The Most Customer-Loyal 33 Brands

BrandWeek recently released its article of the most "Customer Loyal" brands of 2006.

Let me state upfront - "customer loyalty is not a substitute for word of mouth". Word of mouth is a higher order of customer state that goes beyond passive behavior to actively collaborating and evangelizing about a brand.

My evidence - Frederick Reichheld in his book The Ultimate Question turned an about face after preaching the merits of loyalty as the key marketing measure for over the last 20 years, and proves to himself and many others that word of mouthability (yes, this a is a word) is much better linked to business growth.

Regardless I'm a sucker for lists and loyalty and word of mouth run in the same pack of influence circles - so here are the top 33 customer loyal brands by category in the US. Any surprises? (Discover credit card is a bit of a peculiarity) and would the list be different in Canada? (Starbucks might have a fight on their hands with Tims):

Diet Pepsi (diet drinks)
Pepsi (soft drinks)
Verizon (won in two categories) (cell phone and long distance service)
Google (search engine)
XM (satellite radio)
Target (retail)
Subway (quick serve food)
Dominos (pizza)
UPS (delivery service)
Expedia (online travel)
Scotttrade.com (online trading)
Amazon (online books and music)
Canon (office copier)
AmericanFunds (investment funds)
Good Morning America (morning TV show)
Samsung (won in two categories - HDTV and mobile phone)
NFL (sports league)
New York Life (insurance)
Hyatt (hotels)
BP (gas stations)
KeySpan (energy provider)
Sony (DVD player)
Discover (credit card)
Apple (computer)
Starbucks (coffee/doughnuts)
L.L. Bean (clothing catalogue)
Aquafina (bottled water)
Coors (beer)
Coors Light (light beer)
Wachovia (banks)
Jet Blue (airlines)
New Balance (running shoes)
Avis (rental cars)