When it comes to the best-known brands, two big cola sellers garner the most respect in the business world, while an airline and a cigarette maker fare the worst.

Those findings headline a new survey from CoreBrand, a firm that researches branding and its impact on businesses. By examining companies with which we're all familiar, and asking business people their opinions on how favorably they viewed the firms, CoreBrand created two lists, one identifying corporations that get the most respect and another for those earning the least.

Leading the way in terms of favorable views were drinks distributors PepsiCo (PEP) and Coca-Cola (KO), who tied as the most-respected corporate brands. That is, they combined high recognition with very favorable views.

As for the well-known laggards, Delta Air Lines (DAL) was the bottom-dweller, followed in the next-to-last spot by Altria Group's (MO) Philip Morris, the owner of Marlboro cigarettes. Though widely understood businesses, they were seen in a much less favorable light.

Winners and losers

The survey was about corporate brands specifically, not individual products, and to be considered, a company had to be publicly traded for at least five years and tracked by CoreBrand for a minimum of five years. After determining the 100 brands with the highest familiarity, those with the top and bottom favorable ratings were named. The results tell the story from a business perspective, and weren't meant to capture consumer attitudes, says CoreBrand CEO James Gregory.

"Familiarity has been maintained at a very high level," Gregory says. "But there's been significant pressure on the favorability of these companies, and that's something that comes and goes."

With regard to PepsiCo, he said he was surprised at how well the company's perception has held up, "even when they've had a lot of folks questioning their strategy about building a product line of better-for-you type of foods and snacks. [In addition to sodas, PepsiCo also owns Frito-Lay, a $13 billion snack business.] The one huge advantage that the Coca-Cola Co. has over PepsiCo is the much higher familiarity — significantly higher."

How favorable a firm rated was derived from remarks on a company's reputation, how its management is perceived and its investment potential.

On the other end of the spectrum was Delta. Of all the companies CoreBrand follows, there are those that do have lower favorable scores, but what put Delta and the others on the least-respected list was the sizable gap between how well it's known and how it's perceived.