The U.S. Postal Service (USPS), Amazon and Google rank as the top three most trusted brands in the country, according to the first “Most Trusted Brands” report from data intelligence company Morning Consult.
The report, featuring an average of 16,700 interviews per brand for nearly 2,000 brands, showcased brand trust by generation, highlighted by Google’s dominance with Gen Z and millennials, and USPS’s win with Gen X and boomers.
“It’s no secret that trust is key to brand success,” Michael Ramlet, CEO of Morning Consult, said. “In today’s climate, every single day presents leaders with the opportunity to cultivate reliability–a key driver of trust.”
Online payment company PayPal took the fourth spot, followed by The Weather Channel in fifth.
The consumer and packaged goods (CPG) industry dominated the rankings, as nearly half of the top 25 spots were claimed by such brands. Those in the top 10 include The Hershey Company, Cheerios and M&Ms. Among other logistics companies, UPS came in at seventh and FedEx was No.15. Retailers Home Depot and Walmart ranked No. 24 and No. 25, respectively.
Technology industry brands scored well among younger generations, while older generations embraced legacy brands. In addition to Google, Amazon was among the top-performing brands with Gen Z and millennials, while USPS took the No. 1 spot according to Gen X and boomers.
Netflix overperformed with younger generations and Nike was the seventh most trusted brand among Gen Z consumers. CPG brands performed better among older generations, dominating more than two-thirds of the Most Trusted Brands among Gen X and boomers and half of millennials.
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The Most Trusted Brands of 2020 report also includes an examination of how today’s societal forces are shaping a new era of trust. For example, less than 25 percent of Americans have a lot of trust in their neighbors or labels on food packaging, while fewer than one in 10 say the same about the news media or the U.S. government. Just four percent put a lot of trust in either Wall Street or Hollywood.
However, for brands looking to build and maintain customer relationships, there was a silver lining. Most major brands have maintained high levels of confidence from consumers–75 percent of Americans trust the average major company to deliver on promises. Top performing brands, including Google and Amazon, are more trusted than any major institution, except the military.
Younger consumers are generally more skeptical of corporate America and hold brands to higher ethical standards. They are also more distrusting of brands across the board, according to a review of the average trust rating of nearly 2,000 brands tracked in Morning Consult Brand Intelligence. For Gen Z, the average brand trust rating was +10, compared to +21 for boomers.
The Most Trusted Brands of 2020 was powered by Brand Intelligence, Morning Consult’s premier platform used by Fortune 500 companies to understand daily consumer perceptions and transform that knowledge into a competitive advantage.
Morning Consult is a global data intelligence company delivering insights on what people think in real time. By surveying tens of thousands of consumers across the globe every single day, Morning Consult determines the true measure of what people think and how their decisions impact business, politics and the economy.