Chain leaders stay on top in brand studyChain leaders stay on top in brand study

Sarah E. Lockyer

NEW YORK The casual-dining chain Olive Garden, coffee player Dunkin’ Donuts, pizza delivery leader Domino’s, and quick-service giant McDonald’s each topped their respective industry categories for customer loyalty in Brand Keys Inc. latest annual consumer survey.

The survey’s top-ranked brands in the 2009 survey, released this week, were each repeat winners from 2008. In the latest survey, Brand Keys said value — and not just value based on price points — has become one of the most important attributes in customers’ minds today.

“Value matters more than ever,” said Brand Keys founder and president, Robert Passikoff, “and for brands that have something real to offer, [the economic downturn] may just be the event they have been waiting for.”

As more chains resort to deep discounting during this economic recession, Passikoff explained, the consumer becomes less concerned about price points, almost immune to the many $1 offers, and more interested in what they are receiving for that lowered price. The reduced prices serve to even the playing field so that brands with quality and value prosper.

“These winners are the result of consumers having new levels of expectations when it comes to price, and the brands’ perceptions of value,” Passikoff said.

Brand Keys is a New York-based brand and customer loyalty consulting firm. Its latest survey was drawn from 26,000 consumers, 18 to 65 years of age, in geographically diverse regions of the United States. Participants self-select which industry categories they identify with as consumers and which brands they frequent prior to face-to-face or phone interviews that cover what drives them to be regular customers.

Looking at the past three years of results, McDonald’s entered the consumer psyche as a coffee player in 2008, and remains in the No. 2 spot behind Dunkin Donuts and ahead of No. 3 Starbucks. In the latest survey, casual-dining chain Chili’s rose to the No. 2 position from the bottom spot in 2008. Ruby Tuesday’s has steadily declined in positioning since 2007.

Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index 2009

CASUAL DINING

COFFEE

PIZZA

QUICK SERVICE

Contact Sarah E. Lockyer at [email protected].