More than a hundred brands that are patronized by consumers in the Philippines are included in Reader’s Digest Asia’s Most Trusted Brands 2018 list.
Those brands are from nine categories—consumer electronics, finance, food & beverage, health & personal care, household products, motoring, personal products, services, and telecommunications. This year, 105 brands are Gold Trusted Brand Awardees, 18 are Gold Asia Trusted Brand Awardees (also received Gold Award in at least three countries within three countries surveyed), and 29 are Platinum Trusted Brand Awardees (the highest award given) in the country.
In the consumer electronics category, Apple and Samsung top the Gold Awardees list in the smartphone sub-category; Acer, Apple and Asus for personal computers; LG, Samsung, and Sony for TV; HP, Canon, and Epson for multi-function printers; and Canon, Nikon, and Sony for cameras.
Most Trusted winners
Sun Life Philippines is the sole Platinum Awardee (as an investment fund company) from the finance category. It also has a Gold Award in the life insurance sub-category along with fellow insurers Manulife, Insular Life Assurance, and Philamlife. Banco De Oro (BDO) and Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) are Gold Awardees for banks; BDO, BPI, and Citibank for credit card issuers; and LBC, Cebuana Lhuillier, Palawan Express, and Western Union for remittance centers.
In the services category, 7-Eleven bags a Platinum Trusted Award while rival Ministop gets a Gold Award. LBC is Platinum Awardee for courier service, while competitors FedEx and DHL earn Gold in Asia. Cebu Pacific Air is also a Platinum Awardee, while both the Philippine Airlines and Air Asia are Gold Award recipients. SM has a Platinum Award for the shopping center/mall sub-category, while Ayala and Robinsons malls both get Gold Award. GMA Network and ABS-CBN both earn a Platinum Award.
Telecoms, personalities
The telecoms category is dominated by the groups of PLDT and Globe. PLDT and PLDT Home are Platinum Awardees for broadband and landline phone services, respectively, while Globe has Gold Award for broadband, landline, and mobile phone services.
For personalities, Jessica Soho is the first ever Hall of Fame Awardee as the Most Trusted News Presenter, an award she has bagged for the eighth consecutive year. Fellow broadcaster Mike Enriquez is the Most Trusted Radio Presenter for the third year in a row, while TV host Ryan Agoncillo is the Most Trusted Entertainment and Variety Presenter for the second time.
Most Trusted Awards
All awards are based on results of a poll conducted by market research firm Catalyst Research. In the Philippines, up to 4,000 respondents participated in the commissioned Trusted Brand Survey—50% were Reader’s Digest subscribers and the other half were general consumers representing demographics of the population.
The survey questionnaire asked respondents to enumerate their trusted brands and rate those based on six attributes—trustworthiness, credibility, quality, value, understanding of customer needs, innovation, and social responsibility.
Each of the awardees was recently given a trophy and are allowed to use the Trusted Brand Logo in their marketing collateral and merchandising efforts.