Brand strength: Established trust is hard to shake
Brands stand up to negative reports even in the face of corporate scandals, the Reader's Digest market research study "Trusted Brands 2019" has found. The headlines about exhaust gas values did not displace VW from the first place in the category. Similarly, Raiffeisen defended its top spot - despite an official investigation and rapid changes at the top of the company.
The Reader's Digest brand study "Trusted Brands 2019" shows amazing consistency in the Swiss brand world. In eight out of twenty categories, the winners are the same as last year, namely Volkswagen, Raiffeisen, Ricola, Miele, Die Mobiliar, Similasan, Fielmann, Nivea (cosmetics) and Burgerstein. In the eight categories surveyed for the first time, traditional brands also came out on top. At the top are Coop Bau+Hobby, Meister Proper, Ticino, Elmex, Nivea (shower gel), Ikea, Emmi and Handymatic. The outcome of the study was exciting for hearing aids, detergents and health insurance companies. The new winners of 2019 here are Kind, Ariel and Assura.
In an increasingly complex world, the Swiss trust their personal environment the most. Relatives, friends and acquaintances top the "Trust in institutions/networks" table, achieving peak values of around 90 percent. Doctors are also rated very positively at 72 percent. By contrast, business enterprises (just over 20 percent) and politics (14 percent) have worryingly low scores. Social networks are at the bottom of the list (12 percent).
Among the sectors, Swiss vacation regions and resorts occupy the top spot. 67 percent of the responses revealed a very high or high level of trust. The results are also positive for dairy products (65 percent), dental care and oral hygiene (62 percent) and optician and eyeglass brands (61 percent). Vitamin products (31 percent) are still at the bottom of the table with 31 percent.
The study shows that two factors in particular determine the success of a brand. The most important of all is quality. 56 percent of respondents, well over half of the participants, put the quality of a product or service first. For 19 percent of the participants, the price-performance ratio comes out on top. Swiss consumers are sober in their judgments. The image/prestige factor is clearly at the bottom of the list of reasons for a purchase decision, with less than 5 percent.
| Category | Brand |
|---|---|
| Building and hobby markets (surveyed for the first time) | Coop Construction+Hobby |
| Automobiles | Volkswagen |
| Banks/financial service providers | Raiffeisen |
| Candies | Ricola |
| Household cleaners (collected for the first time) | Master Proper |
| Category | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Non alcoholic beverages | Coca-Cola | Coca-Cola | Coca-Cola | |
| Automobiles VW | VW | VW | VW | VW |
| Banks | Raiffeisen | Raiffeisen | Raiffeisen | Raiffeisen |
| Clothing | H&M | H&M | H&M | |
| Candies | Ricola | Ricola | Ricola | Ricola |
To the Reader's Digest study "Trusted Brands 2019
The independent market survey "Trusted Brands" has been conducted by Reader's Digest since 2001 and is one of the largest and best-established consumer studies in Europe. Reader's Digest, together with the Dialego Institute, Aachen, conducted 2361 consumer interviews in Switzerland. A unique feature of the survey is that all questions about brands are always asked unprompted, i.e. without any predefined designations. The consumers alone reveal which brand is at the top of their list. The survey not only focused on trust in brands, but also on trust in industries, professions, institutions and networks. Criteria that play a role in purchasing decisions were also surveyed.
