View Full Version : Most Famous Brand by State



Pete
07-07-2013, 01:20 PM
Interesting...

Sonic only recently went national with it's branding.

What other Oklahoma companies are nationally known?


Interesting they chose Apple over McDonald's for California. Both are among the biggest brands on the planet.

http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/business/tumblr_mmxqdtoGLu1rasnq9o1_1280.jpg

Pete
07-07-2013, 01:29 PM
The way they are growing, Hobby Lobby may soon have a very strong national presence.

Dollar/Thrifty would be a candidate but of course they were recently sold to Hertz.

TAlan CB
07-07-2013, 02:13 PM
Surprised that North Carolina was'nt Pepsi or Lowes... I understand Coke in Georgia, but Home Depot is also pretty big. Despite opening his first store in Oklahoma, I'm glad Sam settled just across the border in Arkansas.

Bunty
07-07-2013, 02:41 PM
Eskimo Joe's

catch22
07-07-2013, 02:52 PM
Eskimo Joe's

There are people in OK that don't know what that is.. Much less nationwide.

Zuplar
07-07-2013, 02:56 PM
When I think of Kansas I usually think of Pizza Hut. Of course since it is owned by Yum now I guess it doesn't count.

bluedogok
07-07-2013, 05:26 PM
Surprised that North Carolina was'nt Pepsi or Lowes... I understand Coke in Georgia, but Home Depot is also pretty big. Despite opening his first store in Oklahoma, I'm glad Sam settled just across the border in Arkansas.
Coca-Cola is a much older and worldwide brand than Home Depot, in fact Chick-fil-A would probably pass Home Depot in brand recognition. Delta Airlines is also a Georgia brand.


When I think of Kansas I usually think of Pizza Hut. Of course since it is owned by Yum now I guess it doesn't count.
There is a whole lot more Yum! visibility in Louisville than Lexmark. Kind of hard to think of anything other than bourbon when it comes to Kentucky, if they had a bourbon brand as large as Jack Daniel's I would think that would be the highest in brand recognition.

I know McDonald's started in California but their HQ has been in Oak Brook, Illinois since 1971.

venture
07-07-2013, 06:12 PM
The way they are growing, Hobby Lobby may soon have a very strong national presence.

Dollar/Thrifty would be a candidate but of course they were recently sold to Hertz.

I can't see Hobby Lobby every getting better known than Sonic (if we are focusing on the state's best known). Dollar/Thrifty might rival Sonic...but those don't count anymore.


Surprised that North Carolina was'nt Pepsi or Lowes... I understand Coke in Georgia, but Home Depot is also pretty big. Despite opening his first store in Oklahoma, I'm glad Sam settled just across the border in Arkansas.

Everyone knows (hates) BoA, so that doesn't shock me. Georgia really has to go to Coke, but Delta is probably the strong #2 there. Everyone knows when you die, chances are you have to make a connection in Atlanta. :)


There are people in OK that don't know what that is.. Much less nationwide.

Exactly. Outside of Stillwater and a few areas where OSU alums rest, no one gives a hoot about Eskimo Joes.


There is a whole lot more Yum! visibility in Louisville than Lexmark. Kind of hard to think of anything other than bourbon when it comes to Kentucky, if they had a bourbon brand as large as Jack Daniel's I would think that would be the highest in brand recognition.

I know McDonald's started in California but their HQ has been in Oak Brook, Illinois since 1971.

Lexmark shocks me some, but I guess most know who they are when they hear the name. Yum! has better known brands, but people wouldn't recognize the corporate name.

I was going to point out that part about McD's but you beat me too it. When Pete mentioned it I had to stop and think "but I just drove by their HQ in Chicago a little over a week ago." :)

Pete
07-07-2013, 06:14 PM
If Mickey D's is in Illinois, why didn't it ace out CAT??

venture
07-07-2013, 08:35 PM
If Mickey D's is in Illinois, why didn't it ace out CAT??

I had the same thought.

ljbab728
07-07-2013, 09:19 PM
I talk to people around the country on a regular basis when assisting my customers from Hobby Lobby. I almost always get an immediate positive reaction of recognition when I mention their name.

Bunty
07-08-2013, 12:45 AM
There are people in OK that don't know what that is.. Much less nationwide.

