It’s hard to know who to trust these days. Consumers are still being pushed, pulled and prodded every which way with persuasive claims, snazzy ad campaigns and engaging tweets. Thankfully the Reader’s Digest is here to guide them in the right direction with its Most Trusted Brands list and St John has come out on top in 2011.
It was certainly a busy year for St John ater the earthquakes in Christchurch and this year marks the first time a charity has ever topped the list (in what could be seen as a slightly heartless slap in the face by the RWC powers that be, they recently decreed that St John must cover up various sponsor names on its ambulances and uniforms to comply with the rules).
In the hotly contested cat food category, Chef took the win, while AA, Fisher & Paykel (for the 11th year in a row), Sanitarium, Dulux, Countdown, Kiwibank, Mitre 10, Panadol, Sony, Anchor, NZ Post, Toyota, Colgate, and Dove all took category wins.
Dettol was ranked second (while the 500 survey respondents were questioned by an independent research company, the NBR’s Chris Keall pointed out this was a fitting top two given the age of the publication’s readership) and Whittaker’s was third, followed by Wattie’s foods and Tip Top.
This year, the survey was conducted with a new methodology, with an initial scoping survey used to determine the list of brands to be included in the main study. Brands scoring below a minimum level of recognition were removed from the options.
Check out the other category winners and the highly commendeds (slightly surprisingly, Hell Pizza is in this list) here.
OVERALL MOST TRUSTED BRANDS:
1. St John
2. Dettol
3. Whittaker’s
4. Wattie’s
5. Tip Top
6. Jif
7. Colgate
8. Sanitarium
9. Toyota
10. L&P
