Canada’s Top 10 Brands

Arieh Singer of One Degree, the great Canadian Internet marketing resource, blogged last week on the Breakfast of Brand Champions 2006 held at the U of T's Rotman School of Management. This is the annual survey of the best brands in Canada, as voted by industry people. It is run by Cundari SFP, The Strategic Councel, and Canadian Business.

What are Canada’s top consumer brands? (Both products and companies were eligible.)

Before we reveal them, here is Arieh’s take on the key attribute of a strong brand: “In order for a brand to succeed it must create a unique customer experience, and deliver it consistently across all touch points with customers.”

Now, here are the Top 10 Canadian brands announced last week:

Tim Horton’s
Canadian Tire
WestJet
Cirque du Soleil
President’s Choice
Molson Canadian
Loblaw’s
Bell / Bell Mobility
TD Canada Trust
Shoppers Drug Mart

Do you agree? Disagree? Leave a comment.

Personally, I find the list a little confusing. Cirque du Soleil is a bigger brand in Vegas than it is in Canada. Bell (is it Bell Canada? Bell Ontario? Bell Quebec?) is a confusing mess these days, beavers be damned. (They even seem to have dropped the "Bell Mobility" name in favour of the somehow-even-more-bland-brand, "Wireless.")

Loblaw’s is an icon only in Ontario, and is busy rolling out Superstores under various names in the rest of the country. And Molson Canadian is such a great brand it’s called Laurentide in Quebec. (The Montreal Canadiens would make more sense on this list!)

To my mind, a more complete list would replace those four with Rick Mercer, The Globe and Mail, Swiss Chalet and the BlackBerry.

For Arieh’s full article (which contains more on branding and less ranting), click here.