In 2004, Brand Keys teamed up with Brandweek, one of the premier providers of news and insights concerning brands and marketing, to create the Brandweek Customer Loyalty Awards powered by Brand Keys.

In announcing this year's awards Thomas Woerner, Publisher of Brandweek^®, noted, "with more demanding investors and profits more difficult to achieve, more companies are recognizing that leveraging customer loyalty is the primary means companies will use to position themselves for differentiation and consumer engagement."

The award winners are identified by the results of the annual Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Index^®. The Index provides leading-indicator assessments that probe customers' relationships with 239 brands in 35 categories, and identifies the drivers that bond customers with the "ideal" brand in each category. The brand whose set of category drivers comes closest to meeting or exceeding those of the ideal is the one whose customers will demonstrate the highest levels of loyalty and consumer engagement over the coming months.

2006 Brand Rankings by Category