ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Four venerable chocolate-candy brands did well in a recent Harris Interactive EquiTrend Best Brand study. Hershey's Kisses was rated third in overall quality among "world class" brands -- that were not limited to foods -- and turned up first in brand equity.
Candy Bars were 14th, and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups took 19th among 100 brands altogether.
Other food brands that were well above average included Arm & Hammer Baking Soda with an overall quality rating of 7.90; Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream, 7.76; Oreo Cookies, 7.76; Snickers Candy Bars, 7.74; and Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, 7.72.
A newcomer from the grocery aisles to the Top 10 "world class" brands list is Reynolds Wrap Aluminum Foil (No. 7, up from No. 12 in the fall 2001 survey). Reynolds also ranked second in brand equity behind Hershey's Kisses.
The study measures quality, salience and equity.
The EquiTrend survey was conducted within the United States between May 2 and 10. A nationwide cross section of 35,869 consumers, ages 15 and older, was randomly selected from the Harris Interactive online panel of respondents and invited to participate. Survey data were weighted using 2000 U.S. census data and by adjusting for respondents' propensity to be online.
