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The Brand Trust Report™ lists Technology as India’s Most Trusted Category

Identifying and Redefining Trust across 9 Cities and Over 16,000 Brands & Categories

India, February 1, 2011: With 8 brands in the top 50 Most Trusted Brands list, Technology as a category gets a relatively larger share of Brand Trust™ to emerge as India’s Most Trusted Brand Category. Accorded with extremely high Category Trust™, the sector has been fueled by the high growth of many companies that benefitted millions of Indians by way of shareholding and employment over the last decade.

Among the seven software companies that feature in the Brand Trust™ Report study, the top four in order of their rank are, Microsoft, IBM, Wipro and Infosys. HP wins the title of the most trusted brand in the hardware category, followed by Dell, HCL, Apple and Intel whereas Google ranks way above the others among the Internet category followed by Yahoo and Orkut. The Google owned social networking site uniquely has the second highest number of visitors from India. Facebook, with its 500 million followers (and growing) only just makes into India’s 300 Most Trusted Brands.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr N. Chandramouli, CEO, Trust Research Advisory said, “We have all witnessed the revolution that technology has brought into the Indian landscape. India has come to mean two things, technology and growth, both so inextricably intertwined that one necessarily now supports the other. Technology as a sector and category has contributed heavily to people having more buying propensity and expendable income, thanks to the creation of Gen Next Millionaires through stock options and ESOPs. Y2K acted as an inflection point for India, after which it has become the center of the world for processing technologies, both onshore and offshore.”

Excerpts of the Report include quotes from Mr S. Gopalakrishnan, CEO, Infosys, who said, “The trust in the Infosys brand stems from our belief in conducting ourselves in a manner that will earn the respect of all our stakeholders. At Infosys, we understand that to garner trust for our brand, we must deliver immense value to all our constituents – our clients, employees, investors and the societies we operate in. It is our firm belief that every individual who is a part of Infosys contributes to our brand and therefore owns the Infosys brand and the proactive approach taken by us helped reiterate the faith that stakeholders placed in our brand.”

Speaking about the deeply held values at Microsoft to make a difference in the world through innovative technology and fair business practices, Mr Ravi Venkatesan, Chairman, Microsoft India, added “For Microsoft, the one value most essential to achieve our mission is openness – being open with ideas, thoughts and in receiving input. This value is at the core of all our interactions – demonstrative of our high respect for teams, partners, industry, workgroups, and most of all, our customers. Our passion for customers, partners and technology, a willingness to take on big challenges, and analyzing ourselves critically, we believe, makes all the difference. The fact is that we can succeed only if people want to do business with us. Our customers’ belief on Microsoft’s high standards of reliability, quality and security, and the respect that partners hold for our business practices, is the basis of our relationships.”

The most intensive study on Brand Trust undertaken in the country, the study generated nearly 10,00,000 datapoints and 16,000 brands. Indian Statistical Institute helped create a statistically robust Brand Trust Index which has been used to hierarchically rank India’s Most Trusted Brands.

The Brand Trust Report, India Study, 2011” Released

India, January 28, 2011: India has voted! And the Ivy League of Corporate India affirms its place of pre-eminence in India’s 300 Most Trusted Brands. The findings were a part of the study titled, “The Brand Trust Report, India Study, 2011” published by Trust Research Advisory, a leading research organization dedicated to understanding and simplifying concepts related to Trust. The study, compiled into a 116-page report, shows the leading Indian conglomerates heavyweights, such as Tata and Reliance, in the Top-5 in the list.

The study, besides ranking the top 300 brands overall, has also rated brands in over 41 sectors, with the Tata Group, which ranks an overall 2^nd, featuring a number of its group companies as category leaders across various sectors, such as Titan at the 10^th rank, Tata Steel at the 172^nd position and the Taj Group ranked 154^th. A few surprise rankings include Sachin Tendulkar’s entry at the 59^th position and BEST, Mumbai’s electricity and travel services provider at the 202^nd position.

