Subway and Amazon top list of brands with the biggest buzz

New York -- For the third consecutive year, Subway came out on top on BrandIndex’s annual ranking of the most buzzed about U.S. brands. The BrandIndex Buzz Rankings compares “Buzz” scores for nearly 1,100 brands across 41 categories to reveal the brands with the most positive Buzz in 2012.

Subway had a Buzz score of 40.3. Online giant Amazon came in at number two for the second year in a row, with a score of 36.8 Lowe’s was fifth, with a score of 32.7.

All of the brands were rated using YouGov BrandIndex’s Buzz score, which asks respondents, "If you've heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, through advertising, news or word of mouth, was it positive or negative?". The score is calculated by subtracting negative feedback from positive feedback.

The annual ranking also breaks brands out by category. In the specialty retail segment, the most buzzed-about brands were Lowe’s (32.7), Walgreens (30.5), The Home Depot (28.2), Ace Hardware (24.5) and CVS (22.8).

In the discount segment, the most buzzed-about brands were Amazon (36.8), Target (31.1), Kohl’s (26.5), Costco (22.1) and J.C. Penney (21.4).

In the clothing category, the most-buzzed about brands were Victoria’s Secret (21.4), J.C. Penney (21.4), Old Navy (20.6), Men’s Wearhouse (18.5) and Macy’s (16.3).