The Medinge Group, when it announced the top brands with a conscience, did so because we believed our selection would last. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the organizations we selected were reselected in 2004. And the "other" indices, which base their brands on old-school financial measures, aren't that reliable anyway.
   What do I mean? Take Mercedes-Benz. It's a top brand if you believe the other indices. However, quality of Mercedes-Benz vehicles has been dropping on quality surveys run by the likes of ADAC, the German automobile club. And as we predicted in Beyond Branding, consumers are taking action.
   John Moore told us about badpension.com, now it's the turn of disgruntled Mercedes-Benz owners in the United States at www.mercedes-benz-usa.com. The man who began this site claims to have been sold a lemon, lied to and assaulted by Mercedes-Benz employees and his wife's life was threatened. Is it any wonder this company didn't make it anywhere near our Medinge top brands?
   I have looked at DaimlerChrysler problems for some years: mismanagement of brands, the lawsuits over the claim that the merger between Daimler-Benz AG and Chrysler Corp. was one of 'equals', and now all that misbehaviour has filtered—as it would have inevitably—to the customer level. Frankly, I would not consider either a BMW (no one smiles at you—that's the sort of brand it is) or Mercedes-Benz (they look awful design-wise and their quality is suspect). As word spreads about the www.mercedes-benz-usa.com web site, we may see one more example of the power of 21st-century grass-roots campaigns online. posted by Jack Yan, 10:57 PM  permalink