“A brand is no longer what we tell the consumer it is – it is what consumers tell each other it is.”
The quote from Scott Cook, co-founder of American financial software company, Intuit, seems to get more relevant by the day.
In a world full of online reviews and ratings the ability to shape trust has moved away from advertising and into the hands of the customer or client.
In the retirement village industry where the top New Zealand operators battle to differentiate themselves, consumer endorsement is the ultimate prize.
After seven years of being the runner-up or highly commended Summerset’s win in this year’s Reader’s Digest Awards is a proud milestone for CEO Scott Scoullar.
“It is the people in our villages who talk to their friends and family, so, when they say ‘I love my life where I am’, it really matters. Our brand is built on the recommendations of people living in our villages, so that broader community view that Summerset is the most trusted brand in the sector is a strong, clear reflection of the value we bring. I feel a real sense of pride for our staff and residents.
“It is a meaningful benchmark because people live with us, and spend their lives with us. This isn’t a transactional service – it’s a very deep relationship that we form with residents. So being named the most trusted operator is exactly what we’re really here for.”
Summerset joins some familiar brands and regular category winners such as Whittaker’s, Toyota, Fisher & Paykel, Mitre 10, Mercury, and Cookie Time on this year’s list.
Companies can’t enter the awards or pay to be judged.
Sheron White, Reader’s Digest Australian-based general manager of publishing and sales Asia Pacific, explains:
“The first thing that’s key about this is the Reader’s Digest, or our readers, are not the judges of these awards. It’s completely independent. We don’t even choose the brands that go into the survey.
“The research company sends out a scoping survey in advance of the main survey and they ask consumers, for example, when you’re thinking of aged care or when you’re thinking of cars or when you’re thinking of your washing machine, what three brands do you trust or come to mind the most? New Zealanders then fill in three brands, once we’ve done that, the brands that are mentioned the most make it through to the main survey, which happens about five weeks later.
“So they then get the survey, which obviously Summerset was one of the names that came through on the scoping survey for retirement villages and the people will have to score all the brands between one and 10 of how much they trust them. And I should add, the names are rotated, the categories are rotated, so it’s completely unbiased. In Summerset’s sector nine brands went through to the main survey.”
Winners, runners-up and highly commended can then license the rights to use the Reader’s Digest Trustmark in their promotional material.
White says about 40 percent of the winners choose to use the Trustmark logo.
“Telstra, which is one of the biggest companies here in Australia, has just licensed the rights to it, Bunnings is another.
“We give people lifetime licensing rights to the winning emblem, and they can also use them in any country, because it says your country name on it, you know. So you can use it in any country.”
Does it lift sales? Yes, says White as she trots out numerous examples including Kiwi biscuit maker Cookie Time.
“They actually sent us a testimonial. They changed their packaging and started using the logo on the packets you buy the cookies in. When they did this, they saw significant increase in sales and the fact that they were voted the most trusted cookie in New Zealand, they said, helped pave the way for them overseas. They’re now in about 37 countries.”
Summerset’s Scott Scoullar confirmed his company would use the Trustmark logo in its advertising and promotional material.
Summerset operates 38 retirement villages across New Zealand and is well advanced with an expansion into Australia.
Scoullar says winning the award is a fillip for the company as it focuses on longer term growth while negotiating today’s sluggish property market.
“It would be very easy to take a short-term approach in response to the economy or property market. It isn’t easy to balance investor expectations, staff expectations and still make sure your residents continue to have this amazing experience. But we don’t want to take short-term decisions, these villages are infrastructural long-term assets that many residents are going to enjoy for the next 50 years or more. Winning this type of award helps you look beyond the economic cycle and keep investing.
“It is important that we keep doing this because the population base, the number of people over 75, is going to double in the next 30 years.
It takes 10 years to build a village, from buying the land and getting consent, through design, earthworks and construction, to then filling the village with residents. It is a long journey and even if we start now we can only build so many and it probably won’t be enough. So it is really important we take a long-term approach.”