The 41 category leaders are as follows:

Aerated Soft Drinks: Pepsi, which ranks 36th in the top 300 list, leads the Indian aerated soft drink market.
Airline: Ranking 97^th on the chart, Kingfisher ranks first in its category
Apparels: Marking an overall presence at rank 20, Raymond comes out at the top of its category
Automobile: This is no surprise, as the 7 ranked Maruti tops its category having 19 other contenders.
Auto Accessories: The 77^th ranked MRF ranks first in its category
BFSI: With an overall 8^th position, LIC leads 14 other companies in the Banking, Financial Services and Insurance sector.
Cameras: Canon marks its presence at the top of its category, while ranking 132^nd overall
Cigarettes: The lone entrant in this category, Gold Flake also ranks 278^th in the overall index.
Cinema: PVR, ranked an overall 177, leads its segment
Construction: The only company in this sector, DLF also ranks 131 overall.
Consulting: Accenture, the leader in its category, ranks 276^th overall.
Consumer Products: With an overall rank of 17, and leading its category of 41 contenders, is Colgate.
Diversified: With an overall 2^nd position, this segment is headed by the Tata brand.
DTH: Dish TV, the category leader, ranks at 224 in the overall list
Durables: Marking its presence at the 3^rd slot in the overall index, Sony beats of competition from 16 other brands in its category.
Education: Surprisingly, the only education brand in the top 300 list, NIIT ranks 187 in the index.
Fashion & Accessories: Fastrack leads its section at the 56^th overall rank.
FMCG: Hindustan Unilever, with an overall position of 39, Hindustan Lever leads its category.
Food & Beverages: Amul, the Taste of India, is the category leader in the F& B segment
Food Retail/QSR: Mc Donald, ranked 50^th overall, tops its group.
Footwear: Bata has gripped the trust of India at the 18^th rank overall and leadership position in its category
Healthcare: Drugs major Johnson & Johnson ranks first in the healthcare sector while ranking 72^nd overall.
Hospitality: Taj Hotels, with an overall rank of 154, is the only brand in the hospitality sector.
Internet: Google firewalls competition in its sector and is positioned at an overall 70^th rank
Jewellery: Ranked at 119 overall, Tanishq is the most trusted brand in its field.
Large Manufacturing: Tata Steel, ranked overall 172, leads its section
Laundry: Rin washes out its competition at the 140^th rank overall.
Lubricants: Ranked 129^th overall, Castrol leads its brand category
Luggage: VIP wins top honours in its category, ranking 127^th overall
Media: The Times of India leads the pack of Indian media with an overall ranking of 151
Mobile Phones: The undisputed brand leader overall, Nokia leads its competitors by a wide margin.
Packaged Drinking Water: Bisleri, ranked 120^th, is ranked first in its category, far above its largest competitor.
Personalities: Sachin Tendulkar, at the 59^th rank, is the top scorer in his group.
Pharmaceutical: Cipla, category leader, is 133 in the overall ranking.
Retail Chain: Big Bazaar is ranked 85 overall, leading its sector.
Stationery: Reynolds ticks itself in at the 115^th rank overall, leading its segment.
Sports/Outdoor Wear: Reebok, ranked 14 overall, is the market leader in its section.
Technology: HP, ranked an overall 23^rd, beats 17 other tech companies for the top slot in its field.
Telecom: Airtel, having the 9^th position overall, is the undisputed market leader in the telecom sphere.
Transportation: The public utility transport company, B.E.S.T, ranks an overall 202 and is the only such company in the top 300.
Watches: Titan, ranked 10^th in the Brand Trust Report, leads other well knows brands by a large margin.

