List Represents Mix of Blue Chip Brands, Across Multiple Industries, as Social Media Adoption Goes Mainstream

iPhone reigns supreme again for the second year in social marketing management company Vitrue’s annual ranking of the most social brands. The Vitrue 100, which annually ranks the most social brands, has iPhone retaining the No. 1 slot followed by Disney, CNN, MTV and the NBA rounding out the top five.

Vitrue measures a brand’s “share of voice” daily to capture what is being most talked about on the social web.  Each day, Vitrue analyzes online conversations on a variety of social networks, blogs, micro-blogs, photo and video sharing sites. 

"Congratulations to the 100 brands who made the list and the many other who did not but are also pushing the envelope and opening up their brands to become even more social" said Reggie Bradford, CEO of Vitrue. “2009 was the year social marketing become part of the marketing mix and 2010 will prove to be an even more exciting year as marketers of all types innovate and allow more consumer interaction with their brands and assets"

The Vitrue 100 was established to help bring credibility and clarity to this emerging space. The Vitrue 100 helps provide the industry with overall trends and  illustrates for marketers how much interest and conversation is talking place around their brands.

Additional thoughts from Bradford on The Vitrue 100:

• Overall provocative mix of blue chip brands – cross category from CPG to auto to electronics to retail; shows continual adoption of social marketing
• Game consoles dominate the top of the list Wii #7, Xbox #9, PlayStation #13, Nintendo #21 (SEGA then at #95)
• Biggest gainer this year was Adidas, also NBA, Nike, MLB, Nissan, Victoria’s Secret, HP, KFC all made impressive gains
• Luxury brands on the list this year with good representation – Gucci #27, Louis Vuitton #81, Prada #88 and Burberry #94
• Media brands make up 8% of list – CNN #3, MTV #4, ESPN #23, CBS #32, ABC #33, Turner #36, Fox News #56, NBC #68 – perhaps illustrating our socialization of their content
• Cosmetic brands under represented missing outside of Avon at #97, as well as travel brands as jet Blue was the only airline to make this year’s list
• Sport brands make sense to be so prominent too as people are very passionate NBA #5, NFL #12, MLB #29, NASCAR #43, NHL #46
• Restaurants also make sense – people talk about where they want to eat – Subway #50, McDonald’s #62, Krystal #63, KFC #66; and
• Automotive vertical is also well represented – Mercedes #17, BMW #20, Ford #24, Honda #25, Ferrari #27, Toyota #38, Audi #45, Kia #53, Porsche #55, Jeep #56, Dodge #57, Suzuki#61, Volkswagen #67, Chevrolet #80, GM #85.

Forrester states that social marketing marketing is projected to grow at an annual rate of 34%, faster than any other form of online marketing (US Interactive Marketing Spend 2009 to 2014 Report issued Summer 2009).

The Vitrue 100: Top Social Brands of 2009

1. iPhone
2. Disney
3. CNN
4. MTV
5. NBA
6. iTunes
7. Wii
8. Apple
9. Xbox
10. Nike
11. Starbucks
12. NFL
13. PlayStation
14. Adidas
15. BlackBerry
16. Sony
17. Mercedes
18. Microsoft
19. Samsung
20. BMW
21. Nintendo
22. Best Buy
23. ESPN
24. Ford
25. Honda
26. Ferrari
27. Gucci
28. Nokia
29. Major League Baseball
30. Dell
31. Coca-Cola
32. CBS
33. ABC
34. iPod
35. Mac
36. Turner
37. Nissan
38. Toyota
39. eBay
40. Amazon
41. Victoria’s Secret
42. Nutella
43. NASCAR
44. Disneyland
45. Audi
46. NHL
47. Red Bull
48. Verizon
49. Intel
50. Subway
51. Hewlett-Packard
52. Puma
53. Kia
54. Fox News
55. Porsche
56. Jeep
57. Dodge
58. Pandora
59. Walmart
60. Zappos
61. Suzuki
62. McDonald’s
63. Krystal
64. T-Mobile
65. Skittles
66. KFC
67. Volkswagen
68. NBC
69. Sprint
70. Pixar
71. Motorola
72. IKEA
73. Pepsi
74. Cisco
75. REI
76. LG
77. AT&T
78. Converse
79. The Gap
80. Chevrolet
81. Louis Vuitton
82. Toys”R”Us
83. H&M
84. Philips
85. General Motors
86. Pringles
87. Visa
88. Prada
89. Panasonic
90. IBM
91. VH1
92. Hulu
93. Oracle
94. Burberry
95. SEGA
96. Sears
97. Avon
98. Jet Blue
99. Lacoste
100. Comcast

Some powerhouse technology brands were omitted from the list as they provide the backbone of many social networks.  While Google, Facebook and others are top brands, The Vitrue 100 is measuring companies that are using the technology, not those who are the technology. 

For more information, please visit www.vitrue.com/100