Company Relationships
Tastemaker has a variety of different relationships with manufacturers and brands, some of which go beyond simple exchanges of information. All manufacturers and brands we interact with or review have scores calculated automatically that indicate their level of compliance with both our ethos and quality standards. For convenience’s sake, as well as maintaining accountability, we have created some terms that distinguish the intimacy and amicability of our relationships with the aforementioned manufacturers.
Compliant
Compliant companies produce products that on average, will score positively according to our measured metrics. Their basic tenets of design and production are largely representative of Tastemaker’s ideals for quality, longevity and sustainability. In most cases, a company with a Compliant track record will be transparent with detailed production information and forthcoming with requests for additional information, making them largely trustworthy from a disclosures perspective. Similarly, their product consistency has created a situation where new product releases can be expected to perform well or be considered an outlier in the case of poor performance. We cannot blanketly recommend all products from a Compliant company, however, we would go as far as to say they will be, on average, more competent for their intended use. Compliant Affiliate companies that score on average below average have attained the Compliant title by making an ongoing commitment to improving performance in product releases using Tastemaker generated data on a set timeline.
Noncompliant
A Noncompliant company produces products that on average score below average in the bulk of measured performance categories. Their basic tenets of design and production fail to represent Tastemaker’s ideals of quality, longevity and sustainability, and may often be described as lackluster in performance when used as intended. Product releases are consistently performing below average when compared to peers, and has created a situation where announced future releases will likely be treated pessimistically, with consumers encouraged to wait until comprehensive testing can be done before buying themselves. Tastemaker will not blanketly discredit the merit of all releases, but will recommend caution when considering the majority of their product offerings. Noncompliant companies may attain Affiliate status for specific products but will not be able to achieve Partner or Compliant status without improving product performance, or pledging to improve product performance on a set timeline, respectively.
Cooperator
Cooperator or Cooperative companies are those that return requests for information on a fast timeline, and are available and open to additional requests for clarification during and after the testing process. All Cooperative companies will have an established Point-of-Contact within Tastemaker to facilitate fast and effective communication for the benefit of transparency. They will not obfuscate any information to paint a more generous picture of manufacturing processes or product performance. Tastemaker will not continue relationships with companies that fail to offer disclosures on a reasonable timeline, or deliberately fail to disclose information that may be damaging to their reputation.
Uncooperative
Uncooperative companies may have products that score on average anywhere across the spectrum, with no larger generalizations. Uncooperative companies have either ignored requests for information or otherwise prevented further inquiries from Tastemaker. We include all companies that request removals of specific information as Uncooperative, unless the request for removal relates to proprietary information deemed by Tastemaker as creating a vulnerability for the product or future support. Uncooperative companies may also be those that attempt to prevent the distribution of information that they have decided is unflattering via abuse of legal or regulatory practices. While product quality may vary with solid releases from Uncooperative companies, we at Tastemaker would recommend caution as often companies with nothing to hide are far more forthcoming.
Affiliate
Affiliate companies are those that may have a relationship with Tastemaker involving product testing and feedback as well as potential endorsements of specific products or product lines as a result of extremely positive testing results. All Affiliate companies will produce products that, if endorsed by Tastemaker, must have met the same exacting standard applied to their peers and exceeded all peers in one or more categories of performance or sustainability. No favoritism is shown to Affiliate companies within testing or marketing, and no superlative titles will be applied without empirical evidence of superlative performance. Affiliates are not held to the same standards as Partner companies to producing products that, on average, score above average in our metrics. They may do fulfill those standards, however, they also may not, with our relationship best described as case-by-case evaluation of individual products. An endorsement of an Affiliate product, or an Affiliate relationship does not mean a blanket endorsement of the Affiliate company by Tastemaker. Affiliate companies that score below average on average may attain the ‘Compliant’ title by sustaining an ongoing commitment to improving performance in product releases on a set timeline.
Partner
Partner companies are those that may produce or distribute products in conjunction with Tastemaker, as well as sharing products for testing and feedback prior to retail or public release. All Partner companies will largely conform to the ethos espoused by Tastemaker and will not on average produce lackluster or poor performing products. We do not continue Partner relationships with companies that fail to produce products that perform on average better than average.
Representatives from a company who do not have established point-of-contact with Tastemaker and are interested in establishing one may reach out directly via email to POC@tastemaker.online.