Giving his views on the Brand Trust Report 2011, the CEO of the company, Mr. N. Chandramouli said, “The dynamic nature of trust is almost self-evident. No organization, brand or person can violate the trust without losing something irrevocably. However, those who make the effort to gain the trust of their audiences with consistency in actions and behaviour, get the benefit of an accepting and ‘forgiving’ audience. Brands are said to be created and owned by the consumers and influencers, and The Brand Trust Report™ is a direct measure of how much these ‘owners’ trust their brands, and why. We are confident that this research will give every brand custodian a deep insight into the perceptions that lie beneath the attitudes of the owners towards the brand.”

The Brand Trust Report, India Study, 2011 is the result of years of detailed research to understand trust which included several hundred hours of discussions with communication experts and behavioural scientists. On this basis TRA created a proprietary Trust Matrix comprising 61 different components. Based on this proprietary Trust Matrix, TRA launched a syndicated primary research on Brand Trust across 9 cities in India covering 2310 respondents who were classified into the ‘influencer’ category. The most intensive study on Brand Trust undertaken in the country, the study generated nearly 10,00,000 datapoints and 16,000 brands. Indian Statistical Institute helped create a statistically robust Brand Trust Index which has been used to hierarchically rank India’s Most Trusted Brands. The fieldwork to the study was done by e-nxt Financials (a Tata Enterprise). The publication is being distributed by Embassy Book Distributors and is also available as a soft copy at agencyfaqs.com.

Nokia emerges as India’s Most Trusted Brand

Reveals a study released by the Trust Research Advisory

India, January 21, 2011: Finland’s mobile handset maker Nokia has emerged as the most trusted brand in India ahead of homegrown Tata telecom. According to a study released recently by The Trust Research Advisory(TRA), Nokia ranks first in terms of being the ‘Most Trusted Brand’ for Indians and by a good margin, followed by Tata, Sony LG, Samsung Reliance, Maruti LIC, Airtel and Titian respectively.

The revelations were a result of a study, published by Trust Research Advisory (TRA), a leading research organization dedicated to understanding and simplifying concepts related to Trust. The study, compiled into a 116-page report titled “The Brand Trust Report, India Study, 2011” was launched at a press meet, held recently, in Mumbai.

The Brand Trust Report, India Study, 2011 is the result of years of detailed research to understand trust which included several hundred hours of discussions with communication experts and behavioural scientists. On this basis TRA created a proprietary Trust Matrix comprising 61 different components. Based on this proprietary Trust Matrix, TRA launched a syndicated primary research on Brand Trust across 9 cities in India covering 2310 respondents who were classified into the ‘influencer’ category. The most intensive study on Brand Trust undertaken in the country, the study generated nearly 10,00,000 data points and 16,000 brands. Indian Statistical Institute helped create a statistically robust Brand Trust Index which has been used to hierarchically rank India’s Most Trusted Brands.

Among its Composite Brand Trust™ components, Nokia scored the highest in empathy and second highest in shared Interests, scoring the 8th highest and 6th highest respectively when the top 50 brands were compared. This implies that the brand has a caring and compassionate attitude, understands its audiences, relates to them well and also shares their values. The combination of these two composites shows a very high emotional connect that Nokia enjoys with its customers. Brands that have this emotional synchronicity with customers and other stakeholders should be able to see approaching opportunities faster than competition, and also be able to risk taking on new initiatives as they almost ‘instinctively’ understand the impact of such actions on their audiences.

Nokia also has a good balance of Zonal Pulls across the 4 zones without much variance. However, Nokia’s highest Brand Trust Index™ is in the North, followed very closely by the South. The West Zone has the maximum drag on the brand. An analysis of the primary components shows that Nokia would be able to improve its Brand Trust™ even further if it focuses its communication on the primary component on which it scores highest, that the Brand is Caring. The Brand Trust™ can be further supported if it actions its lowest scoring primary component, i.e., by making a stronger commitment to visible action in Social Development Activities.

