Online Branding Blog – reactorr.com

Top Brands of Canada 2010

Each year brands will undergo the scrutiny of being measured for everything from revenue to the size of the company jet.

In a study by Interbrand, creators of brand valuation which provides annual global rankings, it rated the following companies as Canada’s top brands for 2010:

1. Thomson Reuters
2. TD
3. RBC
4. Blackberry
5. Shoppers Drug Mart
6. Tim Horton’s
7. Bell
8. Rogers
9. Scotiabank
10. BMO
11. Canadian Tire
12. Manulife
13. Bombardier
14. CIBC
15. Telus
16. Sunlife
17. Lululemon
18. Molson
19. Suncor/Petro-Canada
20. Rona
21. Shaw
22. Investors Group
23. Labatt
24. Imax
25. La Senza

Complete study by Interbrand

In another study by Canadian Business magazine, Tim Horton’s came out on top based on the responses of 2,244 Canadians. The study was conducted by another New York based company called The Reputation Institute. They teamed up with Canadian Business magazine to find what they report are the top 10 Canadian brands.

1. Tim Horton’s
2. Jean Coutu
3. Bombardier
4. Yellow Pages
5. Rona
6. Saputo
7. Canadian Tire
8. Research In Motion
9. Metro
10. West Jet

I’ve never heard of Jean Coutu or Saputo, and would expect to recognize the top 10 as national brands.

So I present to you my completely biased top 10 brands of Canada 2010, based on the opinion of yours truly. This study is based on the response of one Canadian (me) and did not measure anything beyond personal opinion.

I offer no formal training, nor did I conduct any meaningful research. Here we go;

1. Tim Horton’s
2. Research In Motion
3. Lululemon
4. Canadian Tire
5. West Jet
6. The Bay
7. RBC
8. Molson
9. Loblaws/Superstore
10. Canadian Club

Perhaps also of interest, Canada was given the top spot in an annual survey of countries with the most favorable brand — surpassing the U.S. for the first time.  The study was conducted by FutureBrand and asked  the opinion of 3,400 business and leisure travellers on five continents.

Full story at Toronto Star: Canada No. 1 in survey of ‘most favourable brand’

Google Instant Search

Notice something odd going on when using Google today?

The release of their new Instant Search could be an indicator of the strength of online brands. Type a letter, and it will pre-populate the search field along with the pending results. Results can be different depending on your location.

A – AOL

B – Best Buy

C – Craigslist (now more family friendly)

D – dictionary (ok, that one doesn’t apply)

E – Ebay

F – Facebook

G – Gmail

H – Hotmail

I – Ikea

And so on. See a pictorial on search results at Huff.

Predictive text results in the search field aren’t new, but dynamic page loads are. I sort of like it, and hope they keep it. I also hope there is an option to turn off if I choose when logged in.

Notice the above presenter had the excitement of an Apple announcement in his presentation?
But here’s how its done;

Must Read Roundup

A few articles worthy of sharing on social media, online branding and advertising…

5 Reasons Why Your Interns Are Better At Social Media Than You Are

If you’re hands aren’t dirty from being inside your company, then you shouldn’t be blogging. Thinking like an intern means remembering that passion you used to have about every day business and bringing it to the blog. Interns share how excited they are about new products.

- businessinsider

How to Manage Your Online Advertising

Lucky for even the most luddite entrepreneur, a new wave of ad management and placement software and systems have emerged that can make handling ad flow almost as simple as updating a Facebook page.

- Inc

The do’s and don’ts of effective tweeting when building your personal online branding

Twitter has become a vital tool over the past few years, allowing folks to chronicle everything. A recent study suggests the microblogging site can improve relationships in RL (that’s Real Life). But it’s also become a venue by which people may — to put it plainly — overshare.

- CNN

Great Diversion with Bonus Life Lessons

This is one of my favorite Ted presentations. It not only discusses branding and how advertising adds value, it also provides an interesting look at perceived value.

Looking Forward

Let’s start 2010 with some inspirational thoughts and discussion.

How to live before you die

Steve Jobs urges us to pursue our dreams and see the opportunities in life’s setbacks — including death itself.

William Kamkwamba – Building a windmill

A remarkable story sure to inspire.

Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

Professor Randy Pausch’s last presentation at Carnegie Mellon talks about his lessons learned and gave advice to students on how to achieve their own career and personal goals.

Professor Randy Pausch made a surprise return to Carnegie Mellon University to deliver an inspirational speech to the Class of 2008 at the Commencement ceremony.

What Matters Now

Seth Godin has organized a remarkable collaborative effort from 72 individuals who each provided a short essay of no more than 200 words on  about what they were thinking about as we head into 2010. The goal of the book is to demonstrate that big thoughts and small actions make a difference.

What Matters Now includes such contributors such as Chris Anderson, Chip and Dan Heath, Guy Kawasaki, Mitch Joel, Gary Vaynerchuk, Ariana Huffington, and many more.

You can read it online here…

Or download a copy of What Matters Now

Top 5 Internet Maps

The web is a big place, and there’s no GPS yet. Here’s a look at Internet maps to help guide the way.

New York Subway Style

source

Tokyo  Subway Style

source

World City-to-City Connections

source

The geography on this last map is not as random as one could assume at first glance

Monopoly City Streets

I’m actually kind of excited about the announcement from Google and Hasbro for Monopoly City Streets. The online game aims to combine real buildings from around the world, new architecture designs and Google Maps locations to create the truest form of Monopoly available.

Playing Monopoly City Streets with people from around the world, participants will be using real addresses and building. There isn’t a lot of info available so far. Players will receive $3Million to begin with and be able to start purchasing property. To purchase Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington costs $2 Million (White House location), and players will receive daily rent such as $50,000 for a house and $100Million for a complete skyscraper.

This looks to be addictive – visit Monopoly City Streets to join

Google Land

Ever wonder what it would be like to visit Google headquarters? Google is supposed to have not only a great corporate culture, but also some very interesting office space. Here’s some interesting pics for a behind the scenes look.

 A slide allows quick access from  different floors. There are also poles available similar to the ones used in fire stations.

Employees can eat all they want from a vast choice of food and drink in the Googleplex cafeteria.

Each employee has at least two large screens. There are 4-6 ‘Zooglers’ per office.

Google offices are spacious and modern in design.

The Googleplex has one of the most interest open office concepts I’ve seen.

Large boards are available just about everywhere because “ideas don’t always come when seated in the office” says one of Google’s managers.

 Pool tables, video games etc. are  available in many areas.

Each floor hosts private cabin areas where employees (Zooglers) can attend to personal  affairs.

Problem with your computer ?  No problem …Bring it to this area where drinks are available while it is being fixed …

Professional masseurs and masseuses are  available.

This room offers massage chairs that you control while you view relaxing aquariums.

There are many books in the Google library – even some that are about  something other than programming.

Thanks to Dave (and Kara) of Fusion Advertising for sharing most of the images.