Just to give you a little time to think, let's first talk about global brands. Every year Business Week magazine, in conjunction with Interbrand, calculates the world's largest brands by market value. This year, rather than focus on the biggest brands (Coke, Microsoft and IBM, if you're interested), let's focus on the biggest winners and losers.

That is, which brands grew the most in the last year, and which lost the most.

Here they are:

Winners  Losers

Google +46%  Gap -22%

Starbucks +20% Ford -16%

eBay  +18%  Kodak -12%

Motorola +18% Heinz -10%

Hyundai +17% Intel -9%

What can be learned by studying this chart? Regular readers of this column know how often we speak of the importance of customer loyalty - of doing everything possible to ensure the highest possible levels of customer satisfaction.

Looking at this chart, we can say that those companies that are growing their brand value definitely have loyal customers - so loyal, in fact, that they can be called brand worshippers! But looking at the list of companies on the right - the losers - we can see companies that none of us would say have loyal customers.

In fact, it is the opposite, as these companies are struggling to hold on to their customers. They have failed to innovate, they have failed to recognise trends and capitalise on changes in their business environments.

Kodak stuck with film while the world was going digital, Intel kept building chips for speed when many consumers were not using the speed their computers already had.

What did the companies on the left, the "winning" companies, do correctly?

lSimplicity and focus. They did one thing, and they did it very well. Google focused on Web searches, eBay on online auctions. They knew what they wanted to do and did only that.

lDon't be afraid of failure. Google has launched many products that have not yet succeeded. They don't care. They try new things. Eventually one will work.

lStick with winners. Motorola was struggling until it came up with the Razr. Having discovered a formula for success, the company focused on that design element for all their new phones.

lRespect your customer. (You knew I was going to say that, didn't you?) Every one of the growing companies understands their customers, and does whatever each of them can to keep those customers satisfied.

lAttack. Hyundai was in the toilet, with a bad reputation for quality. They didn't give up but spent hundreds of millions to improve cars and reduce defects.

When you attack, it usually means your company has a weakness. Don't say you don't, as every company has many weaknesses. A smart company seeks out its weaknesses, confronts them and does everything it can to overcome them.

McDonald's is completely aware of its bad reputation for selling "junk food", for possibly causing obesity and poor eating habits.

For years it tried to ignore this issue, and its brand value dropped. Now McDonald's is confronting its weakness.

It knew it was strong with kids, but that was only one customer it had to convert. Mums were the real problem. So the company went after mums, offering different and better foods - salads, more focus on chicken and less on beef.

McDonald's started offering apple slices as part of its kiddie meals. This proved so popular that today McDonald's is the largest wholesale purchaser of apples in the United States.

But you knew that, didn't you?

nEric Rosenkranz's company, e.three (www.ethree-asia.com), helps companies grow their brand value by creating satisfied customers. He can be contacted at (02) 343 1623 or er@ethree-asia.com.

Eric Rosenkranz