NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Reader’s Digest today announced the results of its second annual Trusted Brand®* Survey, published in the October issue is on newsstands today. More than 5,000 Americans across the country participated in the online survey, which awards the “Reader’s Digest Most Trusted Brand” title to winners in 40 product categories, including travel, food and beverage, automotive, beauty and healthcare, retail and customer service, financial services, household items, consumer electronics and more.
“Trust is an integral part of the Reader’s Digest DNA and we wanted to continue to capture Americans’ changing attitudes on brand trust, recognizing the most trusted brands in a variety of categories that matter to consumers,” said Kirsten Marchioli, VP and Group Publisher for Reader’s Digest. “We’re thrilled to announce the winners of our second annual Trusted Brand survey, which consists of brands and companies that have earned the respect and trust of consumers nationwide.”
In today’s world, trust is perhaps more important than ever, but also more elusive and fleeting. The survey found that trust continues to be a very important factor in consumer decision making, with 78 percent of this year’s survey participants stating they would choose a brand that’s been identified as more trustworthy than a different brand with equal quality and price.
In addition, the study reported 67 percent of U.S. adults surveyed pay more attention to trusted brands, and another 67 percent say they pay more money to support trusted brands. Furthermore, half of respondents (50 percent) said the Reader’s Digest Most Trusted Brands seal would increase their likelihood of trusting that product or service.
The Reader's Digest Most Trusted Brands for 2016 are:
- Airline: Southwest
- Allergy relief: Benadryl
- Automobile (passenger cars excluding trucks): Toyota
- Automobile (SUV/crossover): Ford
- Automotive insurance: State Farm
- Banks: Chase
- Body lotion/moisturizer (excluding facial creams): Aveeno
- Bottled water: Dasani
- Coffee: Folgers
- Cold & flu remedies: NyQuil
- Cold cereal: Kellogg’s
- Computer (desktop/laptop): Dell
- Credit card: Visa
- Cruise line: Carnival Corporation
- Eye care product/eye health (excluding services, lenses and frames): Visine
- Fast food/casual dining: McDonald’s
- Facial moisturizer/cream: Olay
- Hair color: L’Oreal
- Headache/pain reliever: Advil
- Herbal supplements/vitamins: Nature Made
- Household air fresheners/deodorizers: Febreze
- Household cleaning product: Lysol
- Investment firms: Fidelity
- Juice: Tropicana
- Small kitchen appliances (food processors, blenders, toasters, etc.): KitchenAid
- Laundry detergent: Tide
- Life insurance company: MetLife
- Mass merchandiser retail store: Walmart
- Mobile phones: Apple
- Mouthwash: Listerine
- National hotel chains/resorts: Marriott
- National pharmacy/drug store: CVS Pharmacy
- Nutrition bars: CLIF
- Pet food: Purina (Pet/Dog/Cat/Puppy/Kitten Chow)
- Salad dressing: Kraft
- Soap/body wash: Dove
- Soup: Campbell Soup
- Weight loss systems: Weight Watchers
- Wireless providers: Verizon
- Yogurt: Yoplait
This year’s survey also evaluated the people that Americans trust. Perhaps not surprisingly, respondents resoundingly reported that their spouse or partner is the most trusted resource across all categories except for health, where professionals and experts were the top resource.
The survey also found that, perhaps due to their current life stages, millennials are generally more likely to say they trust their parents across most categories, but also put more trust in media sources – specifically online sources like search engines, social media networks and online reviews – more than respondents in the 35+ age bracket.
The Reader’s Digest Trusted Brands survey first launched in Asia in 2000. Since then, it has grown into a global initiative, spanning 25 countries, where it is used as in insightful tool to assess consumer insights and attitudes related to products, services and professions, and to recognize the world’s most trusted brands.
Reader’s Digest Trusted Brands provides consumers with the ability to share their knowledge about and recommendations for the brands and products they trust most. The survey also helps brands understand how consumers shop, what they look for among different categories and how trust impacts their purchase decisions and behaviors.
The full list of Reader’s Digest Trusted Brands can be found in the publication’s October issue, which goes on sale September 20, and online at rd.com/trust.
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About the Survey
These are findings from an Ipsos Connect study conducted for Reader’s Digest from February 3 to February 11, 2016. For the survey, a sample of 5,017 U.S. adults was interviewed online. The precision of online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll has a credibility interval of plus or minus 1.6 percentage points. The data was weighted to U.S. Census data by age, gender, income and geography. Statistical margins of error are not applicable to online surveys. All sample surveys may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error and measurement error. Where figures do not sum to 100, this is due to the effects of rounding.
Winning brands were determined by absolute vote and confirmed to be statistically significant from the other brand(s). In any category where the winning brand was not statistical significant at the 95% confidence level when compared to the next highest brand, a follow up question was asked to determine the brand with the most votes. Any brands that were classified by the respondent incorrectly were disqualified.
About Reader’s Digest
Reader’s Digest, a Trusted Media Brands, Inc. brand, simplifies and enriches consumers’ lives by discovering and expertly selecting the most interesting ideas, stories, experiences and products in health, home, family, food, finance and humor. Reader’s Digest is available online at RD.com; in print; via digital download on iPad, mobile apps and tablets; and can be accessed via its social media channels: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest and Google+.
Trusted Media Brands, Inc. comprises a network of engaged, active readers who genuinely connect with its blend of uplifting and enduring expertly-curated family, food, health, home improvement, finance and humor content digitally, via magazines and books, social media, and events and experiences. Founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace as Reader’s Digest Association, one of the first user-generated content publishers, Trusted Media Brands, Inc. is headquartered in New York City. For more information, visit TMBI.com.
*Reader’s Digest Trusted Brand is a registered service mark of Trusted Media Brands, Inc.