It doesn't have the world's 2nd most popular T-shirt, after Hard Rock Cafe, for nothing, assuming that's it's not years out of date or a myth. Sonic is probably the only obvious one with Hobby Lobby next.

MadMonk
07-08-2013, 05:54 AM
Starbuck's over Microsoft? I don't think so.

MsProudSooner
07-08-2013, 11:56 AM
How many states is Sonic in? QuikTrip is growing all the time. I could see them overtaking Sonic.

Pete
07-08-2013, 12:04 PM
Sonic (this is a couple of years old):

http://media.mlive.com/citpat/entertainment_impact/photo/10517828-large.png

Sonic operates 3,561 locations in 43 states.


QuikTrip operates 642 stores in 13 states as shown below:

Georgia: Atlanta (128 stores)
Texas: Dallas/Fort Worth (103 stores)
Arizona: Phoenix (86 stores)
Kansas/Missouri: Kansas City (79 stores)
Missouri/Illinois: St. Louis (73 stores)
Oklahoma: Tulsa (68 stores)
Kansas: Wichita (38 stores)
Iowa/Nebraska: Des Moines/Omaha (36 stores)
Carolinas: Greenville/Spartanburg/Charlotte (22 stores)
Arizona: Tucson (17 stores)

Praedura
07-08-2013, 12:22 PM
Wow. Did not know they had expanded that much. I would have guessed about 15 or 16 states.

And it's more than even that map showed. A quick search and I found this image that shows (for example) locations in Oregon, Washington, Minnesota,...

http://image.mapmuse.com/images/maps/map-of-sonic-drive-in-locations.png

Edit: Oh wait, my bad. I was thinking the red states didn't have ones, but they're just new entries (your map is kinda small).

Yep, it's almost every state in the lower 48 now. They're taking over!

TAlan CB
07-08-2013, 12:55 PM
I can't see Hobby Lobby every getting better known than Sonic (if we are focusing on the state's best known). Dollar/Thrifty might rival Sonic...but those don't count anymore.



Everyone knows (hates) BoA, so that doesn't shock me. Georgia really has to go to Coke, but Delta is probably the strong #2 there. Everyone knows when you die, chances are you have to make a connection in Atlanta. :)



Exactly. Outside of Stillwater and a few areas where OSU alums rest, no one gives a hoot about Eskimo Joes.



Lexmark shocks me some, but I guess most know who they are when they hear the name. Yum! has better known brands, but people wouldn't recognize the corporate name.

I was going to point out that part about McD's but you beat me too it. When Pete mentioned it I had to stop and think "but I just drove by their HQ in Chicago a little over a week ago." :)

What about Love's Truck Stops? they started in Ok and are still headquartered there.
And, of-course, chains move their headquarters after years of originally being from a single place - Phillips 66, Conoco, etc. For those of us who are older, we never thought Phillips 66 would leave Bartlesville. So, we must context this with "what is now from known from this state ".

Pete
07-08-2013, 01:02 PM
Loves has approx. 300 locations in 30 states.

Urbanized
07-08-2013, 02:38 PM
No question based on Pete's breakdown that Sonic is by far the "most famous" brand HQd in Oklahoma these days. That's a remarkable footprint, especially when you consider that just 20 years ago it was much more of a regional company. It's not as venerable as Coca-Cola or Hershey's or GM, but a pretty good brand to represent us. Especially when you consider some of the other brands listed. Allsup's? I barely have any awareness of that, and I live in a neighboring state. Regional interest only? A piece of the NM flag is part of their logo, fercryinoutloud. Great Harvest Bread Co.? Sounds delicious, but I've never heard of it.

Our brand would have been very different just a few years ago. Kerr-McGee, Phillips 66, Conoco?

Speaking of which, when Devon proposed their building to OCURA a few years ago, they included a "getting to know Devon" section in their proposal that humbly said something along the lines of "we might be bigger than you think we are..." They compared their market cap at the time to other more well-known companies, and pointed out that at $54 billion (IIRC, and obviously this has changed considerably) they were worth more than (among others) Anheuser-Busch (which had just sold to InBev), Nike and Starbucks. Meaning "most famous" is in no way the same as "most valuable."

bluedogok
07-08-2013, 05:06 PM
If you are out in West Texas you know what Allsup's is, a convenience store chain.

