July 19, 2023
Found in “Community news”
The best times outside usually involve people to share them with – your hiking partner, your riding buddies, your family camp crew. So when we got major news, we had to share it with our outdoor communities. We also want to say a huge thank you for making it happen.
MEC just tied for top place as Canada’s Most Trusted Brand, alongside COSTCO. This isn’t the first time we’ve received this accolade from The Gustavson Brand Trust Index (we also held top spot in 2020 and 2019). But it’s the time we’re most proud to politely toot our outdoorsy horn, because we shot up to the summit from eighth place last year to first place this year.
We know you have a lot of choices out there, and shopping for outdoor gear looks wildly different than it did when we started with a one-page catalogue in the early 1970s. We also know that some things don’t change – gear that’s made to last will help you get outside for life.
“We’re always challenging our teams to innovate, so you get gear that combines quality, sustainably sourced materials, and has just the right features you need,” says Michele Guimond, VP of Marketing at MEC. “We want to offer products that are made for the long run. Buy once, buy right.”
To members: We love hearing your plans and dreams, your questions and feedback. We want to match you with just the right gear for your hike, climb, ski, bike, paddle – you name it. We’re stoked every time you choose MEC.
To staffers: You live and breathe getting outside, and you bridge the gap between our stores and the outdoors. Your advice, knowledge and stories are a huge part of the reason people keep coming back, over and over again.
To everyone who’s been part of MEC’s journey for five decades and running: Thank you for choosing us, for trusting us with your outdoor gear, for being members for life.
Want to know more about the award?
Glad you asked (it wouldn’t be a trusted brand award without transparency). MEC was recognized as Canada’s Most Trusted Brand – tied with COSTCO – in the ninth annual Gustavson Brand Trust Index (GBTI) presented by the Peter B. Gustavson School of Business at the University of Victoria.
This year GBTI featured 407 national and global brands across 33 categories, and more than 13,000 impartial adult consumers participated in the survey. The survey measures brand trust, and different dimensions of trust that influence whether people recommend a brand to their networks: values-based trust, functional trust, relationship trust and word of mouth. For more details, see the full report.
