Quick Study: Apple Supplants Google as Brand with Best Reputation; Biz Bloggers Say ‘Authentic’ CEOs Gain Most Respect

â–¶ Apple Boasts Best Corporate Reputation: Apple, Google and Coca-Cola are the brands boasting the best corporate reputations among U.S. consumers, says a Harris Interactive study.

Polling 17,000 adults, the study found that Apple posted the best returns on four of the six metrics assessed: products and services, vision and leadership, financial performance and workplace environment, securing over 86 points in each field. In the 2011 poll, Google finished on top. Rounding out the top five brands for 2012 are Amazon and Kraft. Other poll highlights include:

• Apple, at 85.6 points overall, received the highest score recorded in the study’s history, compared with the 62.1 points it registered in 2000.

• Search giant Google saw totals drop by 1.2 points to 82.2 points year over year, while Coca-Cola gained 1.6 points, taking it to 81.9 points.

• Just 22% of respondents have a positive view of “corporate America.” Only 9% agreed the standing of businesses had improved in the last 12 months, versus 60% pointing to a decline.

Source: Harris Interactive

â–¶ CEOs Who Fess Up Get Bloggers’ Respect: Top business bloggers would like CEOs—particularly in the financial sector— to acknowledge the mistakes and excesses of corporate America to show that they are in touch with reality, says a study by the 10 company and Gotham Research Group. Interviewing 10 prominent bloggers who cover corporate and business news, the study finds that CEOs perceived as “inauthentic” by the bloggers were not only considered to be less likeable than authentic CEOs, but also thought to be less capable and less effective leaders. Other findings include:

• Inauthentic CEO traits cited by the bloggers include: lack of courage; failure to engage in unscripted “give and take”; and failure to acknowledge and discuss their company’s challenges.

• The bloggers surveyed say that no CEOs are getting blogger relationships right today—the CEOs who were most often named as being authentic were Warren Buffet, Herb Kelleher and the late Steve Jobs.

• Top five phrases named by bloggers as red flags of inauthentic CEOs: This deal is a win-win; thinking/working/planning outside the box; we’re not here to talk about the past; we are an innovative company; and executive X is stepping down to spend more time with his family (a code for an executive who is being forced out of a job).

Source: the 10 company/Gotham Research Group