Amazon Is America's 'Most Favored' Brand

We probably shouldn’t have been surprised by the findings of YouGov‘s 2013 Top Buzz ranking survey. Despite the negative news about labor struggles, the release of tell-all tome The Everything Store, the non-existent profit margins and the persistence of the “Massive, Faceless Retailer Shutters Mom and Pop Sellers” narrative, Amazon scored quite a few media wins this year. How could we forget:

• The 14-tweet press release
• The visit from President Obama during which he (dubiously) praised the company as a source of “middle class” jobs
• CEO Jeff Bezo’s decision to enter the media fray by purchasing The Washington Post
• The whole drone thing

In short, the survey is a micro-portrait of the retail world: Walmart is the old school and Amazon resembles the future, like it or not.

Last year Bezos and crew were right below champion Subway, and this year they won a tight race thanks to a last-minute surge as Ford fell into second place.

Now...