Further revelations show that Mobile Phones are a highly trusted category. Nokia leads all brands across 3 regions other than the East, where it is the third most trusted brand. The South Zone Brand Trust™ Index for Nokia lags by almost 20% from the leading zone, North. While Nokia’s Brand Trust™ may vary across the regions, it is so far ahead of the other mobile phones in terms of Brand Trust™ that the closest, Blackberry in the North, is lower by a factor of 15. Micromax, the Indian brand of mobile phones also features in all zones other than in East, and while the similar sounding, Maxx, makes it to the top 100 most trusted brands in the North zone alone.

Congratulating Nokia, on being voted as the most trusted brand in India, Mr. N. Chandramouli, CEO, Trust Research Advisory (TRA) said, “The parameters under which this comprehensive study was carried out by TRA, is the first of its kind in the country. I believe that this detailed study on Brand Trust™, will benefit Nokia in the long run. I wish them all the best in all their future endeavors and hope they retain the same position in the coming years as one of India ‘most trusted brands’.”

In conclusion, the study also showcased that Nokia emerged as one of the fourteen brands / companies listed in the Gartner / AMR supply chain leaders list, who were also featured in the top 50 Brand Trust™ list. The other brands were Samsung, Dell, Colgate, HP, Microsoft, Nike, IBM, Pepsi, Hindustan Unilever, Pond’s, Dove, Lakme and Intel. As for Country Trust, Finland topped only due to the single representation of Nokia, which leads the Brand Trust™ list by a very large margin.

The Brand Trust Report™ ranks Times of India as nation’s most trusted media brand

India, January 21, 2011: It’s official – India has chosen. Times of India leads a comparison of the 25 percent most read and most-watched TV shows. The newspaper has the highest score in all three aspects of preferred source, information value and brand trust. The results highlight that the preferred source score of print is 38 percent higher than TV.

In second place is Aaj Tak, the Hindi news channel from the India Today group, whilst NDTV was in third place. DNA and India Today were at fourth and fifth positions respectively on the Brand Trust™ report.

The revelations were a result of a study, published by Trust Research Advisory, a leading research organization dedicated to understanding and simplifying concepts related to Trust. The study, compiled into a 116-page report titled “The Brand Trust Report, India Study, 2011”. The launch event witnessed the owners of the Most Trusted Brands of India receive a commemorative plaque on their momentous achievement.

Talking at the launch, the CEO of Trust Research Advisory, Mr. N. Chandramouli said, ‘Information has become as necessary as food and clothing, and today’s staple of news has moved from the traditional to multi-channeled and instantaneous sources. Despite this, well established print and TV news continue to grow as major sources of news information. This is probably because the traditional media are non-intrusive, convenient and habit forming, making readers and viewers quite glued to them once used to the source More than anything else, the media category Brand Trust™ is synonymous with the two composites, which are shared interest and sincerity. Sincerity of reporting and balanced understanding of the readers remain strong factors for gaining the audience trust.”

The most intensive study on Brand Trust undertaken in the country, the study generated nearly 10,00,000 data points and 16,000 brands. Indian Statistical Institute helped create a statistically robust Brand Trust Index which has been used to hierarchically rank India’s Most Trusted Brands.

Automobile sector ranked as one of most trusted sectors according to Brand Trust™ Report

Maruti emerges seventh on list of nation’s most trusted 300 brands

India, January 21, 2011: The automobile sector has made quite an impression on the nation as one of the most trusted sectors, according to a study released by The Trust Research Advisory (TRA). The report has ranked India’s first indigenous car brand Maruti, at seventh place, whilst leading two-wheeler brand Hero Honda came in at 13^th place and international luxury brand BMW at 33^rd place. Hyundai drove in at 43^rd place, whilst TVS at 54^th place. Toyota was ranked at 66^th place, Ford at 74^th place, Mercedes Benz at 81^st position, Audi at 104^th place and Suzuki at 118^th place. Skoda was 126^th on the list, whilst Tata was at 159^th place. Ferrari was at 162^nd position.

