Best of the Best: Malaysia’s 100 elite brands were awarded the Reader’s Digest Trusted Brands Awards

Reader’s Digest has launched a virtual celebration to acknowledge its latest Malaysia Trusted Brands and personality award winners. More than 100 Malaysian brands are among the selected winners of the Reader’s Digest Trusted Brands Awards 2021 out of more than 50 categories listed in the recent event.

Due to the global pandemic, the traditional awards ceremony could not be held, but Reader’s Digest was determined to recognise “success that deserves to be celebrated” says Reader’s Digest Editor-in-Chief Louise Waterson. As a result, the inaugural virtual awards for Malaysia (plus Singapore and the Philippines) is now live on the website.

Asia Reader’s Digest Advertising & Retail Director Sheron White says, for the first time in the award’s 23-year history the live celebration had to be cancelled, but all is certainly not lost. 

“You can sit in the comfort of your own home and enjoy viewing the award winners – those voted the most trusted by the public,” she says.

The awards recognise which brands, products and services are considered to be the best and above the rest in the eyes of local consumers and cover a host of categories. Check out the video on the website to discover, for example, the companies most worthy of your trust when it comes to things as varied as vitamins and health supplements, refrigeration, paint, bottled water, TVs, and private hospitals.

Reader’s Digest commissioned an international leading research company, Catalyst Consultancy and Research, to conduct the survey to determine the most excellent, remarkable and outstanding companies. A total of 2,000 consumers throughout the country were asked to rank companies according to their trustworthiness and credibility, their quality and value, their understanding of consumer needs, their innovation and social responsibility. 

Sheron says the awards provide a great indicator for the general public. Purchasing from a company voted the best by Malaysians gives consumers the confidence that they are making the right choice.

She says category winners, who were awarded gold and platinum medals, included many who had visited the podium repeatedly in previous years. In the cooking oil category, Knife took out top accolade for the 21st year in a row. Public Mutual was announced the winner of the investment fund company category for the 11th consecutive year. Within the higher education sector, Taylors University took out the private university award for the 10th year, while Universiti Teknologi MARA has won the public university acknowledgement every year since 2011. Panasonic, meanwhile, is celebrating after winning numerous categories in the latest awards – namely: TV, air conditioner, washing machine and refrigeration.

More than 50 categories are featured in the Trusted Brands awards, some of which had multiple winners. The virtual awards ceremony features a selection of the winners.

Other than brands, the awards also included personality categories that judged: most trusted TV host/presenter of news and current affairs; most trusted entertainment and variety presenter; most trusted radio presenter; and most trusted sports personality. Datuk Lee Chong Wei, Alif Satar, Adibah Noor and Raja Azura were identified as the most trusted personalities in their respective categories.

All this is also documented in the virtual awards with some of the winners making guest appearances.

Celebrate your favourite brands and personality winners in the Inaugural Virtual Trusted Brands Awards Video now!