Reader's Digest Reveals Results from Canada's Annual Most Trusted Brand™ Survey

Report Finds that Consumers Remain Brand-Loyal

TORONTO, Jan. 19, 2015 /CNW/ - Today, Reader's Digest releases the results of Canada's seventh annual Most Trusted Brand™ Survey, which reports that trust continues to be important to Canadian consumers, and that they remain loyal to the brands and services they know of and trust. Participants say they would choose a brand that's been identified as "trusted," over another brand when product quality and price are similar.

"The annual Reader's Digest Most Trusted Brand™ survey reaffirms that trust, as well as cost and product quality factor into Canadians' brand affinity and loyalty," said Erin Schnarr, Director, Integrated Sales & Marketing Solutions. Almost 9 of every 10 survey respondents reported that once they trust a company, they tend to act as ambassadors, recommending its products and services to friends and families. "Trust plays a key role in consumer purchasing decisions and it can tip the scale favourably toward a particular brand."

In an independent opinion poll commissioned by Reader's Digest, Ipsos Reid conducted a nationwide online survey of more than 4,000 Canadians, including 1,500 Quebec residents to identify brands they trust. Respondents were asked for their most trusted brand within each category in an open-ended question format. The Most Trusted Brand™ status is awarded to top brands across 40 product categories including sunscreen, vitamin, hybrid car, coffee retailer, snack bars, pet food, life insurance company, airline and more. Some of the most trusted brands according to Canadians include:

Airline:	Air Canada
Bank/Trust Company	TD Canada Trust
Bottled Water:	Nestlé
Coffee Maker:	Keurig
Coffee Retailer:	Tim Hortons
Cough Syrup:	Buckley's
Home improvement Retailer:	Home Depot
Pharmacy/Drug Store:	Shopper's Drug Mart
Quick Service Restaurant:	McDonald's
Sugar Substitute:	Splenda
Weight Loss Program:	Weight Watchers

New this year, Reader's Digest celebrates brands that have won Most Trusted Brand™ in the same category for five or more consecutive years. "With 76 percent of survey participants reporting it takes many years to earn their trust, these brands deserve recognition," said Schnarr. In addition to the traditional blue seal, these brands will also receive a special gold seal. The 2015 gold winners are:

Passenger Car Manufacturer:	Toyota (7 years)
Life Insurance Company:	Sun Life Financial (6 years)
Pet Food:	Iams (6 years)
Sunscreen:	Coppertone (6 years)
Vitamins:	Jamieson (5 years)
Hybrid Car Manufacturer:	Toyota (5 years)
Snack Bars:	Quaker (5 years)
Yogurt:	Yoplait (5 years)
Sensitive Toothpaste:	Sensodyne (5 years)

The full list of Most Trusted Brand™ winners will be published online at trustedbrands.rd.ca.

In addition to brands, Canadians also ranked the professions and institutions they trust most. Firefighters (77 percent), ambulance drivers/paramedics (74 percent) and pharmacists (70 percent) ranked highest, while the least trusted include national politicians (6 percent), car salespeople (5 percent) and telemarketers (4 percent). Among the most trusted institutions are medical research (34 percent), tourism (26 percent) and airlines (26 percent).

Trust has always been an integral facet of the Reader's Digest brand. Serving as an ambassador for the importance of trust, Reader's Digest first launched the Most Trusted Brand™ survey in Asia in 2000. It has since grown into a global initiative, playing an important role where it is used to gauge consumer attitudes and opinions related to products, services and professions, and to recognize the world's most trusted brands.

About the Survey
In an independent opinion poll, commissioned by Reader's Digest, Ipsos Reid conducted a nationwide online survey of 4,026 Canadian adults, including an oversample of 1,510 Quebec residents. The sample was stratified by language (English n= 2,619 and French n= 1,407). The survey, fielded August 26 to September 2, 2014, was weighted by age, gender, and region according to census data to ensure that the overall sample reflects the demographic profile of Canada and Quebec. The precision of online polls is measured using a credibility interval. The Canadian sample of n=4026 has an associated credibility interval of +/- 1.8% and the Quebec oversample of n=1510 has an associated credibility interval of +/- 2.9%, 19 times out of 20.

Winning brands are determined by votes and confirmed to be statistically significant from next brand(s). Any categories where the winning brand is not significantly different from the other brands will be considered a tie.

About The Reader's Digest Association Canada (ULC)
Reader's Digest Association Canada is a leading global, multi-brand and multi-platform media company that educates, entertains and inspires, connecting audiences throughout Canada. Reader's Digest Magazines Ltd. publishes five magazines, including Reader's Digest and Sélection, Canada's most-read magazines, with 5.8 million readers. In 2008, it launched Best Health, a healthy lifestyle magazine for Canadian women and More of Our Canada, a companion magazine to the very popular Our Canada magazine. Reader's Digest operates a network of branded websites in Canada, including readersdigest.ca, besthealthmag.ca, plaisirssante.ca and tasteofhome.com. For more, visit: RD.ca, follow Reader's Digest on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.

™ Trusted Brand is a registered trademark of Reader's Digest Association Canada ULC.

SOURCE The Reader's Digest Association (Canada) ULC

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Image with caption: "The Reader's Digest Association (Canada) ULC (CNW Group/The Reader's Digest Association (Canada) ULC)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20150119_C6514_PHOTO_EN_10334.jpg

For further information: Kelly Hyatt, [e-mail], 416-599-1132; Anna Peirce, [e-mail], 416-782-2300, ext. 202