Google Slips into Second as Apple Soars to Coveted Top Spot with Highest Reputation Score in History, Study

According to 13th Annual Harris Poll, this year's most reputable brand, Apple, benefits greatly from its hybrid status as a technology/consumer product/retail company, and earns the highest RQ score to secure the top spot in the ranking. It displaces Google-last year's most reputable corporation, which now ranks second with an excellent score of 82.82. The Coca-Cola Company, ranked 15th in 2011, has surged into third place, despite any meaningful change in its reputation rating. Amazon.com moves up from eighth to fourth place and perennial reputation elite, Kraft Foods, ranked fifth.
Coca-Cola, Amazon.com and Kraft Foods fill out top five, knocking off Johnson & Johnson, 3M and reputation veteran Berkshire Hathaway in the 2012 Harris PolReputation Quotient®, which measures corporate reputation for the most visible companies in the U.S.
RQ measures six dimensions that comprise reputation and influence consumer behavior. Apple has the greatest score overall. In fact, despite today's challenging environment, Apple records the highest score in the RQ's history , and is top-ranked in four of the six key dimensions of reputation:

Social Responsibility - Whole Foods
Emotional Appeal - Amazon.com
Financial Performance - Apple
Products & Services - Apple
Vision & Leadership - Apple
Workplace Environment - Apple

Interestingly, Amazon.com, which has no storefront and very limited human interaction, scores highest in the Emotional Appeal dimension - this is the core strength of its reputation. In terms of supportive behavior, customers report considerable confidence in Amazon.com and several other companies:

In the future, Americans would "definitely" purchase products & services from Amazon.com (71%), Kraft Foods (70%), and the Coca-Cola Company (64%).
Americans would "definitely" recommend to others products & services from Amazon.com (64%) and Kraft Foods (57%).
In the future Americans would "definitely" invest in stock from Amazon.com (34%), Microsoft (23%), and the Coca-Cola Company (23%).
Americans would "definitely" recommend to others to invest in stock from Amazon.com (46%), the Coca-Cola Company (25%), and Microsoft (24%)