Brand Loyalty – A mile wide, an inch deep.

The news for brand managers was not good. A study by the CMO Council. which represents chief marketing officers, and Catalina Marketing’s Pointer Media Network, found that by this year more than half of a typical U.S. brand’s most loyal shoppers in 2007 had switched brands.

Based on a study of 685 grocery- and pharmacy-stocked brands, using data from 32 million consumers’ supermarket loyalty cards, found that in 2008 the average brand lost about a third of its highly loyal customers.

Of course every recession pressures consumers to start looking for deals. If for no other reason than the credit card and bank cards that fuel their purchases changed the rules and either raised interest or required maintenance of higher balances. Meanwhile, many people lost their jobs or felt threatened with loss of a job, and that along with media hype about the recession, caused consumers to cower in fear.

But still the loss is serious, because many of those customers will never return. “Defection is top of mind for brand managers,” says Eric Anderson, associate professor of marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Chicago.

At the same time, Brand Keys, a research consulting firm, found that there were still plenty of brands which were able to recruit and hold loyal customers, providing that the brands didn’t change their message or value to core customers and they delivered or over-delivered on their brand promise.

The 2009 winners of Brand Keys annual Customer Loyalty Engagement Index included Jet Blue and Southwest Airlines, which tied in the airline category; Nike in Athletic Footwear; Toyota in Automotive; Sam Adams in Beer; Cheerios in adult Cereal and Frosted Flakes in kids’ Cereal; Allstate in Car Insurance; Olive Garden in Casual Dining; J. Crew in Clothing Catalogues and Retail Apparel Stores; Dunkin’ Donuts in Coffee; Apple in Computers; Canon in Digital SLR Cameras; Samsung in DVD players, HDTV (Plasma and LCD); ABC in Evening News; BP in Gasoline; W in Luxury Hotels; and Embassy Suites in Upscale Hotels/Motels; Tide in Laundry Detergent; Verizon in Long Distance Carriers; Konica Minolta in Office Copiers; Amazon.com in Online Books & Music; FedEx in Parcel Delivery; Domino’s in Pizza; McDonald’s in Quick Serve Restaurants; Avis in Rental Cars; Walmart in Discount Retail Stores; Best Buy in Electronic Stores; Staples in Office Supply; True Value in Home Improvement; Google in Search Engines; Pepsi in Soft Drinks and Diet Pepsi in Diet Drinks; Grey Goose in Vodka, iPhone and Samsung, tied for Wireless Handsets; and Verizon Wireless in Wireless Phone Service.

Looking over that list there are not too many surprises. For all that Starbucks has tried to do to put back an emphasis on experience and reward into a cup of coffee, Dunkin’ Donuts still holds sway, having been able to serve the same quality cup of joe for half the price.

United, American and Delta have tried to improve the service they provide for their still overpriced cost of travel, but, in the end, Jet Blue and Southwest beat them on price and service.

GEICO has sold itself well on providing a price break for car insurance, but Allstate still has given you the feeling that they’re going to give you better service for the price, especially when something awful happens and you suddenly need help.

Cheerios, Pepsi, McDonald’s and FedEx—these are American brand icons which have been careful to continue to maintain the quality of their service or product while supporting the brand with consistent communications.

What’s interesting is that Jet Blue is still in the money. The airline two years ago received a lot of bad publicity when its passengers were trapped in Jet Blue planes for hours at several Northeast airports due to a snowstorm . The incident cost founder David Neeleman his job as CEO. But the airlne apologized for the unusual service lapse, embraced a new passenger Bill of Rights that involved giving free tickets to passengers who were inconvenienced and took measures to improve operations.

It reportedly cost Jet Blue $30 millionl. But the cost was relatively small if as the current survey shows the airline was able to save its good name.