clad service guarantees that it will deliver your stuff anywhere, quickly and securely. It’s hard to miss a brown UPS truck as it plies surface streets for its destination, and the brown uniforms of employees only mean one thing, that your package is arriving. You know you can trust these guys to transport just about anything you need, and that, as mentioned for FedEx, is an instant harbinger of trust.
13. Starbucks
When you ‘get a Starbucks’, you always know what to expect, in terms of layout and service, flavor and drink sizes. While the company keeps coming up with new products to innovate itself out of its midlife slump, the fundamentals of Starbucks remain reliable. Go in, grab a latte/frappe/frappuccino, and feel better. Bottom line, it works.
12. Mercedes Benz
Image: Fadi/Wikimedia
Age generates brand equity and trust, especially if you can survive the aging process intact. Mercedes Benz, one of the world’s first car manufacturers, has done just that, and is still receiving handsome dividends. Thanks to more than a century of quality cars, you always know a Benz will be comfortable, fast and safe. Heck, they invented crumple zones.
For decades, the German car has also acted as a mark of class, reflecting taste and wealth. A Mercedes is also generally known for its mechanical soundness, though depending on year and model, that case can be disputed. All in all, it’s been a trusted and classy brand for years, with a solid reputation. Consumers buy them expecting a certain level of quality, and the brand generally delivers.
11. Costco
Image: Stu Pendousmat/Wikimedia
Costco, with its big boxes, reasonable prices, and stacks of stuff, invokes a primitive hunter-gatherer instinct in shoppers. (The samples help too.) You can always count on the deals, not to mention the hot dogs and pizza. Moreover, service is generally pretty good, and you don’t get attitude from checkout people the way you do at many other big stores. The backstory here is that Costco pays and treats their employees well; that attitude carries over to consumers’ shopping experience. Costco, in its membership-club wisdom, hasn’t changed its model much over the years, only its name. This further augments the familiarity-breeds-trust idea, spanning it across generations of Costco shoppers.
10. Canon
Image: Thomas Wolf/Wikimedia
Good products, established name, old, innovative company. Canon, a Japanese imaging products company, fits the “Trust Me” formula well. From high-end photography equipment to consumer video cameras that will fit in your palm, the company’s products permeate a long vertical. Consumers rightly equate the name with quality, and continue to buy at all levels.
9. Trader Joe’s
Good food at good prices and two-buck Chuck—how can you go wrong? Health-oriented customers love Trader Joe’s for its low-price, high-quality produce, cheese, grab-n-go lunches, bread, and a host of other tasty items. That’s not to mention its excellent wine selection, also friendly on the pocketbook. TJ’s offers the personality and product selection of a high-end grocer without insane prices. It keeps loyal customers coming again and again, and would-be shoppers in states lacking a TJ’s (Colorado. Cough.) begging for the chain to arrive.
8. Nike
This innovative sneaker company has flaunted star athletes and cutting-edge products since its early days in the 1960’s. If you buy a pair of Nikes, you’re pretty much guaranteed to leave the store with a comfortable and functional, if not trendsetting, pair of athletic shoes. Even after 47 years, the Nike logo, one of the most reliable around, is still a status brand around the world. Nike’s star power and deeply established brand make it one of the most familiar and trusted brands in sports.
7. Marriott
The hotel giant’s brand is built on consistency. The company prides itself on good service, predictably clean and comfortable rooms, and the loyalty of its guests. Although CEO Bill Marriott expressed concern about his chain not being up to the current generation’s standards of hipness back in 2005, the Great Recession, which made consumers re-focus on quality for value, may have changed all that anyway.
6. Nordstrom
Nordstrom boasts the latest fashions, as well as the personal shoppers and friendly assistants to help you find your perfect fit. That customer service-meets-fashion approach is why people keep on coming as though the retail slump never happened. While Nordy’s has some serious designer duds, it isn’t exclusive or across-the-board unaffordable, so it appeals to mainstream shoppers as well as the Nieman Marcus crowd.
5. Campbell’s
Image: H. Gordon/Flickr
Campbell’s has been around since 1869. Most of us started eating it as kids, when its chicken soup made us feel better when we were sick. Talk about powerful product association–and instant trust. In the seven or so generations it’s been around, the company hasn’t change its branding or core product line much, so you always know what you’re going to get when you buy a can of their soup. Aside from last year’s Spaghettios recall
4. Burberry
Few fashion brands stand apart based on tartan and a trench coat, but Britain’s Burberry has pulled this off with its trademarked patterns, making it identifiable on fashionistas even when you can’t read the label. Founded by a Hampshire tailor in 1856, the brand has undergone several identities, from apparel worn by the outdoor crowd to the insignia of working-class teens to its current manifestation as a luxury status symbol. But you still always recognize that tartan as a symbol of a darned good product.
3. Tiffany & Co.
Tiffany diamonds never lose their luster. When Marylin Monroe mentioned the company in her song “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend” in 1953’s Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, she could still have been singing for women today. Even with a wallet-busting recession playing in the background, women all over the country are hungry for Tiffany’s high-end products. They’re trendy and high-quality, but the brand’s rich history is what really roots it in consumers’ hearts, whether they know it or not.
Tiffany has been around since 1837. It created swords for Union soldiers, the New York Yankees’ logo, various United States medals of honors, as well the first jewelry catalogue in the country. No jewelry store has been celebrated as much as Tiffany has in movies, songs, Broadway shows, sitcoms, and the media in general. Tiffany isn’t just a matter of trust. It’s a collective love affair.
2. Johnson & Johnson
Even though it’s a member of the much-maligned Big Pharma consortium, Johnson & Johnson is an exception to the “Pharma does bad things” reputation blight. How can you hate the company the makes Band-Aids for your owies or baby shampoo for your little one? They also produce the much-loved Neutrogena brand, as well as Tylenol, which has admittedly been hit by a musty rap of late. Still, J&J’s large suite of products include enough beloved, essential brands that the company’s name remains a stalwart of good medicine.
1. Coca Cola
The taste of Coke probably hasn’t changed much since you were a kid. Elders might recall the drink’s cocaine days, but Coca Cola has at least two generations of just plain Coke addicts under its belt, and it’s cultivating more as we speak. The logo hasn’t changed much over the years, the core product selection is the same, and most people grew up drinking the company’s trademark brew. Indeed, most of us experience times when we need a Coke. We trust the brand so much that many of us depend on it.
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