Australia's most - and least - trusted brands

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It's an annual list which rates the brands Australians trust the most - and tonight we're announcing the winners.

There is a shock: it seems Australians trust imported products over those owned and made in our backyard.

"I don't think it's just a matter of is something made in Australia, it's a matter of what's sold in Australia. Which brand do I trust the most?" says Tom Moore, editor of Readers Digest.

"It's about our ability to rely on someone or something; products, companies, people to deliver an outcome to us," says Vanessa Hall.

"We looked at everything from you know, who spends the most, who's best known, who's the most prominent," says Tom.

The list - from bottom to top
"Macquarie Bank is a controversial bank. I mean it's very aggressive. It's a very good bank, does what it sets out to do well but people think they're paid probably way too much money for what they do and they don't like it and they don't trust them as a result of it" says Tom.

"If they don't trust your brand, if they distrust your brand, nobody's going to buy your products" adds Tom.

Australians very proud of Qantas and its safest airline reputation. However, all that is under threat with cutbacks to maintenance and outsourcing.

"That's a very good point, to the degree they do that and it gets controversial and people feel service is being compromised in any way they are risking their trust profile" says Tom.

Vanessa says: "Cadbury consistently delivers to that expectation and it delivers on the promises that it makes to people. It's a sign of the times I think in terms of whether we've actually come as a race and the amount we rely on now on technology. We don't trust our own products as much as we trust things from overseas which I think is sad."

"It's a shame that we have sold so many good brands which were trusted and are now in foreign hands but I'm also disappointed when I think of our Australians companies who do not spend the amounts of money necessary to promote their brands" says Mike Gallagher from non profit company Ausbuy. "You will certainly have a competitive advantage. Many companies regard money spent on advertising as being an investment rather than an expense."

Research firm The Leading Edge conducted the poll. A sample of 750 (average amount for sampling polls) were asked to rate 130 well known brands on a trust scale of one to ten. The results were collated by business category.

The category winners

• FOOD – Cadbury (runner-up Kellogg's) - Cadbury tops for 5th year running
• HEALTH & WELLBEING – Panadol (runner-up Band-Aid)
• RETAILERS – Bunnings Warehouse (runner-up Big W)
• CARS – Toyota (runner-up Mercedes Benz)
• AIRLINES – Qantas (runner-up Virgin Blue)
• SOFT DRINKS – Coca Cola (runner-up Pepsi)
• BEAUTY & COSMETICS – Gillette (runner-up Palmolive)
• WHITE GOODS – LG (runner-up Westinghouse)
• MOBILE PHONES – Nokia (runner-up LG)
• ELECTRONICS – Sony (runner-up Panasonic)
• COMPUTERS – Hewlett Packard (runner-up Toshiba)
• CREDIT CARDS – Visa (runner-up MasterCard)
• BANKS – ING Direct (runner-up Bendigo Bank)
• TELECOMMUNICATIONS – Vodafone (runner-up Optus)

The only Australian product on this list is Bunnings (Qantas is only partly Australian owned).

Best of the best
The brand that comes out on top for the fifth consecutive year is Cadbury chocolates. Cadbury has been in Australia for 86 years and its reputation has been scandal-free.

As social commentator Bernard Salt observes: "You might be fat and 50 – but curled up in front of the fire with a glass of wine and a block of Cadbury chocolate, who cares? You feel great."

So what makes brands connect? "An emotion, market leadership, high quality and, importantly, being considered value for money."

Further information

''' The full list of products put to the panel can be found at www.readersdigest.com.au

For more information about Vanessa Hall's "Entente - building trust" website: www.entente.com.au '''