JOHANNESBURG: South African market researcher Markinor has teamed with the nation's Sunday Times to develop the Brand Trust Index - a snapshot of the trust placed by consumers in the plethora of brands competing for their wallets and purses.

The index, which debuts in the 2007 edition of the Encyclopaedia of Brands & Branding, not only codifies the brand trust factor, but also highlights such issues as which categories of products and services score highest - and in whom this trust mostly resides.

In men, women, the young, old, well off, or not, metro or non-metro?

Nineteen consumer brand categories were surveyed in total, from banks and beers to TV stations and weekly newspapers. There are five trust levels: 40-49%, 50-59%, 60-69%, 70-79% and 80-89%.

And the nation's ten most trusted brands are ...
  1. Discovery Channel (81%)
  2. Tastic (80%)
  3. Nokia (78%)
  4. Ace (75%)
  5. KOO (75%)
  6. All Gold (73%)
  7. Kellogg's (73%)
  8. SABC1 (72%)
  9. White Star (71%)
  10. Cadbury's Dairy Milk (70%).
Acknowledging that "we are all drawn to lists", Markinor stresses, however, that the index is not intended to be a Hit Parade.

And as the brand categories surveyed will change each year, the order in which the brands appear will also change.

Interestingly (and perhaps predictably), the 16-24 age group exhibits the highest overall brand trust, two points above 35-49-year olds.

Data sourced from Biz.com (South Africa); additional content by WARC staff