Passengers stuck inside the plane trapped in the melting tarmac at Washington’s National Airport last July or who happened to be nearby the gent who stripped naked at the Portland International Airport last April to protest the TSA screening process, you might not think that air travel has gotten better recently. 

But the Wall Street Journal’s annual Middle Seat airline scorecard wrapping up airlines' 2012 performance is now out and it showed some improvements industrywide. The percentage of planes pulling in within 15 minutes of when they were supposed to went up to 79 from 76 the year before. Flights cancelled went down to 1.4% from 2.1% in 2011. Fewer bags were lost. Of course, it helped that fewer planes were flying last year, which eased congestion at the gate.

One airline in particular was likely doing the most celebrating: Delta. It had been the worst-ranked airline in 2010 but took a few measures in the past two years to get back to the top. “Careful study of when and where cancellations are most likely, and adjusting spare aircraft availability to keep flights moving if there is a breakdown helped, as did a rebuilt baggage system at its Atlanta hub to reduce lost luggage,” the Journal reports.Continue reading...

Consumer perception of big companies can tend towards the negative when the ginormous salaries of their CEOs are subject to public scrutiny. Middle Americans are rightfully stunned to learn of the compensation packages afforded top executives, even as the economic recovery drags.

Big companies, after all, depend on consumers buying their brands, so maybe that's one reason they are eager to put a shine on their collective and individual images. Along comes a new initiative called "The Civic 100" to help them do just that.

Sponsored by the National Conference on Citizenship and Points of Light, with Bloomberg News as its media partner, The Civic 100 is a national initiative to survey, rank, and recognize corporations on how they engage the communities they serve and institutionalize these practices as part of their corporate culture. It aims to implement a scientific approach to measuring and evaluating corporate civic engagement, corporate citizenship and CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) efforts.Continue reading...

For the past eight years, fifteen brands have ranked at the top of their category in the Harris Poll EquiTrend Study, a survey of over 1,500 brands across more than 127 product categories.

"These 15 top brands have consistently found a way to remain relevant and valuable to the consumer," said Aron Galonsky, SVP for Harris Interactive's Brand and Communication Consulting group. "It's not surprising why these perennial leaders continue to stay on top. They continually deliver a consistent and balanced brand experience, year after year, that really resonates with the consumer."

Check them out below, along with more from Harris about why they made the 2012 list.Continue reading...

Interbrand Global CEO Jez Frampton this week announced Japan’s Best Global Brands 2012 in a keynote speech in Tokyo.

“It’s a testament to the excellence of this country’s leading companies and the wealth of talent their brands represent,” Frampton commented. "It's not just 'business as usual' we are witnessing. It's business driven by passion and a will to overcome adversity."

The remarkable success stories highlighted in the new ranking includes such top Japanese brands as Toyota, Honda, Canon, Sony, Nintendo, Panasonic, Nissan, Lexus, Toshiba and Komatsu.Continue reading...

When many Americans think of New England, they likely think about lobsters in Maine, a game at Fenway, a vacation to Nantucket, or (cue Sarah Palin joke) Paul Revere’s Wild Ride. 

But when the approximately 400 marketers across the US were asked to think New England, they had quite different things on their minds: Timberland, T.J. Maxx, and ESPN, among 22 others.Continue reading...