To accompany the launch, the research house has used the tool to complete a major survey into the reputation strength of private and government sectors from 41 countries and territories, including 14 in Asia-Pacific.
According to TNS associate director Stephen Yap, the TRI*M methodology allows clients to not only benchmark their reputations, but also understand how to reach specific reputation objectives. A single score system, furthermore, means that results can be understood without specific research expertise.
"The Holy Grail for communications people has always been how do we value ourselves and show the ROI - and how can we move the dial in terms of measuring the outputs of what we do," he said. "(TRI*M) enables organisations to benchmark their reputation across stakeholder groups and across geographical regions, and also offers a very strong and systematic suite of tools to help clients and agencies understand how to position themselves in light of the results."
The Global Reputation Study, accordingly, polled the views of over 36,000 respondents worldwide on the reputation of seven sectors, including the market as a business location, local health service, supermarkets and banks. Five questions were asked, covering objective, emotional and rational dimensions.
Ten out of 12 Asian markets, for example, rated their markets' reputations as business locations higher than the global average, with Australia and Singapore leading the way with scores of 71 and 68, respectively, versus a global average of 34.
Singapore and Malaysia, furthemore, were two of only three countries in the world that scored their health services higher than 50, while 10 out of 13 Asian markets scored their supermarkets lower than the global average. With a score of 27, China's supermarkets ranked lowest out of Asian markets, against a global average of 53.
Additional research in Hong Kong, meanwhile, demonstrated that the SAR's media has the lowest reputation out of 15 surveyed sectors. Scoring 16, the media ranks above political parties, but below property developers, the beauty and fitness industry and securities/investment consultants.
The mail service ranked highest in the city, with a score of 59. "Public relations, hitherto, has not really been driven by any kind of a systematic fact-based research platform," said Yap. "We can actually drill down into specific brands and audience groups and come up with specific recommendations in terms of how reputations can be enhanced."
