Consumers are so infatuated with their Apple iPods, iPhones and iPads, and they so admire Steve Jobs’ visionary leadership, that a new survey from a Georgia brand consulting firm has dubbed the Cupertino, Calif., technology giant America’s most inspiring company.
The Global Institute for Inspiration (GII), a brand-consulting firm in Alpharetta, Ga., surveyed 1,533 consumers to identify the companies that respondents found most inspirational. Conducted online, the survey asked questions like, does a company keep its promises, is it committed to being the best it can be, is it innovative, and is it making the world a better place. The goal of the survey was to find a correlation between successful companies and those that inspire their consumers, says Terry Barber, chief inspiration officer of The Global Institute for Inspiration (the firm was formed in January in a merger between Barber’s Georgia branding firm, Inspiration Boulevard, and the Brand Ascension Group, of Colorado Springs, Colo.) “We set out asking whether companies that inspired others were more likely to connect and draw shoppers,” Barber says. “We see now there’s a strong link between the message consumers take away and how they act on it.” This is the second year Barber’s firm has done the survey. (To see last year’s list, click here.)
