A strong corporate reputation begins with trust

Reputation is one of those assets that is both intangible and high valued by business directors and stakeholders alike, says Nikki Wright.

Managing director of Wright Communications, she set up the Corporate Reputation Index 11 years ago with research agency Colmar Brunton – which later merged with Kantar.

The Kantar Corporate Reputation Index is an annual survey of Kiwis, conducted throughout February and March, with questions relating to reputation and the top 200 companies in Aotearoa.

“People know that [reputation is]really important,” says Wright. “They know that you can lose it in a second. They know it takes years to build, but in terms of what are the key drivers of reputation and how companies can effectively manage that reputation, that was less well understood.”

Reputation is also more complex than ever before, with companies having to meet a range of expectations including data privacy, climate accountability, AI transparency and ethical labour, she adds.

“That’s all playing out against this backdrop of global uncertainty. All of these things are really making it harder and harder for companies to earn trust with the public.”

Four pillars

The index uses Kantar’s globally validated framework, RepZ to measure companies against the key pillars of reputation: trust, responsibility, fairness and leadership.

Wright says trust is a non-negotiable for a strong reputation: “There’s an expectation that a company will consistenly deliver on its promises and remain authentic to its values.”

Survey results show responsibility is also increasing in importance to Kiwis, who are looking at how companies treat their employees, pay equity provisions and actions on climate change.

Kiwis are particularly attuned to the latter, says Wright.

“They’re not prepared to let it go, and they don’t want business ease up on that either and so that came through quite strongly that there is a responsibility being placed on business to step up.”

A vital benchmark

She describes the index as “a vital benchmark” for measuring how Kiwis perceive the strengths and vulnerabilities of the country’s leading companies, as it doesn’t look just at brand, but rather the entire entity.

For companies, reputation can act as a sword and a shield, says Wright: “The sword, you are proactively going out there with a narrative to communicate to the public your values and how you’re meaningfully different from your competitiors.

“The shield is when something bad happens, that’s where reputation can be a layer of protection.”

Toyota New Zealand topped this year’s ranking for the second time a row and had a balanced scorecard across all four pillars – a feat that is the ultimate goal for businesses but one that is typically hard to achieve, Wright explains.

Being resilient and making a meaningful difference are both crucial elements to this, she adds.

“So it’s how your company connects with Kiwis in a way that matters to Kiwis.”

Any company that gets a RepZ score higher than 105 is considered to be resilient, which means they can take some knocks to their reputation, like bad press, and still perform well, says Wright.

Kantar Corporate Reputation Index

Meaningful purpose

She says the high ranking for Toyota speaks to the way it has connected with communities across Aotearoa; its transition from automotive company to a mobility business following acquisitions of Kiwi brands Cityhop and Ezi Car Rental; and its national investment in innovation, like hydrogen fuel cells for trucks.

Toyota is also know for its reliability – with people knowing they can resell their vehicles for a good price – access to trained technicians across the country and local people in its 60 stores who support their community.

The rest of the top three remained the same, with Pak’nSave coming in second again. Wright adds that while responsibility is a work-on for the supermarket chain, it always scores highly in the fairness pillar.

“The most reputable companies have high trust plus a meaningful purpose inside their category, so for Pak’nSave that is lowest prices.

“They’re so clear on that proposition and people understand it and they have very effective advertising in Stickman… but they’ve also got a chief executive who’s prepared to front the media when things don’t go well.”

Air New Zealand, who held the top spot from 2015 to 2023, came in third. Wright says it scored well across trust, responsibility and leadership, but not in fairness with survey responses pointing to the airline’s high costs, particularly for domestic flights.

It’s not easy

Changing your score in the Kantar Corporate Reputation Index is not easy – so it was quite a big change to see the likes of Kiwibank and Auckland Airport jump a large number of places to be ranked in the top 10, says Wright.

“It’s not easy to improve your reputation. You do need to be tracking it. You need to be proactively sharing your story.

“So really it’s those moments that matter, that customer experience… the whole interaction with the entity.”