‘Most Trusted’ OTC Products: BrandSpark

Market research firm BrandSpark International has unveiled the winners of its inaugural BrandSpark/Newsweek Most Trusted by Pharmacists Awards for over-the-counter (OTC) consumer product brands. The winners were selected based on the BrandSpark American Pharmacists Trust Study, a survey of 1,682 pharmacists currently practicing in US who gave their top-of-mind, unaided opinions on which brands they trust the most in 86 categories.

OTC products address a multitude of common health-related issues and many of these purchases are made with the help of pharmacists. BrandSpark says this new list makes it easier for shoppers to navigate OTC brands by providing a 100% pharmacist-voted seal to look for when consumers want to know which OTC brands pharmacists trust the most.

BrandSpark also runs the BrandSpark Most Trusted Awards, now in its tenth year, and the Best New Product Awards, a 15-year old award that  recognizes brands for R&D and product innovation.

For this new award program, opinions of pharmacists were gathered and BrandSpark calculated which brands had the highest volume of unaided mentions. All respondents were confirmed to be currently practicing licensed pharmacists and standard research best practices were applied to ensure accuracy, according to the company.

The awards include products covered by Happi, such as oral care, first aid and sunscreen, among others.

In sensitivity toothpaste, GSK's Sensodyne earned the highest trust share of any brand among pharmacists, at 72%.

In sunscreens, Coppertone led all brands for kids while Neutrogena was most trusted for adult sunscreen. 

In first aid, Johnson & Johnson’s  Band-Aid was the winner in bandages, and Neosporin, another J&J brand, tied with Bayer Consumer Health’s Solarcaine for burn treatment.  Solarcaine also won in the sunburn relief category.

Here are winners in other categories covered by Happi:

Cold Sore Relief—Abreva
Denture Adhesive—Fixodent
Denture Cleanser—Polident
Dry Mouth Relief—Biotène
Oral Pain Relief—Orajel
Toothpaste for Sensitivity— Sensodyne
Athlete's Foot Treatment—Lotrimin
Eczema Relief—Aveeno / Eucerin (tie)
Scar Treatment—Mederma
Stretch Mark Treatment—Mederma
Topical pain relief—Voltaren
Lice treatment—Nix
Insect bite/sting relief—After-Bite / Benadryl (tie)

“When health is a factor, consumers actively seek the most effective and trusted products, which inspired us to expand our program to pharmacists, the premier OTC health experts. Our goal is to make healthcare professionals' opinions about the brands they most trust accessible to the everyday shopper,” said Robert Levy, president of BrandSpark. “Shoppers already recognize our purple seal as a reputable and research-backed mark that helps them make better purchase decisions, and this value is amplified in OTC categories with a pharmacist-backed trust mark”.