Australia's online magazine for entrepreneurs & SMEs

Microsoft, not Qantas, is Australia’s most ‘authentic’ brand

Tuesday, 1 July 2008

Microsoft has toppled Qantas from its position as Australia’s most authentic brand, a new survey of more than 4500 consumers has revealed.

The survey, conducted by by Synovate, in partnership with brand consultants Principals, defines authenticity as “practising what you preach; being totally clear about who you are and what you do best. When a brand's rhetoric gets out of sync with customers' actual experiences, the brand's integrity... suffers.”

Microsoft seized the mantle as Australia’s most authentic brand for 2008 after coming in fifth in the last survey conducted in 2006. Qantas, by contrast, has plunged from it’\s spot at the top of the heap in 2006 to 14th place out of 104 brands ranked this year.

Technology brands are big with consumers this year, according to the survey, with Microsoft joined by Google (second), Nokia (seventh) and Sony (ninth) in the top 10.

Food and restaurant brands are also prominent, with Cadbury coming in sixth, Vegemite eighth and McDonald’s 10th.

A combination of those two sectors also make up the five brands that experienced the fastest growth in authenticity over the past two years; independent grocery network IGA is followed by Samsung, BigPond, Microsoft, with fast growing West Australian retail bank BankWest the only outsider.

At the other end of the scale, the greatest decreases in brand authenticity were recorded by online bank ING Direct, Qantas, ANZ, Virgin Blue and LG.

Authentic brand index 2008: Top 20

Read more on brand trust