RESEARCH officer Miss Jane Yeo, 30, shrugged when told that some Singaporeans prefer established international brands instead of home-grown labels.
You will not see her sauntering around clothed in local brands anytime soon. It does not fit her image of a cosmopolitan professional, she said.
This may explain why international brands eclipsed local brands in a survey on consumer reactions.
An overwhelming 74 per cent of respondents in Singapore favoured global icons.
Still, Singapore's cosmopolitan professionals do support home-grown names with a long heritage, like Singapore Airlines and Tiger beer. This is one of the findings that the Reader's Digest Trusted Brand Survey 2008 threw up.
The Nielsen Company polled 1,000 respondents from Singapore on their favoured brands across 43 product categories.
A total of 21 home-grown brands won the Platinum Trusted Brand Award. And 69 were Gold Trusted Brand recipients.
One familiar name that received consumers' seal of approval was Brand's. Generations of Singaporeans who took bottles of Brand's Essence of Chicken in preparation of their exam would remember it fondly.
Since the survey's inauguration in 1999, Brand's has been voted most trusted brand four times.
Ms Isabella Tan, vice president of regional marketing for Cerebos Pacific Limited, said: 'Winning the Asia Gold Award is an affirmation of the Brand's winning formula in branding, customer engagement and innovation.'
However, some disagreed that local brands in general were less popular.
Education consultant Mr L.T. Tan, 28, said: 'We have fewer local names to choose from compared to China or India. This could be one reason why it looks like we are not supportive of our own.'
Under the food and beverage category, Knife cooking oil has won the Platinum and Gold awards for eight consecutive years, including this year. Executive Director, Mr Whang Shang Ying, was overjoyed at this endorsement. He felt that the brand's quality and stronger identity have reaped dividends. Knife relaunched itself recently by targeting younger consumers in their 30s.
NTUC FairPrice is another new entrant to the survey. It won the Platinum Trusted Brand Award for supermarket chains in Singapore, while the FairPrice range of cooking oil picked up the Gold Trusted Brand Award.
The local supermarket chain, which has a network of 226 outlets islandwide, scored 68.9 against the industry average of 67.1, in the customer satisfaction index of the survey.
Frequent NTUC shopper Mrs Siow Siok Ying, 37, was not surprised by the supermarket's strong showing. The Bukit Timah resident and full-time homemaker is a fan of the chain's range of home brand olive oils, which are 'good value for money'.
A few Singaporeans my paper spoke to felt home-grown brands should increase their visibility in an increasingly crowded marketplace.
Mr Sim suggested that local companies should highlight their home-grown credentials as the Singaporean brand name is synonymous with quality.
Ms Yeo agreed: 'Even though I tend to prefer international names, I still think SIA, a home-grown brand, is the best airline. No others come close in terms of service and reputation.'
OUR FAVOURITE BRANDS: Platinum award winners in the Reader's Digest Trusted Brands Survey 2008. These 19 brands are trusted by Singaporeans.
Homegrown brands
Supermarket chain: NTUC Fairprice Travel airline: Singapore Airlines Travel agent: Chan Brothers Telco: Singtel (Singapore Telecom) University: National University of Singapore F&B (Beer): Tiger Beer Rice: Royal Umbrella Cooking oil: Knife Traditional Chinese medicine: Eu Yan Sang
International Brands
Mobile phone: Nokia Airfreight/courier service: DHL Petrol station: Shell Fast food: McDonald's Car: Toyota Camera/Digital camera: Canon Refrigerator: Mitsubishi Electric Water purifier: Diamond Soft drink: Coca-Cola Vitamin/Health supplement: GNC Hair dye/Hair colour: L'Oreal
