Brand Influence League - June 2007

SMRT Corporation has snared pole position as having the biggest recorded jump in local and global stories amongst all companies surveyed under the Brand Influence League so far this year.

Articles of SMRT with mention of its CEO and president Saw Phaik Hwa saw the biggest relative month-on-month increase in the number of stories from March to April - 800% for Singapore sources (from one to nine articles) while global sources returned a whopping 2300% increase (from one to 24 articles).

The spike in stories was in part due to the release of the corporation's financial results and media speculation on whether SMRT would be merging with ComfortDelGro.

Not to be outdone in the local media stakes however was MobileOne, which recorded a 233% relative increase in news stories, and Venture Corporation, which came in third with 150%.

Global sources-wise, MobileOne and Venture Corporation both made 450% increases, while UOB rounded up the top three with a 245% result.

Big droppers included APB which experienced a 100% decrease in articles in both local and international media, while Jardine Cycle & Carriage likewise saw a 100% drop globally.

MobileOne's strong showing meant that the company entered into the top five local ranking of companies with the highest accumulated number of mentions in the media to April thus far. The brand was slotted into fifth place, kicking out Keppel from the ranking.

International mentions-wise, UOB entered at third place displacing CDL, which was ranked fourth last month. Despite SMRT chalking up the article mentions, that was still not enough for it to capture a place in the top five on either local nor international rankings as the corporation saw little or no stories from January to March 2007.