A Del Monte frozen dessert modelled on James Bond hunk Daniel Craig’s torso has helped the brand top the latest Kaizo Advocacy Index published today (15th September 2009). However, the study found that many brands are still struggling to maintain a positive online reputation and are failing to learn lessons from more successful examples. Those brands that have improved scores in the last six months have done so by creatively engaging with consumers, ensuring communication is transparent, improving customer service and being clear about pricing.

Rhodri Harries, Managing Director of Kaizo, said:“The current economic climate means that consumers are looking even harder for products and services that provide the best value overall. If brands are honest and provide helpful customer service, whilst also offering true value for money, then they will be consistently recommended, no matter how much money is thrown into expensive advertising campaigns.”

The Kaizo Advocacy Index is a biannual study that measures the online reputation of 20 brands across Food, Software, Airline and Mobile sectors. The study examines independent links on four Google search engine tools – Web, News, Groups and Blogs, as well as posts on Twitter and Facebook Groups. Content is assigned a positive (Promoter), neutral (Passive) or negative (Detractor) sentiment score and an index is created by subtracting the percentage of Promoters from the percentage of Detractors.

To read the full report click here.