Droid Powers Up Motorola
Oct 23, 2009
Battered wireless phone manufacturer Motorola finally has a reason to be cheerful. The announcement this week of its iPhone rival, Droid, has consumers buzzing already. According to market research firm YouGov's BrandIndex report, the phone maker's score has jumped from 10.9 to 15.6 since August.The Brandweek Buzz Report by YouGov is a weekly consumer perception report that analyzes the most talked about brands based on buzz: If you've heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, was it positive or negative?
YouGov interviews 5,000 people each weekday from a representative U.S. population sample. Respondents are drawn from an online panel of 1.5 million individuals. A score can range from 100 to -100 and is compiled by subtracting negative feedback from positive. A zero score means equal positive and negative feedback.
This week, the report spotlights:
• Motorola
• Yahoo
• Volkswagen
Motorola Gets Consumers Talking
Motorola's new futuristic campaign for the first Android phone—which will become available on the Verizon Wireless network—is registering on consumers’ radar. The new Droid, rumored to launch next week, is being directly positioned as superior to the iPhone, given its abilities to take photos at night, have a workable keyboard and open multiple apps at the same time. The cell phone maker's buzz score is up significantly.
Yahoo on the Rebound
Yahoo's $100 million global ad campaign on “owning the Internet” got off to a sputtering start, with its buzz score dropping from 35.4 on September 22 to 24.2 on October 13. Since then, the numbers have modestly rebounded to 28.4. Yahoo has already called in the cavalry: It hired Goodby Silverstein & Partners to handle strategic planning, advertising, digital marketing and campaign tracking, joining agency of record Ogilvy, and strategic branding firm Landor and Associates.
Volkswagen Rolls Off the Buzz Chart
The German automaker’s buzz scores have stumbled since August for a few reasons: 1) The recall of 13,500 (mostly) 2009 model year vehicles due to problems involving a temperature sensor in the Direct Shift Gearbox (DSG) transmission. 2) The Tiguan, which is VW's new entry into the small SUV category, is on the verge of a much-needed facelift. 3) The U.S. market has not taken to the recently introduced Routan mini van—a category people do not normally associate with Volkswagen. The automaker is currently in the middle of a search for a new agency to handle its $220 million U.S. creative account.
