Superbrands To Unveil East Africa’s 53 Strongest Brands

Superbrands, the independent authority and arbiter of branding, has announced that it will unveil East Africa’s strongest brands at a VIP tribute awards ceremony on November 4th 2016. For the first time, the awards ceremony will take place in Nairobi having previously been conducted in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania and Kampala Uganda.

The awards ceremony will see the unveiling of the new edition of the Superbrands East Africa book, Volume IV. It will feature 53 of the region’s heavyweight brands, these brands represent East Africa’s greatest brands for global readership.  Also featured in this edition is the BEYOND ZERO foundation for its exceptional work with maternal and child mortality. The First Lady, Her Excellency Margaret Kenyatta will grace the awards as a Guest of Honour to receive the recognition on behalf of the Foundation.

Superbrands is the world’s largest independent arbiter of branding. It identifies and pays tribute to exceptional brands by recognising, rewarding and reinforcing leading brands from all over the world. Superbrand status strengthens a brand’s position, adds prestige and sets the brand apart from its competitors. Superbrands have launched programmes in over 88 countries including all the key global markets. Superbrands East Africa was launched in the region in 2007.

The 2015/16 Superbrands East Africa project was administered by London based The Centre for Brand Analysis.  The official rankings are derived from a combination of both expert and consumer viewpoints, with the two set of ratings combing an equal weighting.  The expert opinion comes from an independent and voluntary Council, made up of exceptional entrepreneurs who have a deep appreciation of the ‘brandscape’ in the country being examined.  Previous council members included: Sameer Merali (Sameer Investments Ltd), Vimal Shah (Bidco) and Mohamed Dewji (METL, Tanzania).

The consumer survey was conducted by TNS, the world’s leading research agency. Over a two-year period they integrate the shortlist of brands provided by the Council into a consumer survey. Key questions around reliability, quality and distinctiveness are evaluated on.

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Jawad Jaffer, Project Director and Associate Publisher Superbrands East Africa notes; “To build a brand that stands above the rest you have to do more than offer the best products and services in the industry.  You have to create a following that will stand by you when things go wrong, push you to be better; and lift you above your competitor.

Mr. Jaffer highlighted that there had never been a more exciting time to identity and celebrate the region’s leading brands. Brands had an ever-increasing importance in our day-to-day lives and as consumers we had never been more engaged. He added that here was never a day that went by without one of other Superbrands presented today touching our lives.

One such example of an outstanding brand is RMA Group.  With a presence in over 60 countries globally, they entered the Kenyan market 3 years ago.  As a new brand on the local scene they have already made a significant impact and are one of the 53 leading brands being awarded Superbrand status this year.
Kenyan brands that have previously scored highly include: Safaricom, Kenya Airways, Equity Bank, Nakumatt, Crown Paints, Toyota Kenya, Bata,and Tusker just to name a few.