Yep, "most famous" and position in the market can be entirely separate things. Before the arena and airport projects there weren't that many people outside the A/E business in Oklahoma that knew of Benham because there was so little work done in Oklahoma (other than highway work or the Pensacola Dam at Grand Lake) because most of the clients were large multinational corporations (3M, Coca-Cola, Gatorade/Quaker Oats, Bristol-Myers/Squib, Anheuser-Busch, Ocean Spray, Mobil, etc.) or governments. That was in spite of the fact we were almost a 1,000 person firm worldwide based in OKC with the OKC division and corporate employment of almost 300, Tulsa with 150, St. Louis over 100, 50 or so in St. Paul, and offices in Phoenix, Detroit, Atlanta, Northwest Arkansas, Tokyo, Moscow, Mexico City and Guangzhou, China. They used to have offices in Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Fort Lauderdale, Washington DC and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia that I know of, I'm sure there were others.

venture
07-08-2013, 05:16 PM
It doesn't have the world's 2nd most popular T-shirt, after Hard Rock Cafe, for nothing, assuming that's it's not years out of date or a myth. Sonic is probably the only obvious one with Hobby Lobby next.

2nd most popular? I call that a load of bull to be honest. You get away from Stillwater and OK and the brand recognition goes in the toilet. Sounds like a local myth started to prop up a local brand. I equate it to all the "WORLD'S LARGEST" outfits you see along highways in the middle of BFE.

As far as Hobby Lobby being #2 behind Sonic...ehhh. While large, brand recognition probably isn't anywhere near equal to Dollar/Thrifty.

If you ask a random person who Hobby Lobby is they would probably say "No idea, it sounds like a hobby store."

Ask them who Dollar or Thrifty is and they will likely say "Those are the car rental companies at the airports."

In the same breath. Ask people to name a popular hobby store. How many will say Hobby Lobby first over say Michaels whom is more widespread.

Pete
07-08-2013, 05:47 PM
I have never, ever seen an Eskimo Joe's t-shirt here in California and I've lived here 20 years.

Snowman
07-08-2013, 06:28 PM
I could be convinced it is the 2nd most sold in Stillwater but I would have doubts about any other market being claimed

bluedogok
07-08-2013, 06:33 PM
25 years ago Eskimo Joe's claimed such a ranking, the Tulsa World promulgated the story. The t-shirt business has changed greatly since then.

Plutonic Panda
07-08-2013, 07:29 PM
Starbuck's over Microsoft? I don't think so.That and McDonalds should be tied(if not above) Apple.

Snowman
07-08-2013, 07:49 PM
AOL seems like a pretty damaged brand to still be the biggest for a state, yea it has name recognition but it has been a mess for over a decade, plus they moved their headquarters to NY. Capital One is the only other one in Virginia I can think of off hand though.

venture
07-08-2013, 09:14 PM
That and McDonalds should be tied(if not above) Apple.

McDonalds is Illinois-based now however, not California...so they wouldn't trump Apple.

Found this new update from the original blog that posted it...make much more sense. Though I don't think you can count Conoco for Oklahoma anymore. :)

http://24.media.tumblr.com/8bf17b4f2deb9f617c0db82e7992a9a9/tumblr_mpbtfkUHBx1rasnq9o1_1280.png

Zuplar
07-08-2013, 09:22 PM
Isn't using Harvard a bit of a cop out?

Snowman
07-08-2013, 09:28 PM
Sonic makes more sence for us. Neither Conico or Philips have been in Oklahoma for a while

Plutonic Panda
07-08-2013, 10:39 PM
Disney World is a much better fit for Florida. I didn't realize McDonalds was Illinois based either. For whatever reason, I thought is Cali

TAlan CB
07-09-2013, 07:14 AM
I was in a Home Depot in Atlanta (metro, as Atlanta proper is quite small) and came across a fellow shopper wearing an Eskimo Joe shirt. Being an exiled OU/OSU alum Okie I quickly started a conversation. It seems the man had never heard of the store and had been given the shirt by his daughter who told him the shirt brand was famous. There are Hobby Lobby stores around every corner here and are thought off as a better choice than Michael's. Do you remember Joe shirt gaining popularity when shown in a National Geographic magazine ... and why? The day of "the popular" t-shirts has passed it high-water mark.

jccouger
07-09-2013, 08:14 AM
2nd most popular shirt lol what does that even mean? Granted, every OSU fan I know owns probably 30-40 of them. Silly pokes.
Sonic is by far the greatest recognizable brand from Oklahoma and its not even close.

