VICTORIA — The Peter B. Gustavson School of Business at the University of Victoria has unveiled the fifth-annual Gustavson Brand Trust Index (GBTI).
“What we are seeing year in and year out is that trust plays a vital role in our community, economy and collective mindset. It is also an important driver of consumer purchasing decisions,” says Dr. Saul Klein, dean of the Gustavson School of Business. “The release of our new set of brand-trust results highlights the continued success of some of Canada’s best-known brands, which shows a resilience that is essential for sustaining our trust, as well as the consequences of corporate miss-steps.”
The Keg Steakhouse and A&W tied as the list’s top restaurant/takeout brands, both ranking 29th on this year’s list. Notably, these were the only restaurant brands to make the GBTI’s top-50 list.
The list measures Canadian consumers’ opinions on 313 national corporate and product brands across 26 categories. The GBTI evaluates responses from 7,200 Canadians to assess consumer levels of brand trust and what causes them to recommend a brand to their friends and family. The responses are indexed to provide rankings for the brands nationally, by category, gender, age, region and income.
The data collected for the 2019 GBTI also revealed additional trends and findings including:
- The top three most trusted brands in Canada are membership-based businesses.
- Consumers have different expectations of brands depending on what they sell — consumers place more value on relationship trust with service-based brands.
- Consumers are more willing to place a brand in positive light when a crisis is responded to with honest and authentic remedies.
- Female consumers are more trusting than their male counterparts, while millennials are less trusting compared to any other generation.
“Our index continues to highlight the importance of a company standing up for its values, through its words and its actions, and the effect this has on consumer trust,” adds Klein. “The brand trust index also shows that failures on this front can lead to drastic negative impact on a brand’s overall trust among consumers.”
The complete list is available at uvic.ca.
