Which Brands do we love to trust?

So which brands are we$,$ as Australians, happy to trust? If iconic brands such as Vegemite and Victoria Bitter $($VB$)$ spring to mind, then guess again. According to a survey conducted by Readers Digest Australia, it is healthcare products, chocolate brands and breakfast cereals that generate the greatest trust in Australia. Dettol tops the list, followed by Cadbury and Colgate.

But how important is trust? And how important is creating an emotional connection to a brand? Research indicates that trust of a brand is based on direct experience and built over time. It has been associated with $$positive feelings$$ and making the consumers $$feel$$ good. Australian consumers reportedly believe that brands such as Band $$ Aid and Panadol are beneficial to their health and associated with feeling good, so to have rated those brands highly, along with chocolate brands Cadbury and Lindt. Importantly, trust serves as a heuristic, allowing the consumer to make confident choices between different brands. For example, the top $10$ most trusted brands in Australia are perceived as having a history of $$being steadfast and safe$,$ particularly in times of an uncertain economic climate.

Consumers also develop $$attachment $$ like$$ emotions to brands, which are expressed in terms of emotions such as $$trust$,$bonding$,$resonance$,$companionship$$ and $$love$.$ A study examining the behavioral effects of specific brand emotions found that $$emotional attached$$ consumers are the most profitable.

A global study of $25,000$ consumers, including more than $10,000$ in China and Singapore, found that luxury cars and airlines were the most desirable brands. They evoked positive consumer feelings about brand, and these feelings were strong enough to trigger purchase intention. BMW topped the lists as one the most desired brands in China, just ahead of Rolex and Apple. Chinese consumers were found to desire brands that they perceived as $$confident$,$exciting$$ and $$sophisticated$$ and that had strong affiliation of luxury. Singapore Airlines was found to be the most desired brand in Singapore, being associated with qualities such as $$pride$$ in a strong service ethic and a high $$ quality product, which are attributes particularly prized in Singapore.

The implication here is for marketers to consider the role played by trust and emotional attachment within the context of brand relationships in a consumer market where information is just a click away. Balancing consumer$$s informational learning with their emotional learning can facilitate the creation of strong emotional ties to and beliefs in brands that consumer will continue to love and trust.