Bord Bia claims top spot in reputation league

Ireland’s food, drink and horticulture marketing agency Bord Bia was voted the country’s top corporate brand in the 12th annual Ireland RepTrak study hosted by PR firm The Reputations Agency (TRA). Bord Bia was ranked as the most reputable organisation with a score of 85.1, for their role in bringing Irish produce to the world and promoting growth and sustainability.

Bord Bia was ranked in first place for standing behind its products – in its case for the backing of Irish food producers and supporting them in reaching global markets. The public also rated Bord Bia as being among the leaders in working for society, improving the lives of people and their communities and being committed to changing the world for the better.

The Credit Unions was recognised at the second most reputable organisation overall, for being a cornerstone of local communities with over 3.6 million members, committed to their local communities with the public acknowledging the trust that members place in their local credit union and their friendly, understanding and people focused approach.

The Credit Unions were first in the key reputation drivers of governance and citizenship.

Third placed-An Post was saluted for reacting quickly to public needs when the pandemic broke, for improving community lives and for acting to protect their employees and customers. They were recognised for running a fair, open, transparent and ethical business and for protecting the environment and offering equal opportunities to its 9,000 workforce.

Niamh Boyle, CEO, TRA, said the RepTrak 2021 studies the reputational standing of Ireland’s 100 largest, most important and most visible organisations. The 12th annual survey was undertaken between January 21 and March 29 this year and identified the organisations and sectors that the Irish public believes have performed best during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Most reputed Irish organisations:

Chart: The top 10 most reputed Irish organisations in the Ireland RepTrak® 2021 study

Products and services moved just ahead of governance as the number one driver of an organisation’s reputation, with citizenship taking third place out of seven key drivers of reputation. Close to one fifth of an organisation’s reputation is derived from perceptions of high quality, reliable and good value products while close to another fifth comes from perceptions of being ethical, fair, open, and transparent in how it goes about its business.

The leaders in the seven drivers of reputation were:

1. Leadership – Microsoft Ireland
2. Performance – Microsoft Ireland
3. Products & Services – Boots Ireland
4. Innovation – Google
5. Governance – Credit Unions
6. Citizenship – Credit Unions
7. Workplace – St Vincent’s Private Hospital

An analysis of which brand personality traits were most closely linked with reputation found that friendly (Credit Unions placed first), hard-working (PwC placed first), genuine (Credit Unions placed first), exciting (BMW placed first) and caring (Bon Secours Health System placed first) were the most highly correlated.  Tourism Ireland was voted the most charming.

An Garda Siochána was rated the most courageous.

Google was seen as the most imaginative, The Irish Times the most insightful, Pfizer the most intelligent and the IRFU the most patriotic and spirited among the 100 organisations analysed. The public are six times more likely to buy from an organisation with a strong reputation and 10 times more likely to purchase from one with an excellent reputation.

Ireland’s top 10 organisations and sectors leading the response to Covid-19 were:

1. Healthcare professionals   – remaining in first place since April 2020
2. Pharmacies/chemists – up from third place in April 2020
3. An Post – up from fifth place in April 2020
4. HSE – down from second place in April 2020
5. An Garda Síochána – up from sixth place in April 2020
6. SMEs – up from 10^th place in April 2020
7. Public transport providers – up from 8^th place in April 2020
8. The Irish army – up from 12^th place in April 2020
9. Society in general – down from seventh place in April 2020
10. The Irish Government – down from fourth place in April 2020

Pictured above is Tara McCarthy, CEO, Bord Bia

Ireland RepTrak® Rankings by Sector

The eighteen sectors studied in 2021 were ranked as follows:

Excellent Reputation Tier

1. Private Hospital Sector (Reputation Pulse Score 81.1 – new sector in 2021)

Strong Reputation Tier

1. Retail Food (77.8 – up 3.2 points)
2. Food & Beverage (76.5 – up 4.3 points)
3. Automotive (76.2 – up 2.3 points)
4. Healthcare (75.8 – up 4 points)
5. Semi State Commercial (73.9 – up 4.3 points)
6. Public Service Bodies (72.6 – up 3 points)
7. Energy – Retail (72.5 – up 2.9 points)
8. Infrastructure (70.8 – up 4.1 points)
9. Financial Insurance (70.4 – up 2.9 points)
10. Retail General (70.1 – up 0.8 points)

Average Reputation Tier

1. Retail Forecourt (68.8 – up 1.3 points)
2. Airlines & Aerospace (68.3 – up 2 points)
3. Financial – Banks (68.3 – up 5 points)
4. Communications – Technology (66.2 – down 1.4 points)
5. Communications – Media (65.2 – down 1.6 points)
6. Professional Services (64.4 – up 0.7 points)
7. Sporting Bodies (62.3 – up 2.8 points)