About brands

Last year, the Romanians have proved that the trust they have in some brands does not necessarily imply their raised expenditure.

For the Romanians that have used at least once the services o the financial system, the highest trust extent is given to BCR( 64,3 % spontaneous answers), says a study of IMRCG usage, an independent market research company. It is noticed, that even Visa has an percentage easily higher than Master Card, 23,6% against 23,3% the two financial services have the same trust quotation among Romanian consumers. In the technology field the most trusted brand is Nokia ( 72,6% of spontaneous answers), followed by Microsoft( 67,8%) and Orange( 65,5%). Although the usage extent of Panasonic is higher than Microsoft’s (34,9% against 33,7%), Panasonic follows Microsoft in what trust is concerned.

Trusted cars The study has shown that even if half o the persons asked drive a Dacia ( 41,7%), the trust extent in this brand is the lowest in a top o spontaneous answers(55,2%). Mercedes is the highest trusted brand for the Romanian consumer (73,1%), although the usage extent is among the lowest(21,6%). Kent remains the most trusted cigarette brand, with over half of the spontaneous answers(53,3%) and at the same time the brand most used, 30,8 % of the people who answered using it at least once. Marlboro follows Kent in short distance, having the second place in the trust top, and the usage extent( 46,1%, and 24,3%)

Coca-Cola, number 1 From the brands nominated in top 5, Romanian give 70 % spontaneous answers to Coca-Cola. The brand owns the supremacy, both at trust and usage. At trust, the brand is followed by Ariel( 69,2%) and Jacobs Krönung (66%).Even if Danone has a high usage extent among consumers, almost double than Nike (51,7%, to de 34,3%), the consumers have more faith in the American brand. The study has taken into consideration the usage extent o brands and spontaneous answers. The representative sample was of 1.500 people who answered from middle class, living in cities with over 50.000 inhabitants.

Romanians do not believe in Dacia but they use it.

The structure of brands is decisive. Anyway, factors like low incomes or reduced extent o peoples’ education in what some services are concerned drop the usage extent.

Emil Mesaros, Brand Consultant at Branzas, exclusive partner of Interbrand, states that the phenomena or all the categories analyzed in the study, is that most o the people who answered, although they trust a certain brand do not have the behavior to use it, and this represents one o the most important aspect o the study:” Where we talk about expensive and premium brands, like Mercedes, BMW, Peugeot, the highly trust extent appears because of the good product and brand policy realized by the companies. Even I the product is not accessible, the consumer appreciates it and aspires at using it one day”, said Mesaros.

Dacia, negative image

In what Dacia is concerned, the situation is different, the study stating that the usage extent is higher than the trust extent.” This study reflects the negative imagine Dacia had during the time, because of the lack of brand communication and the problems the product had . Even if the last two years brought a positive evolution o the brand, it is obvious that Dacia has a lot to recover at image level and the promoting campaigns or this brand must be continued”, said the specialist.

The brand wear

Another motive for the existence of a lower trust extent in the product than the usage is the brand wear. When a certain brand is used for a very long time( frequently occurring in the case of cigarettes), a consumer’s saturation appears, and this asks for periodic regeneration of the brand, at personality level and at communication level. According to Mesaros, the saturation installed puts at risk the extent of the usage of the brand