These are the companies with the best media reputation

Five out of six SMI companies that already achieved the best reputation scores in the first half of the year did so again in the second half of 2023, including Sika, ABB, Kühne+Nagel, Holcim and Swisscom. This top group was joined by UBS, which scored highly in terms of media visibility following the takeover of Credit Suisse. There was a lot of movement in the other places, with numerous companies moving up and down in the half-year comparison. For the Swiss Reputation Top 20, over 175,000 statements were evaluated with AI-supported text analysis in the second half of 2023.

The specialty chemicals company Sika had the best media-mediated reputation of the SMI companies in Switzerland between July and December 2023. With the top score in "Products & Innovation" and very good results in "Profitability" and
The company secured the top spot in the "Sustainability" category. This continues Sika's series of successful rankings, which has seen the company consistently achieve a result in the top four over the past two years.

Stable leading group, hugely present UBS and lots of movement in the other places

Sika is followed by ABB with a gap of just two index points. The technology company can also look back on a consistently good media reputation and achieved the top score in "Sustainability". Another two index points behind ABB, UBS surprises with an excellent third place and the best score in "Management". After critical reporting in connection with the Credit Suisse takeover predominated in the first half of 2023, the tone in the second half of the year was more positive - while visibility remained very high. With well over 50,000 reputation-relevant statements, UBS was by far the most visible SMI company.

Logistics giant Kühne+Nagel, which has repeatedly attracted attention with very good reputation scores in only the second half of its SMI membership, is in fourth place. Fifth-placed building materials producer Holcim - last semester's first-placed company - also achieved consistently good scores and was able to maintain its position in the top group. Last but not least, Swisscom also impresses with stable results and the top score as an "employer".

Movement on the other squares

There is a lot of movement in the other places compared to the previous semester. For example, Partners Group (+10 ranks), Swiss Re (+9 ranks and top score for "Profitability") and Nestlé (+8 ranks) made significant gains, while Lonza (-12 ranks), Richemont (-12 ranks), Sonova (-7 ranks) and Zurich (-7 ranks) lost considerable ground. These examples in particular make it clear that a good media-based reputation has to be earned again and again with excellent media work.

A look at the course of the rankings over a period of four half-years shows how challenging it is to achieve a consistently good media reputation. Of the 22 companies that have been represented in the SMI in the last two years, Sika
only one company has ever been in the top 5. Kuehne+Nagel only joined the SMI in 2023, but has already recorded two top semesters. On the other hand, a total of 13 companies were relegated to the bottom 5 at least once. Eight other companies occupied a very good position at least once, but also slipped into the midfield once.

The data basis for the Swiss Reputation Top 20 is all German- and French-language articles on SMI companies in public Swiss online sources (journalistic online media, news portals, websites, blogs, YouTube, Twitter/X, Facebook and others). A highly developed, AI-supported text analysis is used to calculate the reputation. This specially trained algorithm evaluates the statements semantically - after pre-filtering all media contributions from the selected companies - and assigns them to the five thematic reputation dimensions: products & innovation, profitability, sustainability, management and employer. Companies that combine media presence with a positive tone in all areas have a strong reputation. The best company in each dimension receives an index value of 100, against which the results of the other companies are measured.