NEW
YORK, May 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Corporate
handling of inflation and culture wars are denting the reputations
for more than 70% of American companies, and the public has a
higher bar for corporate excellence than ever. Those are among the
insights of the Axios-Harris Poll 100, an annual ranking of the
reputations of the most visible U.S. companies, which was released
today.
Nvidia, 3M, Fidelity, Sony and
Adidas have the top-five best reputations in America on the 2024
Axios-Harris Poll 100 list.
Social media platforms and companies viewed as politically
polarizing are the ones with the poorest reputations or that
suffered the steepest declines. This year, The Trump Organization,
X (formerly Twitter), Spirit Airlines, Meta/Facebook and Fox
Corporation are at the bottom of the 26th annual
list, with poor reputations.
"This year's Axios-Harris Poll 100 finds a systemic loss in
corporate reputation, as public backlash to the handling of
inflation has created higher prices and poorer value for the
stretched American consumer," said John Gerzema, CEO of The
Harris Poll. "In fact, 72% believe companies are taking advantage
of inflation to increase their profit margins rather than being
fair and transparent with the prices they charge."
Stagwell's Harris Poll has ranked reputation since 1999. The
survey's Reputation Quotient (RQ) ranking is based on companies
that are most visible to the general population and on their
performance in seven key areas:
- Trust – "Is this a company I trust?"
- Vision – "Does this company have a clear vision for
the future?"
- Growth – "Is this a growing company?"
- Products and Services – "Does this company develop
innovative products and services that I want and value?"
- Culture – "Is this a good company to work
for?"
- Ethics – "Does this company maintain high ethical
standards?"
- Citizenship – "Does this company share my
values/support good causes?"
This year, only one industry – pharmaceuticals – improved.
Biggest individual company gainers: BP, Hobby Lobby, Fidelity,
Subway and eBay. Biggest decliners: Boeing, Shein, Reddit,
Starbucks and Anheuser-Busch. New to the list: Nvidia, Mattel, Novo
Nordisk, Bayer and Alaska Airlines.
"To excel at reputation, companies must deliver on strong
business performance, corporate character and trust,"
said Ray Day, vice chair of Stagwell. "While you can build a
brand, you earn a reputation. This year's results underscore more
than ever that reputation needs to be a priority from the board
room to the C-suite – as companies with the strongest reputations
also are the ones winning in the marketplace."
Among the insights from this year's study:
- DOWN ACROSS THE BOARD: 63 of the 89 companies (or
71%) see a decline of half a point or more. Only 15 companies (17%)
see an improvement of half a point or more. 2024 is the
lowest number of companies with an "excellent" score in a
decade.
- WORST YEAR SINCE BEFORE COVID: Reputation scores are
their lowest levels since pre-COVID. The average score of the 100
companies this year is 72.8, down from 74.1 last year and 74.2 in
2022.
- TOP DECLINE REASONS: Top reasons for declining
reputations include: companies not doing enough to keep prices fair
from inflation (26%); poor ethical behavior related to unfair
pricing and passing along costs or suppressing wages/lack of hiring
despite profit-making (20%); and too much focus on cultural issues
not important to consumers (18%).
- CANCELING BUSINESS OVER INFLATION: 66% of Americans
recently have stopped doing business with a company because of
unreasonably high prices, and 59% have gone elsewhere due to
falling quality.
- WHAT BUSINESS SHOULD DO: To improve reputation,
Americans believe companies should: be more focused on keeping
prices fair during inflation (53%); improve product quality, safety
and consumer satisfaction (48%); and pay good wages while promoting
economic growth through job creation (48%) – rather than ESG (23%),
AI (13%) or taking proactive stances on societal or culture
issues.
The Axios Harris Poll 100 is based on a survey of nearly 25,000
Americans in a nationally representative sample conducted January
through March. The two-step process starts fresh each year by
surveying the public's top-of-mind awareness of companies that
either excel or falter. These 100 "most visible companies" are then
ranked by a second group of Americans across the seven key
dimensions of reputation to arrive at the ranking. If a company is
not on the list, it did not reach a critical level of visibility to
be measured.
For information on all companies and their ranking on the 2024
Axios-Harris Poll 100, or to purchase an in-depth analysis of
a company's reputation, click here.
About The Harris Poll
The Harris Poll is one of the
longest-running surveys in the U.S., tracking public opinion,
motivations and social sentiment since 1963. It is now part of
Harris Insights & Analytics, a global consulting and market
research firm that delivers social intelligence for
transformational times. We work with clients in three primary
areas: building 21st century corporate reputation,
crafting brand strategy and performance tracking, and earning
organic media through public relations research. Our mission is to
provide insights and advisory to help leaders make the best
decisions possible. Learn more by visiting
www.harrispoll.com and follow Harris Poll
on Twitter and LinkedIn.
About Axios
Axios is a digital media company launched
in 2017. Axios – which means "worthy" in Greek – helps
you become smarter, faster with news and information across
politics, tech, business, media, science and the world. Subscribe
to our newsletters at axios.com/newsletters and download
our mobile app at axios.com/app.
About Stagwell
Stagwell is the challenger network
built to transform marketing. We deliver scaled creative
performance for the world's most ambitious brands, connecting
culture-moving creativity with leading-edge technology to harmonize
the art and science of marketing. Led by entrepreneurs, our 10,000+
specialists in 34+ countries are unified under a single purpose: to
drive effectiveness and improve business results for their clients.
Join us at www.stagwellglobal.com .
Contact:
John Gerzema
jgerzema@harrispoll.com
Ray Day
ray.day@stagwellglobal.com
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SOURCE Stagwell Inc.