2013 Sunday Times Top Brands Survey shows changes in consumer sentiment over past 12 months

2013 Sunday Times Top Brands Survey shows changes in consumer sentiment over past 12 months

BRAND ACTIVITY

Aug 19th, 12:37

The Sunday Times Top Brands Survey, conducted by TNS, is preparing to release its fifteenth year of survey results to South African businesses. With marketing strategies that traditionally include initiatives to grow earnings and market share, many brands are challenged to differentiate in an increasingly competitive economy. Companies are starting to discover the value that a reputable award adds to brand credibility, particularly when the accolade comes from solidly conducted, multi-dimensional research that reports on more than current product usage.

“Generally, market-surveys focus on usage, delivering a skewed impression of a brand’s future market relevance,” explains Esme Deken, Times Media, Head of Marketing Intelligence. “In addition to measuring usage, the methodology we employ in the Sunday Times Top Brands Survey measures the concept of relative advantage. We look at how non-users perceive a brand, indicating its inspirational pull relative to other brands in the category.”

In the highly diverse and evolving consumer landscape of South Africa, measurement of sentiment towards a brand delivers the most useful results for informing future marketing strategies, highlighting whether current initiatives are really hitting the mark with consumers, or not. Measurement of consumer sentiment is unique to the Sunday Times Top Brands Survey, providing insights that allow marketers to understand their brand’s equity and its relative, possibly short-lived advantage over competitors – the power in the mind vs. power in the market.
“The Apple iPhone received very high non-user ratings in the business sample, over the years we have seen this translate into usage amongst general consumers, as soon as they can afford it, this aspiration evolves into behaviour. It is vital to understand how emotion can impact on behaviour” concludes Deken.

“Many companies place huge credence on these results and have KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) linked to achieving the top performance. Even when a brand fails to win a category, there is still enormous interest in understanding what factors contributed to losing ground to a competitor’s brand,” explains Trevor Ormerod, General Manager, Advertising and Strategic Sales for Times Media.

Speaking on the success of KOO in the Top Brands survey over recent years, Sonja Botha, Tiger Brands Culinary Category Executive says, “Winning the Top Brands award is incredibly gratifying and important to us because it means South Africans have chosen a home-grown brand as the one they love the most. This award is a reminder that our consumers notice that our brand is consistent. This keeps us on our toes because we owe it to our consumers to always deliver an excellent quality and great tasting product.”

The 2013 Sunday Times Top Brands winners will be announced on the 15th of August in Sandton. For real-time updates on all the winners follow the Sunday Times Top Brands Awards on Twitter: @ST_TopBrands #TopBrands2013 #MPOY2013, and for more information visit www.tmadroom.co.za

2013 Sunday Times Top Brands Survey Results (* New Categories)

Consumer
Soft Drinks
Coca-Cola
Fanta
Sprite
Fruit Juices
Liqui-Fruit
Clover Krush
Tropika

Alcoholic Coolers
Red Square
Hooch Fox
Klippies & Cola
Alcoholic Spirits
Johnnie Walker
Jameson
Chivas Regal

Beers
Heineken
Castle Lite
Hansa

Ciders
Hunter's Dry/Gold/Extreme
Savanna Dry/Light
Redd's Dry/Original

Hot Beverages
Ricoffy
Five Roses
Freshpak

Chocolates
Cadbury slabs
Lunch Bar
Ferrero Rocher

Essential Foods
Tastic
Albany
White Star
Tinned Food
Koo
Lucky Star
All Gold

Sweet Biscuits
Bakers Eat-Sum-Mor
Bakers Tennis Biscuits
Bakers Romany Creams

Grocery and Convenience Stores
Pick n Pay (Supermarket/Hypermarket/Family Store)
Shoprite
Spar/KwikSpar/Super Spar

Loyalty Programmes (New Category) *
Pick n Pay Smart Shopper
Clicks Club
Thank U! (Edgars, CNA, Jet)

Fast Food Restaurants
KFC
Nando's
McDonald's/McCafe

Family Sit-down Restaurants
Spur
Wimpy
Ocean Basket

Sports Clothing
Nike
Adidas
Puma

Beauty and Cosmetics
Avon
Revlon
Avroy Shlain

Personal Care
Vaseline
Protex
Ponds

Laundry Care
Sunlight
Sta-Soft
Omo

Company that people are most aware of (New Category)*
KFC
MTN
Vodacom

Large Kitchen Appliances
Defy
LG
Samsung

Cars
BMW
Mercedes Benz
Toyota

Petrol Stations
Engen
BP
Shell

Domestic Airlines
South African Airways
British Airways
Mango

Retail Banks
Standard Bank
ABSA
FNB

Long-term Insurance
Old Mutual
Metropolitan Life
Sanlam

Short-term Insurance
OUTsurance
Discovery Insure
Sanlam

Cellphones
Nokia
Blackberry
Samsung

Telecommunication Providers
Vodacom
MTN
Cell C
Telkom
8ta

Daily Newspapers
Daily Sun
Sowetan
The Star

Weekly Newspapers
Sunday Times
City Press
Sunday World

Social Networks (New Category)*
Facebook
Google Plus+
twitter

TV Channels/ Services (New Category)*
eTV
SABC 1
DStv - Premium

Electronic Goods
Samsung
LG
Sony

Business

Domestic Airlines
British Airways
Kulula.com
South African Airways

Long-term Insurance Companies
Discovery Life
Alexander Forbes
Old Mutual

Short-term Insurance Companies
Alexander Forbes
Santam
Mutual and Federal

Computer Tablets and e-Readers (For Business Use)
Apple iPad
Samsung Galaxy TAB

TV Channels or TV Services (New Category)* –business sample
DSTV - premium
eTV

Investment Companies (New Category)* – business sample
Allan Gray
Investec
Coronation

Medical Aid Companies (New Category)* –business sample
Discovery Health

Car Hire
Avis
Europcar
Budget

Corporate Banks
FNB
Standard Bank
Nedbank

Cellphones Owned
Apple iPhone
Samsung
Nokia

Telecoms Providers (For Business Use)
Vodacom
MTN
Telkom

Business Media and Print
Business Day
Sunday Times - Business Times
Mail & Guardian - Business

Company most spontaneously aware of (New Category)* – business sample
Discovery Health (Medical Aid Company)
Nokia (Cellphones Owned)
Kulula.com

Grand Prix

Overall Favourite Brand
Coca-Cola
Koo
KFC

Done Most To Uplift The Community
Coca-Cola
Eskom
Vodacom

Done most to look after SA's environment and natural resources
Coca-Cola
Eskom
Pick n Pay

Most Desired Company To Work For
Eskom
Coca-Cola
Telkom

Robyn Putter Top Brand Agency of the Year
Ogilvy Johannesburg
Draft FCB
TBWA

Marketing Personality of the Year (by peer vote)
Serame Taukobong (MTN)
Bernice Samuels (FNB)
David Timm (KFC)