At Christmas time of the year, who doesn't know that great cheese and snack gift company called Hickory Farms. As soon as you see the name on a package, you know it stands for quality and all things good. Even though there is no hickory inside and no hickory tree in the logo!

Behind the scenes this brand has gone through some ownership changes, but today is owned by Kraft Foods. And despite their own great brand - especially in cheese products - they dare not mess with a great brand that is also foremost cheese related. The registered trademark has changed hands a few times, but each time it has been properly registered and preserved.

Most of us (except perhaps in the South) would recognize a hickory tree if we saw one. And if we did stop to think about it, we would associate the tree with barbecue wood (especially for smoking foods) or perhaps (if we are older) with golf clubs or baseball bats or switches for bad kids. And if we look at the Hickory Farms logo we are non the wiser - since they chose wisely not to use a tree in their logo - just a comfortable little farm scene.

So, like some other great brands of the world, the power of this name comes not from the words themselves, but from the dedicated application of their brand promise. They definitely deserve a perfect rating

Of course, you will find them at HickoryFarms.com on the web.