Messing with your customers it's not so profitable, it seems -- Ford loses a fortune and fifteen points in Business Week/Interbrand's Top 100, dropping to a lower slot (#19) than Honda (#18) and BMW (#17). Well, Ford, this is what you deserve for that SportKa commercial of yours! Kidding, but only half so. The top loser being a dissolving Kodak with a disastrous -33%, caught on the wrong side of the barricades as digital photography wins over celluloid. Horse-drawn carriage manufacturers must've felt the same.



On the other hand, the top gainer is no other than Apple, which is climbing seven slots (to #43), gaining a fabulous 24%. The iPod, the iTunes Music Store, Apple Stores, Mac OS X, the great PowerBooks lineup and the G5 seem to pay off. I'm sure quite a bit of this came on the background of an aging Microsoft, looking worse than ever (losing itself 6 points, but still in the #2 slot). The second best gainer is Amazon.com (#66) with a hefty 22% increase and no advertising!

Have a look at Intebrand's chart in PDF format, off of Business Week's website. This is not a random post. To be continued.