Hey guys I was just going over some videos on youtube and this questions has really been in my mind since I have been fighting for ranking with such sites as about.com and Forbes. Anyway it appears that Brands do not have the "edge" within the SERPs, but rather the trust of a site and expertise of the webmaster tend to be more important. Anyways this is just kinda a paraphrase from the video~
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMfWPWUh5uU
This may disappoint those that think the only reason they are below certain sites is the websites have a "brand name".