Nokia, Samsung, Sony India's Top Trusted Brands

The Brand Trust Report, India Study - 2013 has chosen Nokia, Samsung and Sony as India's three Most Trusted Brands this year. Nokia leads for the third consecutive year, while Samsung and Sony have both moved up two ranks from last year to occupy the 2nd and 3rd slots.

Nokia and Samsung, India's two most trusted brands, retain their positions in the North. North Zone's 3rd Most Trusted brand is Godrej, which has bettered it's All India 6th rank. BMW maintains the same position in the North as in rest of India by taking up the position of the 4th Most Trusted Brand and Reliance gains two ranks from the national list to be the 5th Most Trusted Brand in North India. Tata loses one place in North and is at 6th, while Sony loses four ranks to be 7th Most Trusted Brand. Apple is also more trusted in the North at 8th rank than in rest of India where it ranks 12th. Bajaj and Airtel lose one rank each to be the 9th and 10th Most Trusted Brands in North Zone respectively.

Studying India's 500 Most Trusted Brands' movement in the North Zone is quite revealing. The brands which have over-performed the most in the North as compared to their All India ranks are VIP Bags (up 229 ranks), Reliance Foundation (up 196 ranks), Dhirubhai Ambani (up 182 ranks) and Windows (up 164 ranks). On the other hand, the brands that take the worst trust beating in the North as compared to All India ranks are Toyota Innova (down 1578 ranks), SetWet (down 825 ranks), Emirates (down 737 ranks), FILA (down 635 ranks) and Royal Stag (down 612 ranks). Six brands were not even mentioned in any of the interviews in the North, namely, Accenture, 7 UP, Head & Shoulders, Airwick, Amaron and, surprisingly, Baba Ramdev.

The North and All India ranks show a large difference demonstrating that the North thinks quite differently from rest of India. Only 18 brands have north zone ranks that follow the national ranks within 10 per cent rank variation, while 107 brands show a rank variance of over 90 per cent when compared to national ranks.

In the All India ranks, the category leaders are as follows. After being ranked second two years in a row, Coca-Cola makes it as India's Most Trusted Aerated Soft Drinks brand, albeit with only a 2 per cent lead over the 2nd ranked Pepsi. Nano rides in as India's Most Trusted four-wheeler car brand and among Consumer Products, Tide beats Surf Excel while Nirma surges ahead of Hindustan Unilever as the latter slips significantly. 

HCC is India's Most Trusted Infrastructure brand, DLF leads in Real Estate and, in education, IIT is more trusted than Oxford University and IIM. In F&B, Parle-G leads in biscuits and Cadbury's DairyMilk is the Most Trusted Chocolate Bar among seven brands listed. World Health Organization leads in trust among Global Bodies followed by YMCA, UNICEF and Red Cross. Dabur, the Ayurveda leader, also leads the Healthcare Super Category of 36 brands. The mosquito repellent, AllOut, has been a leader three consecutive years and has noticeable lead of 120 per cent over the next ranked, GoodKnight. The category of Internet has 25 brands this year and though Google leads Facebook this year also, it is only by a miniscule 3 per cent margin.

Anna Hazare is the Most Trusted Personality in India, at 87th rank this year, but in North, he is the 32nd Most Trusted Brand. Being Human, Salman Khan's Foundation, however, maintains its rank as the Most Trusted NGO in India. Most brands in the Technology Category have gained trust ranks this year with Apple being listed as the Most Trusted Technology brand. Indigo Airlines is this year's Most Trusted Airline as Air India slips to second position.

Surprisingly, though there is a lot of variations in ranks in North as compared to All India, though many of Category leaders remain unchanged. The upsets in North among Category leaders are - Navneet overtakes Cello Pens as Most Trusted Stationary brand, Blue Dart overtakes DTDC and DHL in Courier Services, Big Bazaar overtakes KFC in Retail, Olay overtakes Lux in the Personalcare Category and Facebook beats Google to lead the Internet category. In Healthcare, though Dabur leads both North and All India, Moov and Crocin displace Himalaya and Iodex for 2nd and 3rd ranks. The Food & Beverage Category also sees similar inclination and Amul leads in both geographic comparisons, though in North, Britannia ranks 2nd and Coca-Cola 3rd, taking over Maggi and Parle's positions from the All India list. The BFSI category sees LIC in first rank in North as well as All India, but ICICI (as a diversified finance brand) move up to second place in North, displacing SBI in second position from the All India list.