RANK A BRAND IN A NUTSHELL

What is the objective of Rank a Brand?
How does Rank a Brand want to create change?
There are a lot of CSR-‘ranking’ initiatives already. What makes Rank a Brand so unique?
How transparent, green and fair is Rank a Brand?

THE EVALUATAION QUESTIONS

Rank a Brand assesses companies based on a list of 10 to 30 questions. What are these questions based on?
Rank a Brand assesses whether companies show ‘best practices’ within a given sector. What does this mean?

THE SCORING SYSTEM

The score of each company is captured in a score bar. How does the score bar work?
How are brands ranked?
How do the answers to questions lead to scores?
Why does Rank a Brand only have ‘yes’, ‘no’ or ‘?’ as only possible answers and not a point scale, e.g. from 0 to 10?

VALIDITY OF THE SCORING SYSTEM

Is a set of 10 to 30 questions sufficient to make a proper evaluation of a brand?
Why does Rank a Brand only use information from companies’ websites and not from other sources such as surveys and independent research reports?
How can Rank a Brand be sure that the information presented on brand websites is accurate?
Do brands have influence on the rankings?

THE RANKED BRANDS

Why can’t I find certain brands?
Why rank brands and not products or corporations?

MONEY

Does Rank a Brand make a profit?
Is Rank a Brand sponsored by brands?
How is Rank a Brand funded?

RANK A BRAND IN A NUTSHELL

Q: What is the objective of Rank a Brand?
A: The general objective of Rank a Brand is to promote an economically, ecologically and socially sustainable and fair world. More specifically, we aim to encourage brands to improve their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reporting on carbon emissions, environment and labour conditions. Read more in the ‘About Us’.

Q: How does Rank a Brand want to create a change?
A: Rank a Brand empowers consumers to choose companies that show they care about a green and fair world. Many studies show that the majority of consumers are actually willing to buy green, but that ‘green’ brands are not easy to find (see here for instance). At Rank a Brand those brands are easy to find.

Q There are a lot of CSR-‘ranking’ initiatives already. What makes Rank a Brand so unique?
A: Rank a Brand is not ranking just one sector, but wants to become THE website where all mainstream brands are ranked. Rank a Brand is unaffiliated to the ranked brands, therefore ensuring our independence. Additionally, Rank a Brand is unique because our methods are 100% transparent, accessible and thus controllable.

Q: How transparant, green and fair is Rank a Brand?

A: Rank a Brand is located close to a public transport node, so everyone can get here by tram, train or bicycle (and most of our volunteers also work from home). We use green energy in our building and our website is hosted on a CO2 neutral server. We are close to being a paperless office, and have furnished the place with second hand furniture and materials. We also refrain from flying by using videoconferencing as an alternative method of communication. Finally, we use as many sustainable products as we can in the office, such as Fair Trade certified coffee and tea.

THE EVALUATION QUESTIONS

Q: Rank a Brand assesses companies based on a list of 10 to 30 questions. What are these questions based on?
A: Every sector is different and requires a unique question list. That is why some question lists are longer than others. Every question list is based upon research to the specific issues and ‘best practices’ in that particular sector. Our standard topics are carbon emissions, environmental impact and human rights/labour conditions. For all information about the questions and their backgrounds, please see the online Manual for Rankers.

Q: Rank a Brand assesses whether companies show ‘best practices’ of the given sector. What does this mean?
A: The term ‘best practices’ refers to the most progressive elements in current CSR policies. The term does not imply that a company manifesting best practice is necessarily 100% ‘good’; best practices change and get more progressive over time. Therefore, companies must continually adapt their policies to stay up-to-date. When the average practices within a sector do improve, Rank a Brand will expand and/or refine the criteria.

THE SCORING SYSTEM

Q: The score of each company is captured in a score bar. How does the score bar work?
A: The performances of a given brand are reflected on a score bar ranging from shades of red to orange to yellow to green – the higher the score, the longer and greener the score bar:

Q: How are brands ranked?
A: Every question is answered with a ‘yes’, ‘no’ of ‘?’:

A ‘yes’ or ‘no’ is only rewarded if the given brand website provides concrete evidence that justifies the response. If the information is ambiguous or not found, then the brand receives a ‘?’ for that question. Every score is explained in a remark and is linked to the specific information resource.

