Catching a Buzz

In a summer heat wave, it’s hard to go wrong selling cool drinks, which helps explain why brands like A&W, Miller and Diet Pepsi dominated YouGov BrandIndex’s monthly Top 10 list of improvers in consumer perception for July. Coming in at No. 1 for good buzz was electronics makers LG, which captured media attention for adding 3-D gaming to TVs and plans to release a new smartphone. A second electronics maker, HP, also made the list amid news about forthcoming HP Envy Spectre Ultrabook and plans to use solar energy. The research service polls people on their perception of 1,100 brands and assigns a score ranging from 100 to -100.