An Post, Kerry Group, Bord Bia, Aldi and Lidl were named as the top Irish companies in the latest Ireland RepTrak® 2017 survey which is published by The Reputations Agency.
The survey is based on the perceptions of more than 4,500 respondents who completed the survey in the first quarter of 2017. The survey sets out to quantify the emotional bond stakeholders have with 50 leading companies, and how these connections drive supportive behaviour such as a willingness to purchase a company’s products, recommend the brand, invest, welcome into their community or even work for the company.
Companies are ranked on a Reputation Pulse score from 0-100 based on levels of Trust, Esteem, Admiration, and good Feeling towards the companies, and are grouped as Excellent (80+), Strong (70-79), Average (60-69), Weak (40-59) or Poor (Below 40).
The top 10 companies in the Ireland RepTrak® 2017 study are as follows:
- An Post (79.5)
- Kerry Group (78.1)
- Bord Bia (78.1)
- Aldi (77.4)
- Lidl (76.7(
- Google (76.1)
- Boots (75.5)
- Tourism Ireland (75.3)
- Aer Lingus (75.2)
- SuperValu (74.8)
This is the second year in a row where indigenous Irish organisations occupy the top three places in the Ireland Reptrak® study. 20% of the firms studied improved their scores significantly this year (by over 3.7 points) whilst only 10% significantly declined. Overall, the public feel more positive about firms this year than last year, when 27% of firms’ reputations significantly declined. This year’s average reputation Pulse score is 64.4.
When looking at industry reputations, the Food & Beverage sector remains the most highly regarded, while the financial services sector is the weakest with an 18-point difference in reputation scores across sectors. The Financial Services Insurance sector score fell by 3 points amid rising premiums and general consumer dissatisfaction, while the Financial Service Banks sector showed signs of recovery this year, increasing by + 2.25 points.
The research also shows that reputation substantially drives business results by increasing the propensity to buy, recommend, trust, invest, work for, or welcome companies into the community.
According to Niamh Boyle, Managing Director, The Reputations Agency: “Organisational leaders value the RepTrak® study as it provides a real insight on consumers’ perception of the reputational standings of Ireland’s top companies and this matters to them given the clear link between a strong reputation and performance indicators such as sales and profitability. From this year’s study, we can see that consumers in Ireland are ten times more likely to purchase a product or service from a company and seven times more likely to work for a company with an excellent reputation than a company with a poor reputation. 85% of people in Ireland would say something positive about a company with an excellent reputation, while only 7% would do the same for a company with a poor reputation.
“It is no surprise, therefore, that leading companies are investing in measuring reputation and managing reputation as a valuable asset in a systematic way to support delivery of organisational goals.”
She adds that “the results show us that people wish to be treated with authenticity, transparency, decency and fairness by the companies they are spending their money with. So much is invested by companies in promoting their products & services, when in fact what people really want to know about is the company behind these products. Companies need to invest far more in telling their corporate story in order to build a stronger emotional bond with the public and move the large proportion of fence sitters who really don’t understand the company, to become positive supporters of the company.”
