The latest 'Eye on Australia' report by Grey and Sweeney Research found some major groups had lost public trust over the global financial crisis. Banks and telecommunications companies topped the list of brands and companies Australians had lost trust in over the past year.
The survey, conducted in August 2009, asked 1,500 Australians to rank 153 brands, politicians, government organisations and business sectors. Airlines were the most trusted sector, followed by food manufacturers, sporting bodies, supermarket chains, other retailers, pharmaceutical companies and gas, water and electricity suppliers.
But several high-profile brands ranked low on the scale, including Twitter, Telstra, GE Money, Aviva, Axa, News Limited and American Express.
Australians base brand trust on foundations including:
- consistency;
- delivery on promises; and,
- open communication, Grey Executive Chairman Paul Gardner said.
"Trust is based on hard, ‘provable' actions rather than softer options such as supporting the local community or potentially trying to disguise a bad offer with a good loyalty program," Gardner told The Financial Review. I thought that was a very interesting result as one of the common big corporate PR pushes is about "supporting" the community. Some businesses even make it the key plank in their advertising e.g. IGA Community Chest.
Australia's most trusted brands:
1. Salvation Army
2. Google
3. Australia Post
4. Medicare
5. Bunnings
6. Cadbury
7. Sanitarium
8. Uncle Toby's
9. Kellogg's
10. Nokia
http://xeesm.com/walter
