Canadian Tire has topped Leger’s just released reputation study, which evaluates 275 Canadian companies based on a wide-ranging survey of consumer opinion.

Canadian Tire scored 80 out of a possible 100, followed by Shoppers Drug Mart at 78; Kellogg’s at 75; Sony at 74; and Campbell’s at 73. (See the top 10 below).

Leger surveys more than 32,000 Canadians across six core pillars: financial strength; product and service quality; social responsibility; honesty and transparency; attachment; and innovation.

Overall there was a 1% drop in reputation scores, said Dave Scholz, executive vice-president at Leger. “That’s a small drop; it’s basically a stay-the-same year.”

But the effects of the pandemic can be seen in the list, he said. Food, telecom, packaged goods and home improvement all performed well, while categories like hospitality suffered as people had less reason to interact with them.

“YouTube is a new entrant to the top 10, and a lot of that has to do with COVID,” said Scholz. “What’s happened this past year is we spent a whole bunch of time interacting with new media, eating food and repairing things.”

Canadian Tire is a perennial fixture in the top 10 because so many Canadians have a deep affinity for the brand, said Scholz. “Canadian Tire can do no wrong,” he said. “It’s been a tough year for us to shop there, but it’s still Canadian Tire. We trust, we value, we love that organization…

“Even though things have changed, and other retailers are losing reputation because things have changed, [Canadian Tire is] still around because it goes beyond the quality of products and services,” he added.

Shoppers did well because so many people relied on the brand in 2020, he said. “They’ve helped us out this year, we’ve gone to them for advice,” said Scholz.

One other interesting category was financial services, with Interac appearing in the top 10 brands. “Interac, Visa, MasterCard and PayPal all lead our financial services category this year, there’s no big bank in the top four,” he said.

Interac upped its pay-with-a-tap limits, while Visa ran effective ads about online shopping security, said Scholz. “These organizations are making us feel safe and comfortable with this new normal of how we have to shop.”