Samsung, the consumer electronics chaebol, has displaced Nokia as the most trusted brand in Trust Research Advisory's (TRA) Brand Trust Report (BTR), 2014. While Nokia slips four places to rank as fifth, the top five ranks are populated by consumer durables brands such as Sony (second) and LG (fourth). Tata, denoting the Tata Group, is third, moving up two spots from last year. One of the world's most coveted brands, Apple, is not even among the top 100 (is 126th).
In the diversified category, the Chennai-based TTK (makers of Prestige cookware) and Kishore Biyani-promoted Future Group are the new entrants. N Chandramouli, CEO of TRA, says, "There is a concentration of diversified brands in the top 20, followed by four-wheeler manufacturers." Tata leads Reliance by 60 per cent among conglomerates.
The report is the fourth edition of TRA's yearly efforts. Unlike brand valuations, the report attempts to capture the trust vested in brands as recalled by 2,505 repondents (unaided, three brands each) from 16 cities over the last four months. According to the report, brands can look to strengthen three criteria -
1. highlighting shared interest and empathy to appeal to new audience; 2. highlighting corporate altruism and enthusiasm to come across as genuine; and 3. matching its appearance with positioning. Chandramouli points out that in the top 20, 10 are new entrants and nine from the previous year have slipped below the mark.
Gaining momentum after the split with Honda Motorcycle & Scooter in 2010, Hero Motocorp is one of the new entrants. Others include Mahindra or M&M, Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Vodafone. "Anand Mahindra's rhetoric of not measuring the company on size but on trust is paying off," says Chandramouli.
DLF seems to have taken a beating after it had to discontinue its IPL sponsorship, and ranks second after Lodha, a Mumbai-based developer, who has gained traction with its brand endorsers, actors Aishwarya Rai and Amitabh Bachchan, among realty developers.
Godrej (diversified) slips 10 places to rank as 16th, after having steadily gained for some years. BMW falls from being 4th to 150th. Bajaj (diversified), Airtel, Apple, Dell, Audi (14th to 323rd), Nike, Olay and Dove are others who have fallen off the top 20.
Mercedes on the other hand, in luxury cars, has climbed to be the 90th most-trusted overall. Skoda, with vehicles above Rs 20 lakh, came across as the most trusted luxury auto-maker.
Despite heavy spends by oralcare brands, Colgate has slid from 24th to 53rd overall. HUL and P&G, among FMCG parent companies, have both gained in rankings. Chandramouli says, "These companies started using the mother brands in brand communication, especially in the last two years, including corporate campaigns in mainstream media." Pepsi from PepsiCo has pipped Coke from Coca-Cola in the eternal soft drinks war. Thums Up has gone up from 170th to 66th.
Revital in nutritional supplements has beaten Complan and Bournvita on trust levels, and trails Horlicks and Boost. In the Internet space, Olx ranks the highest in online shopping ahead of Myntra and Jabong.
In mobile phones, Micromax has jumped to second spot, and from 119th to the 45th spot overall, riding on the back of its endorsement deal with Hugh Jackman, the Australian actor, with international acclaim. Regional brands have also fared well, especially from the east and south. Priya Gold, Khadims, Aachi Spices and Ramraj in apparels have clocked strong gains in trust. The BTR also reveals that the propensity to trust brands is highest in the eastern region, followed by the north, west and the south.
The audience polled included 21 per cent from Mumbai, 19 per cent from Delhi and 15 per cent from Kolkata, apart from 13 other cities. These were salaried employees, from SEC A and A+ and earned between Rs 20,000-50,000 plus per month. Over 40 per cent of them were aged between 26-35 years.
Chandramouli says trust in brands will be affected by current events, including a marketing campaign that might be running at the time of the survey, apart from residual trust. A consistency chart over the last four years show that brands such as Nokia, Reliance Industries, Godrej, Titan, Nike and Bajaj have performed consistently despite a fall in some of their rankings this year.
