Buzziest Brands of the Year 2010: Facebook is the buzziest brand; Vodafone & Twitter follow

Year 5 of the Buzziest Brands Poll has been the most interesting so far. It saw some big names bite the dust while others performed spectacularly

For five years now, afaqs! has been trying to identify brands with that special something that has consumers talking about them - brands with buzz. And just as we talk about a variety of things, consumers talk about different brands as time goes by. That is why buzz is so hard to capture, so hard to predict. One day a brand is up, the next it can go plummeting down.

Even by the standards of unpredictability that goes with any measure of buzz, the 2010 poll has been the most topsy-turvy one yet. The most shocking of all has been the crash of Airtel, the telecom brand that has been at No 1 for all the four years that the poll has been around. Unbelievably, it has nosedived from No 1 all the way down to No 16: neither voters nor the jury found the brand hot any longer. Was it the Zoozoo wave for Vodafone that made Airtel look ordinary? Or could it be that its failed bid for MTN, the South African telecom company, shattered Airtel's image of invincibility?

That's the fascinating aspect of buzz, its here-today-gone-tomorrow nature. And Airtel was not alone among the mighty to have fallen. Nokia, a frontrunner since 2006, slid to its worst rank yet. Even Google couldn't make it into the top 10 because none of the jurors voted for it. Carry on then to find out which brands get the vote from the people whose business is brands.

FACEBOOK

When Facebook appeared on this list for the first time last year (at No 2), it had 150 million registrants worldwide of whom four million were in India. Now, the global total is approaching 400 million and in India, it is about six million. Facebook sneaked past Vodafone to the top by a single vote though the telecom services provider had a much higher share of the popular vote.

In the popular vote Facebook scored only 40.3 per cent, more than 15 per cent behind Vodafone. The reason that the social networking site pipped the telecom company to the post was because five of the six jurors voted for it while four opted for Vodafone. This was a repeat of last year: Facebook was the most favoured brand among the jurors then as well as now.

VODAFONE

The buzz around the brand would be better described as buzzoozoo. There seems little doubt that, for Vodafone, it was the advertising with the odd little eggshell characters above all else that moved 57 per cent of voters to tick against its name - way ahead of their preference for Facebook or any other brand on the list. Though it lost on the jurors' vote, four of them opted for Vodafone - more than for any other brand other than Facebook, and the same as Twitter which, too, got four jury votes. Although Vodafone was unlucky to miss the top spot, it was a move up from No 7 last year. The brand did really well even in its old avatar, Hutch, being ranked No 2 and then No 3 in 2006 and 2007.

TWITTER

Twitter was included in the list for the first time ever because its use - and even more than that, Twitter as a subject of discussion - has grown so dramatically in the last 12 months.

In the popular vote, this microblogging site came in at No 4, behind Vodafone, Facebook and IPL, with 33 per cent of the voters favouring it. Idea Cellular followed close behind.

The number of Indians on Twitter is still tiny but afaqs! visitors clearly believe that impact isn't only made by numbers. It is a new language in communication and the judges agreed, with four of the six going for Twitter. Looking at the way Facebook has done for two years, Twitter ought to do powerfully next year as well.

THE BUZZY 10 (OR THE NEXT 10)

IDEA

If Vodafone's buzz has been instigated by its advertising, the same could certainly be said about Idea whose contrarian and surprising communication has had Indians talking about the brand. Its deliberate 'unslickness' too is something that sets it apart from other brands, especially in its category. And unlike the case of most brands, the brand is not afraid of courting controversy.

Idea entered the list only two years ago, straightaway at No 4. It repeated that performance - and for the third year running, seems to have made a home for itself at this spot. Number 5 in the popular vote, Idea marched to No 4 with a final voter percentage of 41.1 because half the judges opted for it.

IPL (Indian Premier League)

Along with Twitter and Colors, IPL makes up the troika of brands that feature in this list for the first time and have made their entry on a high note. Although it appears only about six weeks every year, IPL sets the world of sports and entertainment alive - and introduces an excitement in millions of households during those weeks. And yes, it has changed the world and business of cricket too.