Q: How do the answers to questions lead to scores?
A: Each ‘yes’ gets one point. Each ‘no’ and each ‘?’ get zero points. After the question list is completed, we sum up the points to get the frequency of ‘yes’. This is used as a brand’s score.

Q: Why does Rank a Brand only have ‘yes’, ‘no’ or ‘?’ as only possible answers and not a point scale, e.g. from 0 to 10?
A: The yes-no-?-method is the most robust, clear and transparent method where there is the slightest room for arbitrary decisions.

VALIDITY OF THE SCORING SYSTEM

Q: Is a set of 10 to 30 questions sufficient to make a proper evaluation of a brand?
A: Of course we can ask brands hundreds of questions about their CSR policy, but a comparison of different rankings showed us that this is not necessary to distinguish between the front-runners and the laggards. Therefore we only assess the key aspects of CSR. So our ranking is crisp and clear.

Q: Why does Rank a Brand only use information from companies’ websites and not from other sources such as surveys and independent research reports?
A: Rank a Brand has deliberately chosen to only use information that is published on the websites of brands, and has a number of thoughtful reasons for this:

1)    Rank a Brand represents consumers that want to make responsible choices. When companies do not provide this information the consumer will always be left out. Consumers that want to know more about the CSR performances of a particular brand will typically visit the brand’s website first;

2)    A brand that is committed to a better world, will be all too happy to tell the world, because this is positive publicity. Brands that only report a little – or not at all – about CSR, will generally not commit to CSR;

3)    By only using information from a brand’s website, Rank a Brand does not have to wait for research reports containing data which is already more than half a year old. This makes Rank a Brand always up-to-date and any change can be adjusted fast;

4)    Brands that communicate about their CSR efforts on their website, will encourage their direct competitors to contribute to a better world.

Q: How can Rank a Brand be sure that the information presented on brand websites is accurate?
A: Where possible we refer to external verification, for example we ask companies to support their claims with independent certifications and memberships of Multi Stakeholder Initiatives (such as FWF, ETI, Made-By, EICC and GOTS). Moreover, we believe that brands would severely risk damaging their image if they provide false information, as social media spreads scandals quicker than ever these days.

Q: Do brands have influence on their rankings?
A: No, Rank a Brand is completely independent.

THE RANKED BRANDS

Q: Why can’t I find certain brands?
A: Our objective is to rank all mainstream brands in all consumer sectors. It’s a continuous effort to rank and update brands, but we are working hard to extend into more sectors. So far we have ranked more than 800 brands in 13 sectors: Electronics, Fashion, Telecom, Travel, Media, Websites, Supermarkets, Automotive, Beer, Chocolate, Coffee & Tea and Tropical Fruit. Feel free to request a brand of your choice and we’ll rank it as soon as we can!

Q: Why rank brands and not products or corporations?
A: Brands represent all products that are sold under that name. Our rankings are applicable to every product that brands produce. The reputation of a brand is generally more important to a company than the reputation of single products. Therefore, ranking brands is more effective. We refrain from ranking corporations (e.g. Unilever or Proctor and Gamble) because consumers are not aware of what brands, let alone which products, a given corporation is associated with.

MONEY

Q: Does Rank a Brand make a profit?
A: No, Rank a Brand is a non-profit foundation.

Q: Is Rank a Brand sponsored by brands?
A: No. There is no financial relationship between the ranked companies and us.

Q: How is Rank a Brand funded?

A: We currently work with a 250k EUR grant from the Dutch agency 'Subsidifaculteit voor Burgerschap en Ontwikkelingssamenwerking' (SBOS) and a 15k grant from the 'Nationale Commissie voor Internationale Samenwerking en Duurzame Ontwikkeling’ (NCDO). For the development of our mobile applications we also received a 15k EUR grant from Hivos.

Do you have more questions, ideas, opinions? We’d love to hear from you! You can find our contact information here.