Pete
07-09-2013, 09:36 AM
Disney World is a reach for Florida since Disney is still HQ'd in California.

venture
07-09-2013, 09:39 AM
Disney World is a reach for Florida since Disney is still HQ'd in California.

Mmhmm. Agree with that. I don't really see how it is all that difficult to come up with these. Pick the criteria and stick with it IMO. :)

SoonerDave
07-09-2013, 09:44 AM
Disney World is a reach for Florida since Disney is still HQ'd in California.

Its a big enough name that Disney, itself, works very hard to maintain the distinction between DisneyLAND in California and Disney WORLD in Florida. I'd argue that WDW is one of the most recognizable corporate-associated acronyms out there, and I don't know how you'd associate that with anything but Florida, nor what venture coming out of Florida would be any bigger outside of orange juice :)

Urbanized
07-09-2013, 01:50 PM
I was in a bar in Denver a few months ago and saw a lady with an Eskimo Joe's shirt. I got excited and said "hey...Okies!" And then I realized she was standing next to my IT guy. They were on a family ski trip.

SSEiYah
07-09-2013, 03:40 PM
Isn't using Harvard a bit of a cop out?


Staples is a pretty well known brand.

Plutonic Panda
07-09-2013, 05:31 PM
Disney World is a reach for Florida since Disney is still HQ'd in California.When I or anyone else I talk to about Florida, Disney World is almost sure to come up. Not Hooters lol, I didn't even know Hooters was from Florida :p

Urbanized
07-09-2013, 06:01 PM
Man, I'd go with Burger King for Florida, but that's just me.

bradh
07-09-2013, 06:04 PM
Biggest miss for me on both maps is John Deere for Iowa

venture
07-10-2013, 05:28 AM
Biggest miss for me on both maps is John Deere for Iowa

Which is based in Moline...Illinois. :)

bradh
07-10-2013, 11:32 AM
Which is based in Moline...Illinois. :)

no kidding, well it's close enough :)

sorry, i just have a bunch of customers from Iowa who are all JD kids. their parents made all their money working for JD.

AP
07-10-2013, 11:52 AM
2nd most popular shirt lol what does that even mean? Granted, every OSU fan I know owns probably 30-40 of them. Silly pokes.
Sonic is by far the greatest recognizable brand from Oklahoma and its not even close.

Wasn't the first Sonic in Stillwater, or am I wrong on that?

Snowman
07-10-2013, 12:52 PM
Wasn't the first Sonic in Stillwater, or am I wrong on that?

Yes and no. It first opened in Shawnee under a different name and then expanded. They had to change the name eventually, but Stillwater was the first one rebranded as Sonic

Urbanized
07-10-2013, 02:00 PM
Started as Top Hat. Snowman is correct on the way it went down.

SOONER8693
07-10-2013, 03:42 PM
25 years ago Eskimo Joe's claimed such a ranking, the Tulsa World promulgated the story. The t-shirt business has changed greatly since then.
Most all Sooner folk I know, now despise and boycott all skimo joe crap. All it does is publisize stoolwater, not the state of Oklahoma. Flame away.

AP
07-10-2013, 03:46 PM
Most all Sooner folk I know, now despise and boycott all skimo joe crap. All it does is publisize stoolwater, not the state of Oklahoma. Flame away.

I think you mean publicize.

Bunty
07-10-2013, 03:47 PM
Most all Sooner folk I know, now despise and boycott all skimo joe crap. All it does is publisize stoolwater, not the state of Oklahoma. Flame away.

If you eat at Eskimo Joe's you end up feeling unimpressed with everything and wondering, why didn't I eat somewhere else in Stillwater, like the Texas Roadhouse? Especially, if the Eskimo Joe's waitress had a big herpes sore on her lip.

Pete
07-10-2013, 04:14 PM
Didn't Eskimo Joe's close their Penn Square store?

Midtowner
07-10-2013, 04:16 PM
Most all Sooner folk I know, now despise and boycott all skimo joe crap. All it does is publisize stoolwater, not the state of Oklahoma. Flame away.

