Great brands aren't born--they're made. From Gerber and Google to Eggo and iPod, the best brands are carefully developed and matured to offer familiarity, trust, and quality to users.

In today's market, where consumers are sophisticated and competitors are fierce, the concept of "brand" is more important than ever. There was a time when buyers believed in hype, but today's savvy shoppers are Internet-powered bargain hunters--armed with product information and equipped to spot value. Given the increased scrutiny applied to products, only strong brands survive.

So which brands have been most successful in this cutthroat marketplace? Fortune magazine teamed up with a San Francisco-based product consultant to identify ten products that scored the largest increases in brand strength from 2001 to 2004. The magazine then calculated the pop in economic value each of these breakaway brands gave their parent companies. The effort produced ten winners that embody the essence of the ideal brand.