The chocolate brand Kalev, which belongs to the listed Norwegian conglomerate Orkla, is the most reputable brand in the eyes of Estonian consumers, it appears from a brand reputability survey carried out by TNS Emor. In second place was the Tere dairy brand of the Tallinn-based dairy company of the same name owned by Estonian businessman Oliver Kruuda, while the Microsoft-owned Skype and the Lithuanian retailer Maxima were in a tie for places 3-4.
The remaining brands in the top 10 were the ETV public television channel of the public broadcaster ERR, Google, the Tallinn-based bread maker Leibur, the Selver supermarket brand belonging to the listed Tallinna Kaubamaja retail group, the telecom operator Tele2, and YouTube.
Kalev, which topped the list also last year, expanded its lead ahead of competitors on this year's scoreboard, TNS Emor said. Tere has been moving up in strides from 23rd place in 2009 to 12th place in 2010 and to second place in the latest table.
The pollster questioned 1,001 Estonian residents aged 15–74 for the survey in January and February this year. It asked respondents to choose up to five brands, companies or institutions they find the most reputable out of a list of 149 companies.