It is for these reasons that IPL was voted the third most-buzzy brand on the popular vote, behind only Vodafone and Facebook. However, only two of the jurors nodded in IPL's direction which sent its rank slipping to No 5. Its final voter percentage: 34.0.

COLORS

No surprises here. This new entrant has turned the world of general entertainment channels in Hindi upside down by taking top spot within a year of launch. This is one brand which has been able to significantly save on its ad spend because the buzz around it and its programmes have had viewers glued to TV sets. So there was no question that Colors would do well - the only question was how well.

Colors gets an almost equal score from surfers as well as jurors, two of whom ticked 'buzz' against its name, giving it a final vote percentage of 31.9. Colors is a proof that even in an overcrowded category a newcomer can buzz its way to the top by changing the rules of the game.

TATA

Haven't we said this before? That Tata, a brand associated with huge, long-term projects rather than the fashion of the day is not a name we could expect to see in a list of buzzy brands in India? No matter. Neither voters nor jury pay heed to what we think and continue to vote strongly for the brand anyway.

Tata has been among the top 15 brands ever since the poll first took place in 2006. It entered the top 10 for the first time in 2008 rising to its very best, No 6, last year presumably on the back of excitement around the Nano. In the popular vote, Tata has slipped to No 14 but the support of two jurors has placed it at No 7. Final voter percentage: 22.4.

PEPSI

This cola brand has consistently appeared between ranks 15 and 20 in the pecking order except for the 2008 poll when it descended to No 21. And its archrival Coke has been consistently ahead of it within the top dozen places - except for last year when Pepsi came in at No 18 to Coke's No 21.

In popular reckoning, Pepsi has slipped from No 12 last year to No 20 this time round. But two of the judges believed this brand had buzz. That sent Pepsi soaring to No 8, the best ever that it has done, and 10 ranks higher than last year.

NOKIA

This has been one rock solid brand in buzz terms, never dropping below No 5 and once (in 2007) even featuring as runner up to Airtel. afaqs! visitors have been partial to Nokia and so has the jury. This time both have deserted it. Nokia has dropped to No 8 in the popular vote and among the judges, only one has supported it.

The brand continues to dominate the Indian market so what's happened? In India, Blackberry has been creating waves among the well-to-do. And when there is news from overseas about smart phones, it is dominated by discussion around either the iPhone or the Nexus One from Google - models from Nokia don't figure.

MAGGI

If there have been nasty knocks on the head for some buzzy brands, others have leapt up the charts. Maggi has always featured in the middle (No 17 in 2008) or way down, slipping to No 45 last year. This year the brand made it to No 10 thanks to voters and a single jury vote.

Last year, Maggi celebrated its 25th anniversary in India and asked consumers to share their memories of the brand in their lives. Running to the theme of 'Me and Meri Maggi', it invited consumers to post their stories on a website about how people used Maggi. Thousands responded and this became the food - pardon the pun - for a campaign. Nostalgia about Maggi has generated big buzz, pushing the brand 35 steps up.

CADBURY

Cadbury has always done pretty well on the buzz factor featuring, as it were, between Coke and Pepsi, in most years. It has had a fairly steady existence, invariably staying between ranks No 15 and No 20. Last year, the popular vote placed it at No 13 but lack of support from the jurors had it sliding to a final rank of No 19. This year, it found less favour among the voters who put Cadbury at No 19 but a single vote from the jury catapulted it to No 11, its best ever.

GOOGLE

Google is a good example of how luck evens out. Last year, it had ranked at No 8 in the popular vote but when three of the six judges voted in its favour, the search engine brand was catapulted to third place behind Airtel and Facebook.

This year, it moved one rank up in the popular view but none of the jurors voted for Google, forcing it down to No 12. This is its worst ever performance after having been on the charts for three years (it was No 6 in 2008). We can only surmise that the judges treated Google as a utility. And how can you possibly have a buzzy utility?

SAMSUNG

Samsung has featured in the buzzies every single year but for the first three times it was in the bottom half of the list. Last year, it got into the top half by making it to No 26. This time round it moved up to No 24 in the popular vote plus a nod from one juror catapulted it to No 13.

Click here to see the list of top 50 brands.