How Institutions' Brands Stack Up Against Companies

A survey of 500 senior business executives found that The Chase Manhattan Corp., Citibank and NationsBank outpaced Bank of America, Bank of New York, First Union and J.P. Morgan as leaders in business-to-business banking. Visa and State Farm ranked highest as credit card provider and insurance company, respectively.

The survey focused on five criteria: share of mind (awareness), share of heart (regard), value (value for money), momentum (potential for future growth) and uniqueness (overall business choice). Scores are statistically merged to form the ImagePower Index, an indicator of the current and future potential strength of brands.

In a ranking of 86 companies from 12 industries, Chase was rated 22nd, Citibank ranked 24th and NationsBank 31st. The banks trailed Microsoft, UPS, Visa, AT&T and FedEx (ranked first through fifth, respectively).

Twenty-four percent of participants rated Chase highest in share of heart category, while Citi followed close behind with 23 percent and NationsBank with 20 percent. Fewer than one in 10 mentioned any other banks in this context.

More than 80 percent of participants claim to know Visa very well, putting the credit card provider ahead of the pack MasterCard, American Express, Discover, Optima and Diner s Club in terms of share of mind.

State Farm topped a list of insurers including AIG, Allstate, Chubb and Travelers in the share of heart category with 35 percent of participants voting it as the one they hold in highest regard.

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