Google is at the top of PRmoment’s latest league table that shows which of the top 20 international brands dominated media coverage in the last month. Microsoft and Apple are in second and third places respectively, with premium motor manufacturers Mercedes and BMW coming in fourth and fifth.

The PR League

When it comes to which brands are getting the most positive coverage, Google triumphs again, with over a quarter of its coverage being positive (26 per cent), just ahead of Apple’s 22 per cent. However, Google did also score the highest amount of negative coverage (22 per cent) while Microsoft scored no negative stories at all.

The main topics for each brand included:

Google – Negative coverage over the street view cars collecting email addresses and computer passwords from unencrypted wireless connections. Good news included Google claiming record shares of online traffic and the launch of Google TV.

Microsoft – Ray Ozzie retiring as Microsoft chief software architect. Windows 8 release date announced as well as news of Window 7's first birthday.

Apple – News mainly concerned how iPods and iPhone are at the top of kids' Christmas lists.

Mercedes – How it is competing for a green award as well as Formula One passing mentions.

BMW – How Swiss competition authorities have launched an investigation against BMW while more positive news included how BMW is at the top of new safety tests.

Tonality Assessment

Rich Leigh, account director at PR agency 10 Yetis says that the reason that Google gets constant coverage is because even the smallest change to any of its services is spotted without the need to promote it – getting it into the news without it having to appear to try. However, he adds that he thinks the PR team still does a “fantastic job“, explaining that, “as with anything that becomes prominently used, the issue isn’t how to ensure people are talking about Google, but how to ensure they’re talking about Google in the right way.”

Neil Boom, PR director of news navigation site www.onenewspage.com, is rather less impressed by Google’s coverage. He says that it’s not surprising that Google, as such a major brand, regularly hits the headlines. But he adds: “it’s interesting that it is so often only forced to the confessional when good journalism uncovers some corporate missteps. Google's recent admission that ‘fragmentary’ personal data collected happened to include people’s passwords and full URLs is a good example. Clearly admitting culpability when cornered is the opposite of transparent best communications practice.”

Boom goes on to mention how a new site www.haveibeenpenalised.com is being launched in a few weeks’ time where site owners can describe incidents they believe shows they have been unfairly treated by Google over search rankings.

Despite its critics, it appears there is no holding Google back. And 10 Yetis’ Leigh is just one PRO who is impressed by its publicity machine. He says, “I’m constantly in awe of its ability to keep developing the media story while keeping the core of its business growing and – more importantly – profitable. Google is my benchmark for near-perfect PR management.”

Methodology

PRmoment asked Echo Sonar to look at all UK online media coverage of the 20 top global brands as identified by Interbrand. Echo Sonar further analysed coverage of the five brands which had most coverage from 1 October to 26 October 2010, looking at volume and tonality.