Most Sooner folks I know would be rather ambivalent towards anything which happened in Stillwater as in... "What? they have a football team?" In fact, most Sooner fans I know don't care one bit about Stillwater, but if they were there wouldn't be against dining at Eskimo Joe's. Most Sooner fans I know care about Texas and count on the OSU game as a given. Most would say your complex with Stillwater and their football team is very "aggy."

The food is halfway decent and it's one of the lunch places I'll hit up occasionally. That said, Steak & Catfish (while it's still with us) and that BBQ restaurant off the I-35 exit on the way to Stilly are both superior choices in my humble opinion.

Of course if you're wanting a coldbeer and a burger of some sort on any given day, Eskimo Joe's is a fine place to go regardless of what football team you care about.

bluedogok
07-10-2013, 10:37 PM
Most all Sooner folk I know, now despise and boycott all skimo joe crap. All it does is publisize stoolwater, not the state of Oklahoma. Flame away.
I have a t-shirt and sweatshirt from there and my wife has a couple of shirts (Tech alum but almost went to grad school at OSU instead of SWT, in-state tuition won her over), not that I wear them around OKC when I am there but I would occasionally wear it out in Austin or up here in Denver. I worked with way too many Aggy's at Benham, some were fine but there were a few that were just obnoxious, for the most part I don't have too many issues with them. Just like with Texas, if a win by them helps OU then I don't have a problem pulling for them.

It was a fun place to go after OU beat them up there...

Wishbone
07-11-2013, 06:22 AM
Hideaway Pizza > Eskimo Joes

I can see Braums going national in the next 10 years. They are expanding pretty fast.

TAlan CB
07-11-2013, 06:37 AM
Hideaway Pizza > Eskimo Joes

I can see Braums going national in the next 10 years. They are expanding pretty fast.

That will never happen as long as the family still owns, or even has say in the buisness. The chain was created to market their Oklahoma based dairy - which is huge. They are unwilling to expand beyound the limit of transporting their milk still fresh. But, it is possible they will sale....?

SoonerDave
07-11-2013, 06:47 AM
Hideaway Pizza > Eskimo Joes

I can see Braums going national in the next 10 years. They are expanding pretty fast.

If I were a gambler, and I'm not, I'd mortgage the house and bet against you. They've held fast to a long-time strategy of not expanding beyond a certain radius where they can deliver fresh from their own dairy. Unless some later generational ownership changes that, or they sell out, that isn't changing.

venture
07-11-2013, 08:17 AM
If I were a gambler, and I'm not, I'd mortgage the house and bet against you. They've held fast to a long-time strategy of not expanding beyond a certain radius where they can deliver fresh from their own dairy. Unless some later generational ownership changes that, or they sell out, that isn't changing.

Yeah exactly. I want to say it is somewhere around a 6 hour drive or so from Tuttle. If that can't be done, it isn't happening. I would love for them to expand back north, but that's something that won't happen.

Bunty
07-11-2013, 03:25 PM
That will never happen as long as the family still owns, or even has say in the buisness. The chain was created to market their Oklahoma based dairy - which is huge. They are unwilling to expand beyound the limit of transporting their milk still fresh. But, it is possible they will sale....?

If Braum's is making gobs of money, what's keeping it from starting a new dairy to serve a new region for stores?

RadicalModerate
07-11-2013, 03:31 PM
If Braum's is making gobs of money, what's keeping it from starting a new dairy to serve a new region for stores?

The magical grass that the cows graze upon only grows in Tuttle.

Prunepicker
07-11-2013, 07:24 PM
Interesting...
I never knew that Peavey was headquartered in Meridian, MS. I own a
Peavey Bass amp and remember when they started. They are very
road worthy, i.e. they take a licking and keep on ticking.

bluedogok
07-11-2013, 08:44 PM
Yeah exactly. I want to say it is somewhere around a 6 hour drive or so from Tuttle. If that can't be done, it isn't happening. I would love for them to expand back north, but that's something that won't happen.
300 miles one-way is the rough limit, they have that on their website.


If Braum's is making gobs of money, what's keeping it from starting a new dairy to serve a new region for stores?
The Tutlte plant is highly developed and has been crafted over many year, Bill Braum loved to tinker and come up with ideas and develop those ideas. To replicate what they have in Tuttle somewhere else would more than likely be cost prohibitive to build from scratch. I know that I would love for them to set up shop here in Colorado, right now Dumas, Texas and Salina, Kansas are the closest locations to us.