- Band-Aid is the most trusted brand in the US, according to a survey from Morning Consult.
- The personal care brand beat out Amazon, Visa, UPS, and FedEx.
- Despite upstarts, consumers still reach for brands that they know well, Morning Consult says.
The most trusted brand in the US isn't a website that can sell you almost anything: It's the brand that makes the piece of plastic you reach for when you cut yourself.
Band-Aid is again the most trusted brand in the US, according to Morning Consult's Most Trusted Brands report for 2023. The personal care brand beat out Amazon, the third most-trusted brand. It was Amazon's first time breaking into the top 10 list.
Some companies earn consumers' trust by being ubiquitous, Emily Moquin, food and beverage analyst at Morning Consult. Others, like Band-Aid, are "a more niche brand, but they're doing what they do really, really well," she said.
"It has some of the values at its core about safety and care and wellbeing," Moquin said. "There's a very close linkage in our minds to jump from that to trust because this is a point where parents are helping their kids feel better, or we're taking care of our cuts and boo-boos."
Other personal care brands, including soap and shampoo maker Dove, Kleenex, and disinfectant producer Lysol, made the list. UPS took the number two spot, and rival FedEx came in at number 10. Cheerios, Visa, and The Weather Channel also made the list.
Morning Consult's survey ranked roughly 1,500 brands, Moquin told Insider. Band-Aid also topped the most-trusted brands' list last year. Lysol and Clorox were number two and three on the list last year.
Personal care brands like Harry's, Glossier, and Dollar Shave Club have grown sales and challenged century-old brands in recent years. But the survey shows that most customers still tend to gravitate toward brands that have been around the longest, Moquin told Insider.
The report also ranks the most trusted brands in specific industries. Many of those rankings were also dominated by big, well-established names. Amazon took the top spot among retail and e-commerce brands, for instance, followed by The Home Depot, Lowe's, and Target.
As inflation remains high, many consumers are looking for value. In some cases, that means they are turning to brands that are well-regarded in a specific industry.
But higher prices can also lead consumers to look for cheaper alternatives. In December, Morning Consult found that Walmart's store-brand cream cheese was one of the fastest-growing brands in 2022 as shoppers encountered shortages and higher prices on Philadelphia-brand cream cheese.