The CBC has a new weapon in its arsenal as it faces potential budget cuts from the federal government: being one of Canada’s 10 most influential brands, according to Ipsos Reid.

The only broadcast media brand on the list, the pubcaster ranked six out of 10, ahead of Facebook, Visa, YouTube and Air Miles.

The top five most influential brands in Canada are, in order: Microsoft, Google, President’s Choice, Apple and Walmart.

Media brands loomed large on the list, which was unveiled in Toronto on Tuesday as part of Advertising Week, hosted by the Institute of Communication Agencies (ICA).

The survey was conducted online by Ipsos Reid between Nov. 23 and Nov. 30, 2011 and included 1,013 adult Canadians.

For the study, Ipsos Reid asked Canadians to rate 100 leading brands on a variety of attributes, and findings revealed six factors that affect a brand’s influence: a leading edge, trustworthiness, relevance, presence, corporate responsibility and consumer engagement.

“For a brand to succeed it needs to have some measure of all these factors, but for a brand to exert influence on our daily lives takes time and extraordinary effort,” said Steve Levy, president at Ipsos Reid in Toronto, in a statement.

“While relatively new brands like Google, Facebook and Youtube get a lot of buzz and hype and have made their presence felt on our list, it was the tried, trusted and true Microsoft that rose to the top as the most influential brand in Canada. That’s not something that can be built or brought overnight, and certainly not a position Microsoft would be willing to relinquish.”

Levy said for a brand to build and maintain its influence, it has to build on the six factors that study participants recognized  as contributing to a brand’s influence.

“If our index is any indication, the greater your influence, the greater your bottom-line success stands to be,” he said.