Just how “wonderful” consumers think your brand is can help your stock price, especially in a recession, according to a study by market research agencies Kadence, Brand Care and So What Research.

The study looked at consumer perceptions of 650 leading U.S. brands and found there is a link between the affection consumers hold for a brand — or the “wonderfulness” of the brand – and its stock performance.  

According to the study, the ten most wonderful brands in the eyes of U.S. consumers are (in descending order) Hershey’s, Google, Sony, Kraft, Crayola, Kellogg’s, Scotch Tape, Wii, Rolls Royce and Johnson & Johnson.

The ten least wonderful brands are (from bottom up) National Enquirer, AIG, Botox, Kia, alli, Hummer, O The Oprah Magazine, Dress Barn, ChemLawn and Direct Buy.

In terms of value, brands that were seen as offering the best ratio of wonderfulness to cost were Wal-Mart, Google, Amazon, Hershey’s, Target, Cheerios, Campbell, PBS, Yahoo and eBay.

Brands that were seen as offering the worst ratio of wonderfulness to cost were Hummer, Botox, Prada, Land Rover, Gucci, AIG, Saks Fifth Avenue, Louis Vuitton, Maserati and Ferrari.

“Detailed analysis of responses shows a strong correlation between the level of consumer affection and stock performance in 2008,” said Owen Jenkins, CEO of Boston-based Kadence Business Research, in a statement. 

“For example, corporations owning brands with a mediocre affection score of 4.5 out of 7 lost nearly 50 percent more stock equity last year than corporations owning brands with an affection score of 5.5.

In other words, a small difference in how much a brand is loved makes a big difference in how it performs on the stock market.”

The study was conducted online among 5,500 educated, affluent consumers aged 18-54 during the pre-holiday shopping period in December of 2008.

(Photos: Reuters)