Repsense, a Lithuanian tech firm whose service “utilises data science, field research, and machine learning to enhance brand reputation of leading global businesses", has issued its latest index for brand reputation. The ‘Repsense Index' found that logistics giant Girteka, who recently underwent a rebranding process to promote its sustainability credentials, is among the 5 most reputed brands in Lithuania. The feat is arguably evidence of a successful rebranding on Girteka's part. However, the Lithuanian Drivers Union was less than impressed by the ranking, branding it “absurd".

Repsense revealed on Wednesday that it had awarded Nord Security top spot in its ranking, followed by Lithuanian Airports. Other companies that were in the top with the highest reputation scores were Acme Grupe, tesonet and Girteka.

According to Mykolas Katkus, co-founder and director of Repsense, the rapidly growing information flow inevitably has lead to a shortening of public memory. That makes searching for information online more crucial, which means that the company’s reputation is becoming increasingly dependent on the quality of search results.

“To comprehensively assess business reputation, it is necessary to apply innovative reputation measurement solutions in addition to classical research methods. The unique Repsense index offers an artificial intelligence-based online reputation calculation method that evaluates Google’s search results about companies based on many different criteria,” said M. Katkus.

Repsense’s Head of Analytics, Rugile Ereminaite, says that creating quality content on social media and a presence in credible news sources are some of the most important criteria for achieving a high reputation title for a company.

Girteka has been rather active in this space, writing articles on its blog about how the company is cutting CO2 emissions and looking after its drivers.

The company also tweaked its colour scheme last year and unveiled a new “Responsible Logistics” slogan.

While its high position on the Repsense Index is seemingly a sign that Girteka’s actions have borne fruit, the Lithuanian Drivers Union appeared less than impressed about the news in a Facebook Post on Wednesday.

The union said that Girteka taking 5th place was “something you’d call absurd”. The Lithuanian Drivers Union then went on to detail the allegations made against Girteka in the 2021 Lorry Slaves Documentary, claims that Girteka has strongly denied.

“The example of ‘Girteka’ says that rebrands work in Lithuania. This shows that no matter how ‘evil’ a company is, if they buy good articles about how they are expanding and how ‘cool’ their trucks are, all the devils will run away,” wrote the Lithuanian Drivers Union.

The top scoring firm on the Respsense Ranking, Nord Security, enjoyed a score of 59%, with 5th placed Girteka having a score of 55%. Lithuanian brands largely dominated the top 10, with Vinted being one of the exceptions alongside Nord Security.

Photo: BigHead, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Girteka found to be among Lithuania’s top 5 most-reputed brands, but drivers union says ranking is “absurd”