Apple Reclaims Top Brand Spot After IPhone 4S Launch, Jobs’ Death

Apple reclaimed the top spot in a brand listing by collecting an estimated $900 million worth of traditional media, social media and Twitter coverage in the fourth quarter of 2011, a measurement company said today.

The social media wonks at McDonald’s were yesterday forced to abandon an attempt to spread “good news stories” about the fast-food giant on Twitter.

New York-based General Sentiment, which tracks the online coverage of 100 companies each quarter, said that Apple’s return to the No.

1 spot was fueled by media reports and individuals’ comments about the iPhone 4S and the death of former Chief executive officer Steve Jobs — events that took place in the final three months of 2011.

He cites IBM’s reinvention as a managed service company — and Apple Computer’s legendary Think Different ad campaign that was developed by co-founder Steve Jobs in collaboration with media agencies — a campaign that positioned the then struggling Apple as a scrappy iconoclast.

Apple unseated Google as the brand that amassed the most coverage; Google had held the first position for the two quarters prior.

.”Apple had the best numbers since the first quarter of 2011, when it released the iPad 2, Verizon began selling the iPhone and Jobs took a third leave of absence,” said Greg Artzt, co-founder and chief strategy officer of General Sentiment.

Apple’s $900 million worth of coverage was split almost evenly between news media, which accounted for $301 million, or 33% of the total; social media (34%) and Twitter (32%) sources.

Mashable is the largest independent online news site dedicated to covering digital culture, social media and technology.

Google’s $772.3 million worth of coverage wasn’t far behind, but it relied more on social media (45%) than either of the other two sources.

During the 2012 Macworld | iWorld conference, social media guru Shellie L.

.”Apple is almost always on center stage,” said Artzt, “but it and Google have been trading places for some time.”.

While some coverage of Jobs’ death was included in General Sentiment’s totals — essentially only if Apple was mentioned in the stories and comments — if all the discussion about his passing, particularly the many accolades and condolences had been factored in, Apple would have garnered an even larger media value, said Artzt.

5, 2011, death, Apple said that it had received more than a million emails of customers’ thoughts, memories and condolences.

The company published a selection of those messages on a special tribute website it had created.

Artzt also cited the launch of the iPhone 4S for generating considerable noise about Apple last quarter.

Although pre-sale buzz about the iPhone 4S was largely negative — some had expected more from Apple in the annual refresh of its smartphone — sales have been extremely strong: Earlier this week Apple said it had sold a record 37 million iPhones , most of the new iPhone 4S, in the fourth quarter.

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Microsoft placed third in the fourth-quarter ranking, with a total of $366.6 million in coverage.

While Microsoft placed third in all four quarters, its media coverage total has been steadily dropping all year, falling from a high of $690 million in the second quarter.

Goldman became swept up in a public relations fiasco after media coverage of the deal drew scrutiny from the Securities and Exchange Commission, which questioned whether the offering had run afoul of securities rules.

Hewlett-Packard, the fourth firm in General Sentiment’s recent ranking, has been gaining ground, said Artzt, and may pass the Redmond, Wash.

Yahoo, Sony, Samsung, Disney, Intel, and BlackBerry rounded out the top 10 list.

Technology companies continued to dominate the media coverage that General Sentiment tracks, but Artzt said there were signs that other firms were making up ground.

.”When we first started tracking this two years ago, we weren’t surprised that technology companies were strong,” said Artzt.

“When you think about it, it makes sense … the people who were on social media and twitter were the most tech savvy, and they liked to talk about the things they owned. But more companies are now more active in social media and Twitter than in the past. They’re embracing social media, they’re on Twitter and they’re releasing mobile apps.”.

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11 on General Sentiments’ list for the fourth quarter of 2011, with 69% of its $117 million in coverage coming through Twitter.

Apple’s source of its $900 million in media coverage was almost evenly split between news media, social networks and Twitter.

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Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology breaking news for Computerworld.

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Richard Gates is a technology journalist based in Seattle, Washington. Richard has a passion for online technology and breaking news stories and loves writing about Apple Reclaims Top Brand Spot After IPhone 4S Launch, Jobs’ Death, reviews, and opinion pieces that matters most to its audience. Richard spends a lot of time discovering and researching latest technology market and industry news stories in order to make sure the latest and greatest stories are brought to you first on IT Gawker.