Brand-building: 72% of Nigerians prefer trust to reputation —Report

Recent Trust and Credibility survey among  Nigerians in the mainstream institutions of government, business, media and non-governmental organisations has revealed that 72 per cent of respondents rank trust in an organisation as the most critical factor for patronizing a brand or relating with an organization.

Nigerians sampled in the first ever 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer Report unveiled in Lagos, recently,  agreed that while  a good reputation might  get them to try a product; such patronage could turn out to be a one-off,  unless they trust the company behind the product.

According to Report, Eighty-seven per cent of the respondents believe that  companies that only think about themselves and their profits are bound to fail; since businesses should be driver of economic prosperity rather than for profit-making alone.

Fifty-seven per cent of the respondents, however, agree that driving the economic prosperity of our country is one of the most important things businesses should do.

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The presentation of the 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer in Nigeria by Edelman was organised by Chain Reactions Nigeria.

Speaking at the presentation of the global data from the report, Managing Director, Edelman South Africa, Jordan Rittenberry, expressed concern that the overall global assessment of the four mainstream institutions showed declines in trust about business and non-governmental organisations in 14 of the 28 countries sampled.

He therefore called on key decision makers in the respective organisations to be deliberate in building their trust asset through increased investment.

“Over time trends have shown there is low trust in business and non-governmental organisations, so it is important that people in these institutions pay more attention to how the citizens trust them”, he stated.

Rittenberry added that “media is now least trusted institution” as a result of the menace of fake news which he noted has moved from being just a phenomenon to a key factor in shaping perception.

“People define media as both content and platforms, so nearly seven in 10 worry about false information or fake news being used as a weapon”, he declared.

Managing Director/Chief Strategist, Chain Reactions Nigeria, Israel Jaiye Opayemi, noted that the inclusion of Nigeria in the annual survey for the first  time in the 18-year-old history of Edelman Trust Barometer, was in fulfillment of the company’s promise last year to ensure Nigeria was in focus among the comity of nations of reckon annually sampled by Edelman.

“Trust sits at the heart of social capital. For those who were here last year, we made a promise that Nigeria would be included in the 2018 deck of the Edelman Trust Barometer. I am happy to announce that we are here today to fulfill that promise”, he said.