Trust In Supermarkets Plummets As Bunnings Is Crowned Australia’s Most Trusted Brand
Bunnings was crowned the most trusted brand in the 12 months to December 2023, dethroning Woolworths and breaking the supermarket’s three-and-a-half-year stronghold. Coles fell from third to fifth place.
Bunnings lost its title as Australia’s most trusted brand to Woolworths in May 2020. However, since October 2022, Bunnings has shown a strong recovery, achieving the largest improvement in trust among all trusted brands.
“Bunnings is a brand with a vast reservoir of goodwill and reputational strength fed by dramatically more trust than distrust… its trust has been climbing steadily over the past year while its minimal distrust remains fairly stable,” said Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine.
Australians’ distrust in companies has grown in the last year, with reasons including corporate greed, poor customer service, unaffordable prices, dishonesty, unethical practices, and poor privacy practices.
Bunnings has managed to buck the trend against an economic environment where trust has eroded. “Bunnings has harnessed many of the foundational pillars of a trusted brand including great customer service, communicating what it stands for and delivering, being an active part of the community, solving customer’s problems and expertise and product knowledge,” said Levine.
Most Trusted Brands
Both major supermarkets have fallen among trusted brands, with Woolworths (2nd) slipping one place and Coles (5th) two places. ALDI (3rd), Kmart (4th) and Bunnings (1st) each rose by one place.
Within the top 20, Bendigo Bank (15th) was the only brand to move up two spots, widening the gap against ING (18th) and Commonwealth Bank (19th). The ABC (17th) dropped two rankings, and QBE (128th) and SBS (93rd) dropped 26 and 23 places, respectively.
“QBE has been accused of lifting premiums while simultaneously locking in so-called ‘lowball’ pandemic payouts. The insurer is also facing the Federal Court for allegedly telling brokers to ignore a court ruling to contact clients to ask if they needed to lodge a claim for pandemic loss,” said Levine, speaking on QBE.
Most Distrusted Brands
Telecommunications company Optus remains the most distrusted brand in Australia. It is followed by social media giant (and former and long-standing most distrusted brand) Facebook/Meta, embattled airline Qantas, private health insurer Medibank and media giant News Corp. All four have faced significant scandals in recent years, including content policies and moderation, widespread data breaches and allegations of profiteering.
In positive news, technology companies Google (20th), Huawei (60th), and Uber (39th) improved their positions by 7, 11 and 8 places, respectively. Qantas (3rd) is showing signs of recovery despite deep distrust.
“The Big Four banks were showing significant improvements in their trust and distrust scores, but by year’s end, we saw dramatic declines. ANZ is the biggest loser, jumping 18 distrust rankings to land at number 15 on the top twenty list of most distrusted brands in Australia. NAB jumped 19 places, but as the nation’s 71st most distrusted brand is in much better shape than ANZ,” Levine said.
Trust in banks has deteriorated due to successive interest rate rises and rising cost-of-living concerns. Australians cite excessive profit motives and unaffordable prices as reasons for their distrust, with banks bearing much of this criticism.
“Soaring distrust from executives behaving appallingly and even corruptly has brought the entire economy into Net Distrust territory. The Moral Blindness exhibited has contributed to a kind of national fragility,” Levine said.
Latest News
Marketing From The Cockpit: How Creativity Transformed AB InBev From A Brand Buyer Into A Brand-Building Powerhouse
Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) VP of global brands, Richard Oppy, explains how in just five years the marketing function turned the world’s largest beer buyer into the upper echelon of brand building. Ab InBev has cleaned up at Cannes and the Effies, while driving record levels of organic growth. And, all this in spite of […]
Cebu Pacific Launches Campaign To Showcase The Philippines As Major Destination For Aussies
In case you needed another reason to visit the Philippines.
Elon Musk’s X Corp Defeats eSafety In Federal Court
Is it just B&T or is Elon Musk slowly morphing into Darth Vader minus the chokehold?
TV Ratings (12/05/2024): Framer Brings Home The Bacon
Lovelorn famers continuing to do good TV numbers. As desperate roof tilers & abattoir employees say "what about us?"
Starcom Pips PHD & Kaimera To Win Gold At Nine’s Agency Games – Check Out All Of The Photos And Coverage Of The Event
Starcom proves the top agency at Nine's Agency Games. Thankfully, no one has asked for urine testing either.
Zitcha Solves In-store Retail Media Measurement With Game Changing Venvee Partnership
Does your in-store retail media measurement resemble a kitchen draw with the screwdrivers & plastic bags? Help is here.
Menulog Delivers More Beef Than Drake and Kendrick Combined, Via Thinkerbell
This "more beef" ad could have also used William & Harry, Oasis, and Bruce Lehrmann & just about everybody.
Komo Tech Announces Landmark Partnership With Fanatics Events To Revolutionise Live Event Experiences
This partnership promises to "revolutionise live event experiences". Hopefully it doesn't alert any sniffer dogs too.