With clients such as Godrej Industries, Tata Motors and Mahindra's commercial vehicle arm, Chandramouli says that TRA does in-depth reports beyond the BTR, to map its data against their brands. It has consulted with Godrej, for example, on how it needs to communicate its deeds as a corporate citizen to prop up its trustworthiness. "Mahindra had asked us to do a survey among its stakeholder on how they view it. The commercial vehicle division even has a KRA of trust," says Chandramouli.
In the diversified category, the Chennai-based TTK (makers of Prestige cookware) and Kishore Biyani-promoted Future Group are the new entrants. N Chandramouli, CEO of TRA, says, "There is a concentration of diversified brands in the top 20, followed by four-wheeler manufacturers." Tata leads Reliance by 60 per cent among conglomerates.
The report is the fourth edition of TRA's yearly efforts. Unlike brand valuations, the report attempts to capture the trust vested in brands as recalled by 2,505 repondents (unaided, three brands each) from 16 cities over the last four months. According to the report, brands can look to strengthen three criteria -
1. highlighting shared interest and empathy to appeal to new audience; 2. highlighting corporate altruism and enthusiasm to come across as genuine; and 3. matching its appearance with positioning. Chandramouli points out that in the top 20, 10 are new entrants and nine from the previous year have slipped below the mark.
Gaining momentum after the split with Honda Motorcycle & Scooter in 2010, Hero Motocorp is one of the new entrants. Others include Mahindra or M&M, Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Vodafone. "Anand Mahindra's rhetoric of not measuring the company on size but on trust is paying off," says Chandramouli.
DLF seems to have taken a beating after it had to discontinue its IPL sponsorship, and ranks second after Lodha, a Mumbai-based developer, who has gained traction with its brand endorsers, actors Aishwarya Rai and Amitabh Bachchan, among realty developers.
Godrej (diversified) slips 10 places to rank as 16th, after having steadily gained for some years. BMW falls from being 4th to 150th. Bajaj (diversified), Airtel, Apple, Dell, Audi (14th to 323rd), Nike, Olay and Dove are others who have fallen off the top 20.
Mercedes on the other hand, in luxury cars, has climbed to be the 90th most-trusted overall. Skoda, with vehicles above Rs 20 lakh, came across as the most trusted luxury auto-maker.
Despite heavy spends by oralcare brands, Colgate has slid from 24th to 53rd overall. HUL and P&G, among FMCG parent companies, have both gained in rankings. Chandramouli says, "These companies started using the mother brands in brand communication, especially in the last two years, including corporate campaigns in mainstream media." Pepsi from PepsiCo has pipped Coke from Coca-Cola in the eternal soft drinks war. Thums Up has gone up from 170th to 66th.
Revital in nutritional supplements has beaten Complan and Bournvita on trust levels, and trails Horlicks and Boost. In the Internet space, Olx ranks the highest in online shopping ahead of Myntra and Jabong.
In mobile phones, Micromax has jumped to second spot, and from 119th to the 45th spot overall, riding on the back of its endorsement deal with Hugh Jackman, the Australian actor, with international acclaim. Regional brands have also fared well, especially from the east and south. Priya Gold, Khadims, Aachi Spices and Ramraj in apparels have clocked strong gains in trust. The BTR also reveals that the propensity to trust brands is highest in the eastern region, followed by the north, west and the south.
The audience polled included 21 per cent from Mumbai, 19 per cent from Delhi and 15 per cent from Kolkata, apart from 13 other cities. These were salaried employees, from SEC A and A+ and earned between Rs 20,000-50,000 plus per month. Over 40 per cent of them were aged between 26-35 years.
Chandramouli says trust in brands will be affected by current events, including a marketing campaign that might be running at the time of the survey, apart from residual trust. A consistency chart over the last four years show that brands such as Nokia, Reliance Industries, Godrej, Titan, Nike and Bajaj have performed consistently despite a fall in some of their rankings this year.
With clients such as Godrej Industries, Tata Motors and Mahindra's commercial vehicle arm, Chandramouli says that TRA does in-depth reports beyond the BTR, to map its data against their brands. It has consulted with Godrej, for example, on how it needs to communicate its deeds as a corporate citizen to prop up its trustworthiness. "Mahindra had asked us to do a survey among its stakeholder on how they view it. The commercial vehicle division even has a KRA of trust," says Chandramouli.
