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Band-Aid is stuck at the top.
The brand scored the highest net trust rating among US consumers for the second year in a row, according to Morning Consult’s Most Trusted Brands report. The report is based on data gathered earlier this year from Morning Consult’s Brand Intelligence platform, which asks thousands of adults across the US how much they trust each brand “to do what is right.”
UPS was also once again on the top 10 list, moving from fourth place last year to second place this year. In fact, six of this year’s top 10 most trusted brands also appeared on the list last year, indicating that trust is a metric that doesn’t change much year to year, according to the report.
That’s good news for brands with high net trust. But for those that don’t, it seems their work is cut out for them, especially among Gen Z.
Trust us: Amazon, Lysol, and Kleenex round out the top five most trusted brands in the US. 2023 marks the first year Kleenex made the list. If this spring’s high pollen count is good for anyone, it’s probably Kleenex…
- Cheerios, Visa, Dove, The Weather Channel, and FedEx complete this year’s top 10.
- Globally, Toyota took the top spot in Japan, while Google ranked first in France and India. Others that got first place? Boots in the UK, WhatsApp in Italy, and Samsung in South Korea.
Trust issues: Gen Z is less trusting of brands than older generations, per the report. That generation was less likely to say they trusted every brand on the most-trusted US list compared with the general population. Gen Zers were also more likely to have lower average net trust in the more than 1,500 brands tracked domestically.
- Average net trust among all US adults was 20 percentage points. It was about the same for millennials, and about 22 points among each Gen X and baby boomers. But for Gen Z, average net trust was closer to 11 points.
- “Some of this trust will be built up over time—remember, Gen Zers are young consumers,” Nicki Zink, a Morning Consult analyst team lead, wrote in the report. “Like the courting of millennials, brands need to work to meet Gen Zers where they are without coming off as the corporation in the room. A good example is Chipotle Mexican Grill’s response to a viral TikTok menu hack by partnering with the influencers and formally adding the item to its menu.”