Reader’s Digest Announces 2016’s Trusted Brands

20 Sep 2016, 00:00 AM CDT

More than 5,000 Americans Participated in Second Annual Survey to
Award Trusted Brands in 40 Categories

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.

Follow Reader’s
Digest on Facebook,
Twitter
and Instagram,
and join the conversation with #RDTrustedBrands.

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.

Contacts

For Reader’s Digest
Alexandra Huber
alex@kitehillpr.com
or
Pauli
Cohen
Pauli.cohen@tmbi.com