San Marino Tuna has won a gold for the fourth year at the Reader’s Digest Trusted Brand Awards.
The award, published in the Reader’s Digest July 2016 issue, recognizes San Marino as a trusted corned tuna brand in the Philippines. The award was based on an annual poll commissioned by the international publication to identify the brands trusted most by Asian consumers.
Reader’s Digest said a trusted brand enjoys international appeal, yet at the same time upholds a strong local connection. “It has individual relevance for all its consumers, just about anywhere and in any culture,” the international magazine said.
“For the past four decades, Foodsphere, Inc. has prided itself on offering the highest quality food products. Staying ahead of competitors is important and, with San Marino Corned Tuna, we have perfected a winning formula,” said Jerome Ong, president of Foodsphere Inc., the company behind San Marino.
Reader’s Digest, which has given the awards for the past 18 years, is able to confidently dissect precisely what features a trusted brand must possess to maintain relevance and purpose for Asian consumers.
Reader’s Digest commissioned independent market research agency Catalyst to survey a representative sample of people in Asia on the most trusted brands in 44 categories of products and services across a wide range of industries.
Over 7,500 people were polled across Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Philippines. Both members of the public and Reader’s Digest subscribers participated in the survey.
San Marino Corned Tuna was launched in September 2009 to break the monopoly in the local canned tuna industry and provide the local market with an alternative. “The tuna product was designed to win the taste and preference of the consumers. The big idea was to provide consumers with a tuna product which combines the health benefits of tuna and the delicious taste of corned beef. Thus, corned tuna was born,” said Ong.
Corned tuna became a new category in the canned fish sector and San Marino’s entry made the canned fish industry bigger, to the advantage of the Filipino consumers. San Marino Corned Tuna has rocked the industry and transformed the market since then.
“This delicious and healthy tuna has less oil, lots of tuna and is rich in Omega 3 DHA, which is good for the heart and brain. Foodsphere is continuously nourishing the lives of Filipino families by providing healthy options, excellent customer service and continuous product development,” Ong said.
San Marino products are manufactured in a modern manufacturing and distribution facility situated over a nine-hectare property in Malvar, Batangas. The megaplant, complete with state-of-the art equipment, serves as the production hub of canned fish for San Marino.
This has enabled San Marino to become a game-changer in the canned tuna market and a household brand.