AIR NZ BRAND ONCE AGAIN NAMED OUR MOST TRUSTED
AIR New Zealand has been named Australia’s mosttrusted brand for a third year running, while the reputation of major banks and some financial service firms has plummeted, a survey of 10,000 Australians shows.
The 2019 Corporate Reputation Index, released on Monday and conducted each year since 2008 by the global Reputation Institute, showed half of Australia’s top 60 corporations had strong or top tier reputations, an improvement on 2018. AMP and all the major banks except Commonwealth – which was already low ranked – tumbled down the rankings this year amid the fallout from the financial services Royal Commission.
“While there’s clearly been a loss of trust in the four big banks and some major financial services companies, we’re not seeing any flow-on effect to the remainder of Australia’s corporate sector,” Reputation Institute Australia & NZ managing director Oliver Freedman said. “Australians don’t view all corporates negatively.”
Air NZ chief executive Christopher Luxon was pleased with how his company placed.
“It’s really special, because it’s our third year,” he said.
“We believe reputation is everything and we’ve worked to build that over time.”
Mr Luxon said AirNZ had tried hard to build a worldclass organisation and that Australians now made up 30 per cent of the passengers on Air New Zealand’s longhaul flights to North and South America.
Qantas was ranked No.2, up from No.3 last year, while JB Hi-Fi rose three places to third.
Woolworths improved 14 places to rank eighth overall, its highest ranking since the survey began in 2008 and two spots behind ALDI, the mosttrusted supermarket.
Lendlease and Myer showed the biggest improvements in the rankings, with both rising 18 places to rank 27th and 35th, respectively, after declines last year.
Crown Resorts, Coca-Cola Amatil, and 7-Eleven also improved their reputation, as did Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, the top ranked bank at No.11.
“This proves you can be a bank and still have a strong reputation if you are focused on reputation drivers that resonate with customers,” Mr Freedman said.
The survey asked Australians to rate the companies based on how they felt about each company based on products and services, innovation, workplace, citizenship, governance, leadership and performance.