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By Katherine Mae M. Lopez, Special to The Manila Times
For the winners of the Reader’s Digest Trusted
Brand Awards, it’s all about quality service and earning the
consumers’ trust.
The Reader’s Digest Trusted Brands survey is
one of the most respected branding surveys in Asia. The survey, done
in partnership with the Nielsen Company, asks consumers through
questionnaires and phone interviews to rate the brands they trust
most based on trustworthiness, credible image, quality, value,
understanding of customer needs and innovation.
“The Trusted Brands survey serves as a guide
for Asians to make better-informed decisions, and also provides
marketers a gauge on how consumers in Asia think,” says Oscar
Veronese, regional advertising director of Reader’s Digest Asia.
He adds that the survey is also a way for them
to reinforce relationship with their readers, who have been very
loyal to them and, at the same time, it also gives the readers a
chance to air their views.
The major winners include Metrobank for the Bank
category; Citibank and Bank of the Philippine Islands for the
Card-Issuing Bank category; Makati Medical Center and St. Luke’s
Medical Center for Hospital Care, and Ajinomoto for Seasoning.
The complete list of awardees is in the May 2008
issue of Reader’s Digest.
Valuing customers and stockholders
For Metrobank, prioritizing their customers and
stockholders has earned for the bank the Gold Trusted Brand status,
a distinction given to brands whose performance rated significantly
above others in this field.
“We make sure that we value our customers and
stockholders,” says Helen Fargas, Metrobank senior vice president
for branches. Fargas says the bank delivers efficient, accurate and
fast service to customers and, at the same time, stockholders and
investors are kept informed of every new development in operations.
She adds the Gold status is an incentive to work harder for the
bank’s customers. “We’ll not only make them happy but we’ll
also delight them,” she promises.
Going out of the box
Another bank given the Gold Trusted Brand status
is Citibank for its leadership in the credit card industry.
“Citibank is the first in innovations, and we give excellent
credit card service. We were the first in 24 /7 customer service,”
says Bea Tan, Citibank Cards business director.
Tan recalls an instance when her department
received a call from an industry boss requesting for a credit card
for an employee who was going to travel the next day. Tan says it
usually takes two days to process credit cards, but the Citibank
employees had devised a way to grant the request.
“So we met the employee at the airport and
delivered the credit card to her,” Tan happily reports.
Investing in customer care
St. Luke’s Medical Center also takes pride in
its excellent care of clients, thus, earning the Gold Trusted Brand
status did not surprise the hospital. “We feel that we will be the
number one health provider in the country,” says Dr. Joven Cuanang,
chief medical officer of St. Luke’s Medical Center.
He says that St. Luke’s has invested heavily
in procuring state-of-the-art equipment “to ensure the comfort of
our patients,” revealing further that the hospital has very strong
social services department for people who cannot afford.
The hospital sets aside a portion of its gross
income to charity and outpatient department, Cuanang says, adding:
“We do not discriminate between paying patients and those under
the social service department. If a financially challenged patient
needs a particular service, like an MRI, we render it for free.”
Good manufacturing practice
Andrew Ong, business planning department manager
of Ajinomoto, says enhancing the fifth basic taste, the umami, that
gives dishes a savory flavor is the brand’s edge over other
seasoning products.
“We bring value to the consumer and help them
make food good and delicious. Ajinomoto is a part of the Filipino
taste,” says Ong.
Commenting on the brand’s winning the Gold
Trusted Brand status, Ong says Ajinomoto adheres to global standards
of good manufacturing practice that ensures the product is safe.
With Ajinomoto celebrating its 100 years as a product, Ong says the
Trusted Brand award is a solid indication of the trust the public
has given them. “We will repay our patron’s trust by putting
more value to our product,” he vows.
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