Mr. N. Chandramouli, CEO, Trust Research Advisory (TRA) said, “The parameters under which this comprehensive study was carried out by TRA, is the first of its kind in the country. I believe that this detailed study on Brand Trust™, will benefit the automobile sector in the long run. I wish them all the best in all their future endeavors and hope they make their way higher in the coming years as one of India ‘most trusted brands’.”

Maruti’s Composite Brand Trust scores stay very close to the average line with the third lowest variance across the 10 composite parameters showing a strong consistency. Whilst there are no major shifts seen in these composite scores, the little extra edge is given to Maruti’s Brand Trust by its outward appearance, representative of the brand’s attractive appearance, appropriate expression, conformation to high standards.

Whilst the brand maintains a good balance in composite scores, its zonal pulls and variations are quite high. Maruti’s East and North zone trust indices are substantially higher than the other two zones. The East zone pull leads the lowest brand trust zone, the west by three times and the next lowest zone, south by almost two times.

Maruti’s highest score among primary attributes of Brand Trust is in the brand’s consistency over time, something that Indians will relate to closely.

The Brand Trust Report™ lists India’s Most Trusted Brands

Study conducted across 9 cities generated 16,000 unique brand names

India, January 18, 2011: It’s official – India has chosen. Nokia, the global leader in mobile handsets, stands out as India’s Most Trusted Brand that has won the trust of Indians.

As part of the study, the philanthropic Tata was ranked second, followed by the Japanese electronics giant, Sony at the third spot. The Korean duo of LG and Samsung plugged in at the fourth and the fifth positions respectively, while Reliance brand stands sixth. Maruti drives in at the seventh position, followed by the state insurance agency, LIC. Airtel, India’s largest telecom services company dialed in at the ninth position, with Titan rounded up the Top 10 of India’s Most Trusted Brands at the tenth position.

The revelations were a result of a study, published by Trust Research Advisory, a leading research organization dedicated to understanding and simplifying concepts related to Trust. The study, compiled into a 116-page report titled “The Brand Trust Report, India Study, 2011” was launched at The Grand Hyatt, Santa Cruz, Mumbai. The launch event witnessed the owners of the Most Trusted Brands of India receive a commemorative plaque on their momentous achievement.

Talking at the launch, the CEO of Trust Research Advisory, Mr. N. Chandramouli said, ‘Brand Trust™ can be defined as the ‘soul of the primary bond of engagement’. Over time, the more evident connotations of trust like pedigree, size, performance have changed, and the subtler forces are beginning to exert their influence on Brand Trust™. Early on, we realized that Brand Trust,™ along with other intangibles like happiness, cannot be achieved directly and instead must be derived from its myriad components, which are often elusive. Once such concepts of the study evolved, they were applied empirically in businesses, helping us create a structured format for the analysis of Brand Trust™.”

The presence of the demi-god Sachin Tendulkar at the 59^th slot on the Most Trusted Brand of India, and of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi at the 232^nd slot emphasizes the impact these men have had on the people of India. Pepsi has once again come out fizzier at the 36^th slot as compared to its rival, Coca Cola, which makes its presence felt down below at the 60^th slot.

Commenting on the launch of the Report, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Former President of India said: “I congratulate Trust Research Advisory on publishing a report on such importance. The depth of this report would help brands understand and improve Trust, the most essential bond in all relationships. The Brand Trust Report has brought up a very important aspect – that Corporate Social Responsibility is not an option for Brand Trust, but it is essential. I urge India’s top corporate houses to recognize corporate altruism as an intrinsic component in the brand building process and treat this as a societal entrepreneurship venture rather than as a social responsibility.”

Mr. Adi Godrej, the Chairman of Godrej Industries Ltd., (Godrej ranks at 22 on the Brand Trust Report) is quoted in the report as saying: “Trust as a value evolved to being more about empathy which helps the brand deliver powerful and innovative experiences to its consumers, and thus going beyond insights and products alone. Beyond legal rights, Godrej believes that the copyright of its brand is actually held by the millions of consumers, partners and employees in its ecosystem and is activated every time someone somewhere chooses Godrej.”

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