In this 200th post of this blog and waiting for the soon to be released Interbrand‘s Top 2006 Global Brands Report, I’m here to present AdAge 2005 Top 200 Brands List by US Ad Spending.

Is worth noticing that Ford was pushed out of the Top 3 by telecommunication companies which became top us Ad spenders: Verizon Communication (Verizon), AT&T (Cingular) and Sprint Nextel Corp (Sprint) with a combined spending of $4bn.

But even with voluminous spending from a handful of telecoms, consolidation among telecoms will likely mean that Top 200 category in 2006 will come up short of its 15.9% growth in 2005. Cingular, a megabrand since its inception in 2000, will vanish later this year as the service becomes part of a revived AT&T megabrand.

Mergers invariably reduce collective media spending by the merged partners as they consolidate and develop economies of scale. Also, telecom spending would have been up only 9% had Vonage not entered the Top 200 elite with a barrage of spending behind its broadband telephone service.

Here is the top 10:
1. Verizon (Verizon Communication)
2. Cingular (AT&T)
3. Sprint (Sprint Nextel Corp.)
4. Ford (Ford Motors Co.)
5. Chevrolet (General Motors Corp.)
6. Nissan (Nissan Motors Co.)
7. Dell (Dell)
8. Toyota (Toyota Motor Corp.)
9. McDonald’s (McDonald’s Corp.)
10. Honda (Honda Motor Co.)

Download the full PDF report here.