The survey covered all four geographic zones of the country and used a sample size of 2,620. Equal weightage was given to both rural and urban areas.

The extensive research conducted by A&M-ORG-MARG revealed that brand power seems to be becoming increasingly sensitive to the brand building efforts by marketers through the year.

HMT has attained the fifth rank in the north, tenth in the east, sixth in the west, eighth in the urban areas and seventh in rural areas.Ironically, though the company is headquartered in Bangalore, it has not figured among the top ten brands in the south. Moreover, in the four metros also the company has failed to be included among the top ten key brands.

A reassuring finding for HMT particularly with reference to its watches, is that the young adult men included in the survey claimed that they preferred HMT and not Titan. Young adult women included in the survey have also chosen HMT at the sixth position whereas Titan has been awarded the tenth position among the leading brands.

HMT has scored a comeback of sorts especially since it fell 12 places to the 22nd rank during 1997. During the current year, the company's brand has shot up 15 places to claim the seventh spot, a position last held by the company only in 1993. As a result of this leap, the gap between HMT and Titan has widened to 22 ranks, up from 15 last year. The company also finds a mention in 11 of the top 10 charts drawn up by the survey.