Nvidia, 3M, Fidelity, Sony, Adidas top 2024 Axios-Harris Poll 100 with best reputation; 70% of companies decline

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 26^th 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 21^st 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

SOURCE Stagwell Inc.