With every recall Toyota has announced, consumer perception of the heralded brand has taken a worse hit. Despite the PR campaign by Toyota's president & CEO Jim Lentz (pictured) addressing consumers, the automaker is still facing pretty stiff headwinds. Its buzz score dropped from the high 20’s to a score of -12.4 on Monday—well below the international carmakers sector average of 8.9, according to market research firm YouGov's BrandIndex report.

The Brandweek Buzz Report by YouGov is a weekly consumer perception report that analyzes the most talked about brands based on buzz: The scores are based on weighing positive and negative perceptions of a brand. A +100 score is positive, a -100 score is negative, and a rating of zero means that the score is neutral. This week's report also features scores based on quality and value.

YouGov interviews 5,000 people each weekday from a representative U.S. population sample. Respondents are drawn from an online panel of 1.5 million individuals.

The report spotlights:

•    Toyota
•    Beer brands   
•    Home entertainment brands


Toyota Drives Negative Buzz
Toyota outpaced its closest competitor Honda in buzz score throughout 2009 until October, shortly after its first recall. Since announcing two safety recalls on some of its models, Toyota's buzz score has taken a hit with adults over 18 (beginning Jan. 26). So far, CEO Lentz has appeared on NBC's Today show and ABC News, issued a public video apology, and took out full-page ads in major newspapers. The brand has long been highly perceived by consumers. Even over the past several months—as Toyota has announced additional issues—the brand has seen dips, but has bounced back (or at least started to bounce back each time). But with each new recall, the valleys get a little deeper and the recovery becomes a little slower. Toyota's consumer perception is now lower than that of the Hummer.




Battle of the Beer Brands
Clydesdales or no Clydedales in this year’s Super Bowl ad campaign? This burning question has been posed on Facebook by Budweiser, keeping the beer brand’s buzz score elevated above its rivals heading into Super Bowl Sunday (on Feb. 7). Budweiser, which on Thursday confirmed that Clydesdales will trot into the Big Game after all, currently holds a buzz score of 19. Bud is counting on the Facebook population over 21 to win new fans, while ditching its yearlong “Drinkability” slogan to premiere “Here we go.” Although not a Super Bowl advertiser, Coors has improved buzz since mid-December on the crest of its heavily promoted 44-day sweepstakes tied to the event. Inviting fans to text in entry codes from bottles of Coors Banquet or Coors Lite, the brand doubled its score in the past 45 days from 6 to 12. Miller, lagging behind with score of 8, is buying up local time during commercial breaks to continue its Miller High Life is for the “average guy” theme. This time, Miller is focusing on small businesses like Tim’s Baseball Card Shop in Chicago.




Sony Leads Home Entertainment
There may be over 80,000 people inside Sun Life Stadium in Miami this Sunday, but the global audience will be watching on televisions at homes and venues around the world. January’s run-up to the Super Bowl has been a key time for retailers to promote discounted prices on big-screen TVs. In the world of home entertainment, for men over 18, there is Sony and then there is everybody else. The bubble chart (below) measures both quality and value scores over the last four weeks for the major home entertainment brands. Sony distinguishes itself from the pack—a tough task to achieve among this set of highly perceived competitors. Samsung and Panasonic are neck and neck. LG and Pioneer flank the sector average, while most of the other brands bunch very close together with respectable positive scores in the mid-20’s.