SCA “Disappointed” After ARN and Anchorage Capital Withdraw Takeover Bid
ARN's bid for SCA trips up at the final hurdle. It's also unclear if other states will have to suffer Kyle Sandilands.
About Bloody Time – News.com.au Campaign Secures Win For Endometriosis Sufferers
News.com.au puts aside its passion for 'China set to invade' & overcharging Sydney cafe articles to do some real good.
Fast 10: B&T Talks Brand Rituals, Keeping It Fresh And DE&I With Affinity Media’s Angela Smith
B&T's probing Fast 10 is so quick it's liable for double demerit points on public holidays.
FriendlyJordies Journalist Calls The Police After Allegedly Being Informed Of Gangland Threats By ABC Reporter
What's better than a Walkley Award for journalism? Getting a hit put out on you by a Sydney underworld drug gang.
Two Iconic Brands Seal The Deal With Exclusive Strategic Partnership
Wonderfully, a horse turned up for this press photo. Better again, everyone went home with some manure for their roses.
JCDecaux Wins Tender To Retain Sydney Airport
Shopping at airports has always been a paradox. On one hand there's the duty-free, on the other there's $24 schooners.
QMS Adds Hills Shire To Sydney Network
Forget the hills being alive with the sound of music, as Sydney's Hills district comes alive with new outdoor.
Taboola Targets Large Advertisers With Taboola Select
Taboola unveils its new Taboola Select offering. It's a lot like diet vanilla Coke without any aspartame risks.
Enigma Appoints Ren Frise As Director
Ren Frise sounds like one of the cooler characters in the new Star Wars films. Alas, he's all the more earthbound.
Imran Masood Named As VP AUNZ at DoubleVerify
DoubleVerify continues with the insidious scourge of American job titles, as Imran Masood named VP of APAC.
OMD Brisbane Announced New Leadership Team After Rob Swinton Departs After 20 Years
A good time to go for the best desk in the office as OMD Brisbane announces reshuffle.
“Get Sh*t Done”: QMS’s Tennille Burt On The Importance Of A Consistent & Impactful Leadership Style
We can all buy into Tennille Burt's "get shit done" mantra. Yet, it never seems to work when trying to put laundry away.
Cairns Crocodiles The Work: Healthcare Sponsored By Alternaleaf
Every so often the mighty advertising industry uses its powers for good. This is one of those times.
ThinkNewsBrands To Play A Major Role At CMO ANZ Summit
I think we can all agree that being front and centre is a better place to be than back and off centre.
TV Ratings (09/05/2024): Carlton Beats Melbourne In Nail-biting Win
We venture a bet that viewers had no nails left by the end of this game!
Woolies And Suncorp Marketers On Why Brands Are Investing BIG In Netball
Brands finally understanding the potential of netball in Australia. And that's despite the Matildas' ongoing efforts.
Apple Apologises For ‘Tone Deaf’ Culture Crushing iPad Ad
AI may be the route to a smarter & efficient humankind, but for most of us it means "Shit, I'm going to lose my job!"
TEG Group Nabs Belinda Shaw From Boral
Belinda Shaw certainly not shy of challenge as she shifts from a cement firm over to a ticketing one.
NBL Slam Dunks New Network Ten Broadcast Deal
Do you think shooting hoops would be a better use of your spare time than drinking heavily? Discover the truth here.
Qatar Airways Becomes Partner and Official Cargo Airline Partner of MotoGP
B&T can't recommend Qatar Airlines enough. Qatar itself would give Hell's fires a run for their money such is the heat.
Rebel Bondi Junction Pulls Kangaroos Jerseys From The Shelf
Despite some adverse press, this is probably the correct thing to do by the sports retailer.
Dineamic Rebrands To serve Up Honest Food, Via Bullfrog.
Are ready-meals the new status symbol of the super busy? Much like hands-free phones & wanky personalised number plates?
TikTok Joins Adobe-founded Content Authenticity Initiative (CAI) To Help Combat Misinformation
With all this talk of the Chinese government spying on us, B&T embarrassed we haven't got that much to be spied about.
Cannes In Cairns Delegates Called Upon For AI Reef Challenge
Just by attending Cannes In Cairns you can help save the Reef! Which may offset the damage you do not saving your liver.
Man Of Many Launches Sydney Whisky Month – A Luxe Whisky Fair
Sydney's getting its own whisky month. Topics of conversation to avoid include the Middle East & Peter Dutton's head.
Challenger Signs Three Year Partnership With Sydney Film Festival
B&T loves the Sydney Film Festival & not just because it enables us to wear black turtlenecks & say noir over & over.
Truths & Tensions Of The Modern World: Nature Study Reveals Only 50% Of Aussies Feel Optimistic About The Future
Worrying study finds half of Aussies pessimistic about the future. An overwhelming majority detest the McPlant burger.
Bernard Salt AM On Why The Best Is Yet To Come For The Aussie Ad Industry
The demographer & futurist predicts a rosy future for Australia's ad industry. Alas, no tips for Randwick this Saturday.