The Peter B. Gustavson School of Business at the University of Victoria has unveiled the third annual analysis of the brands most trusted by Canadians, highlighting how community engagement, relationship management and customer experience influence consumer trust.  

The Gustavson Brand Trust Index was established to raise awareness of the role trust plays in the minds of consumers when making purchasing decisions, and measures the relationships between brand performance, social equity, trust and advocacy for brands in Canada. The initiative highlights Gustavson’s goal of educating and championing responsible leadership, part of the vital impact that drives UVic’s sense of purpose as a leading teaching and research hub.

“Trust plays a vital role in our community, economy and collective mindset as Canadians,” says Saul Klein, dean of the Gustavson School of Business. “We have witnessed several breakdowns in trust over the past year, which we see reflected in our results. It is clear that trust can erode very rapidly but it takes a long time to build or to recover from mis-steps.”

The annual Gustavson Brand Trust Index uses a statistically representative sample of 6,560 consumers to score 294 Canadian companies and brands. It measures the performance of brands and companies in 26 industry sectors on a range of brand value measures.

The survey results can be broken down by demographics to show how perceptions of trust and advocacy for particular brands differ between men and women, in different regions and across age and income groups.

Canada’s Top 10 Most Trusted Brands for 2017 (Rank in 2016):

1. MEC (1)
2. CAA (New to the survey)
3. Costco Wholesale (3)
4. Fairmont Hotels & Resorts (8)
5. IKEA (22)
6. Chapters/Indigo (59)
7. President’s Choice (1)
8. Interac (11)
9. Cirque du Soleil (New to the survey)
10. WestJet (54)

More information about the Gustavson Brand Trust Index is available at: http://www.uvic.ca/gustavson/brandtrust/index.php

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