America's Dot.coms Still Alive And Kicking According to Corporate Branding, LLC.

Business Editors

STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 6, 2000

Despite foreboding predictions, the nation's e-brands are still strong, according to results from the e-Branding Index(TM) by Corporate Branding, LLC, a global brand communications firm. While some e-brands, including America Online, Yahoo!, and Amazon.com saw dips in their CoreBrand(TM)Power, these declines were not nearly as dramatic as might be expected given recent dire warnings of the demise of the dot.com. And, there were a few e-brands, like E*TRADE and Ameritrade, that did not lose power. While investment potential was a concern, other drivers such as familiarity and overall reputation remained relatively strong.

"The timing of this study is critical," said Corporate Branding CEO Jim Gregory. "We conducted the survey just after the precipitous fall in the dot.com market, yet we didn't see declines in CoreBrand Power commensurate with that drop. Keeping an eye on the impact that continued market fluctuations may have on this category will be extremely important."

For the study, Corporate Branding compiled CoreBrand Power scores for publicly traded companies in the U.S. CoreBrand Power gauges how familiar and favorable a company is to key business decision-makers, a group defined as vice presidents or higher at the top 20% of US corporations based on revenue. For this study, Corporate Branding conducted 300 national interviews in 1999 and an additional 300 during the second quarter of 2000. CoreBrand Power Scores ranked for the top 25 e-brands in 1999 and Q2 2000 are:

   e-Brand                           1999     Q2 2000  CoreBrand
                                                          Power Change
America Online, Inc.                  69.8       63.7     -6.1
Yahoo!                                68.2       65.5     -2.7
Amazon.com, Inc.                      56.6       54.2     -2.5
Netscape Communications               50.4       47.0     -3.4
Ebay, Inc.                            46.1       45.4     -0.7
Prodigy                               38.7       34.0     -4.7
Infoseek Corporation                  35.8       25.5     -10.3
E*Trade Group, Inc.                   33.0       34.8     +1.8
Lycos, Inc.                           32.7       32.1     -0.6
Priceline.com                         30.2       31.7     +1.5
Ameritrade Corporation                29.4       31.2     +1.8
Excite, Inc.                          28.4       26.7     -1.7
Alta Vista                            27.6       26.5     -1.1
Earthlink Network                     27.2       24.0     -3.2
Go Network                            26.2       20.4     -5.8
Mindspring Enterprises                25.5       22.2     -3.3
Juno.com                              24.8       23.0     -1.8
Egghead.com                           23.8       20.0     -3.8
Macromedia                            22.9       19.2     -3.7
iVillage                              19.1       16.6     -2.5
CDNOW.com                             17.1       14.9     -2.2
ZDNet                                 15.3       14.8     -0.5
Wingspan.com                          15.0        9.5     -5.5
About.com                             14.8       11.7     -3.1
Hot Bot                               14.8       13.5     -1.3

"It is clear from the data that decision-makers are beginning to put e-brands into perspective," said Mr. Gregory. "A strong brand is not a substitute for financial performance, but powerful brands, whether e-brands or brick-and-mortar, are more resilient and can withstand market volatility better than weak ones. However, this is a category that is full of surprises...stay tuned."

Corporate Branding, LLC., is a global brand strategy and communications firm that specializes in helping companies measure, understand, craft and express their corporate brands. Headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut with offices in New York, Philadelphia, and Tokyo, the company works with many of the largest and best-known brands in the world.