• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, May 28, 2015

Kellogg's jumped 10 spots from last year to take the #1 position in the Reputation Institute's 2015 ranking of America's 50 most reputable consumer products companies.

The Hershey Company was #1 in the consumer rankings last year, and Campbell Soup Company was #1 in 2013. 

The ranking is derived from data collected for the 2015 U.S. RepTrak 100 study. The Institute conducted more than 50,000 interviews with the U.S. general public in first quarter 2015. The consumer category includes firms that manufacture, market and sell consumer products, consumer durables, and food and beverage products.

"Even in this very product-focused category, only about 30% of what drives reputation relates to a company’s products and services,” said Brad Hecht, chief research officer at the Reputation Institute. “Kellogg’s has focused on health and nutrition and creating quality products, but in its conversations with consumers, it also showcases its commitment to sustainable agriculture practices, childhood nutrition and open and transparent labeling.”

The other companies that made this year's consumer top 10, in order, are: Lego, Fruit of the Loom, Campbell Soup Company, Levi Strauss & Co., The Hershey Company, Clorox, Kraft Foods Group, Tupperware and Hasbro.

Five of the companies in this year's top 10 didn't make the top 10 last year: Kellogg's, Fruit of the Loom, Levi Strauss, Tupperware and Hasbro.

The full RepTrak study also includes rankings for companies in nine other industries (industrial, healthcare, hospitality, retail, technology, information and media, financial and energy).

This year, seven of the top 10 within RepTrak's overall top 100 most reputable U.S. companies ranking spanning the 10 industries were classified as consumer companies: Kellogg's (#2), Lego (#3), Fruit of the Loom (#4), Campbell (#5), Levi Strauss (#6), Hershey (#8) and Panera Bread (#9). Amazon took the #1 position in the overall ranking. 

The full RepTrak report, including the top 100 U.S. companies across industries and the top-50 consumer ranking, is downloadable from the Reputation Institute site.