“A brand is a promise. A good brand is a promise kept”, said Former Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent. For the brands that are loved by people, keeping the promise is a day-to-day duty. The loved brands always set them apart by doing something different, running an extra mile for the customers. The customers, of course, offer their gratitude by staying loyal. Yet, recognition is imperative, for brands that have set examples for other brands.
To recognize the most loved brands of Bangladesh, ‘Best Brand Award’ was first initiated in 2008 by Bangladesh Brand Forum. The 9th iteration of Best Brand Award, the biggest celebration of brands in Bangladesh was held on 25th of November. A glamorous award ceremony took place at the Sky Ballroom of Le Méridien Dhaka, graced by the presence of around 500 professionals from the branding and marketing fraternity. Bangladesh Brand Forum, along with its Research Partner Kantar Millward Brown honored the most loved brands across 35 categories, based on a rigorous consumer research carried out country-wide. The award initiative was organized in association with The Daily Star.
“Best Brand Award is for brands, to not only celebrate the success but also consider the challenges that we may face in the future and take the correct measures. And hence, we decided to take a research and through that look into the details of the particular brand and give ourselves lesson to where we stand,” stressed Dr. Syed Ferhat Anwar, Professor, Institute of Business Administration, Dhaka University, who inaugurated the 9th Best Brand Award. He also mentioned that initially they only looked up to the multinational, global, and international brands but as we have moved forth today, he is proud to say that some of the local brands, in certain areas, have outperformed the international brands.
A total of 103 brands were recognized across 35 different categories, of which the best brand in each category were awarded with the signature Best Brand Award crest. Also awarded were the top 10 brands from the ‘Overall Top 30’, the Top 10 Local Brands, Best Newcomer Brand 2017, Most Improved Brand 2017, and Most Consistent Brand 2017.
METHODOLOGY OF KANTAR MILLWARD BROWN, BANGLADESH
The primary research that laid out the benchmarks of the award was undertaken by Kantar Millward Brown, Bangladesh. For the purpose of this esteemed award ceremony, they have been conducting rigorous analytical research to select the favorite brands of the country. They are also adept in mining the world brand equity database to identify the fundamental characteristics of a good brand. The key measure was Millward Brown’s MDS framework which stands for Meaningful, Different and Salience.
Using the MDS framework as a scale, Kantar Millward Brown Bangladesh conducted studies in seven divisions of Bangladesh covering both urban and rural areas. The research was completely quantitative through face to face ‘Pen and Paper Interviews’ (PAPI) with a questionnaire that was structured to provide accurate results.
Ms. Khandakar Samina Afrin, Country Manager, Kantar Millward Brown Bangladesh graced the stage with her presence as she moved on to explain the criteria upon which the award ceremony would be based. Her speech was an assortment of critical insights and a promise to keep on influencing the improvement of Bangladeshi Brands. “Last 9 years of exercise has left us with enormous database of consumer response and a lot of learnings. And a key learning is we all see the rise of the local brands. And as we analyze the local brands, we have seen that over 9 years the equity indexes of these brands have grown in a pace much faster compared to the MNC’s”, said Ms. Khandakar Samina Afrin.
AND THE WINNERS ARE…
Lux was the most loved toilet soap, while Wheel was the most preferred laundry detergent. The top oral care, shampoo, and hair oil brands were Closeup, Sunsilk and Parachute Advansed, respectively. ACI Pure Salt, Fresh Refined Sugar, Radhuni Spice, Pran Frooto, MAGGI Noodles, Dano Full Cream Milk, Pran Milk Candy, Horlicks, Polar Ice Cream, Rupchanda Fortified Soyabean Oil, MUM Pure Drinking Water won in the categories that listed the edibles.
Bata under Footwear, Symphony under Mobile Handset, Walton under Refrigerator, RFL under Plastic Goods, BSRM under Reinforcing Steel, Berger under Paint, Shah Cement under Cement, bKash under Mobile Financial Service, RAK Ceramics under Ceramic Tiles, BRB under Electric Cables and Bashundhara LPG under LP Gas were also awarded.
Fair & Lovely Advanced Multi Vitamin stood out under Fairness Cream, Ispahani Mirzapore Tea under Hot Beverages, and Grameenphone under Telecommunication Service Provider were also recognized.
Shwapno was the most popular superstore. The liquid antiseptic category was dominated by Savlon while Harpic is deemed the best in the toilet cleaner category.
On the local scale, Ispahani Mirzapore Tea came out as the 1st placeholder followed by Radhuni Masala and Super Fresh Fortified Soyabean Oil. All three of these brands have provided excellent quality to the point that they have now become household names, so it goes without saying that credence was indeed given where it was due.
Overall, Grameenphone was selected as the best brand of 2017. Grameenphone remains the undisputed champion as it overcame all odds last year as well, providing diversified telecommunication services with the help of cutting-edge technologies. The second position as an overall good brand was achieved by Horlicks followed by Rupchanda Fortified Soyabean Oil.
SPECIAL AWARDS
The award for ‘The Best Newcomer Brand 2017’ was handed out to Lifebuoy. This category has recognized Lifebuoy because it has been the best new entrant in the overall 30 compared to earlier years. Lifebuoy Soap was beyond this list and was positioned 38th last year and holds the 29th position this year.
Robi was recognized as ‘The Most Improved Brand of 2017’, as it had the highest upward shift in ranking as compared to last year. Robi rose from the 25th position of 2016 to the 15th position in 2017. The telecommunications brand shows and continues to show great promise.
Consistency is considered an art. In the world of brands, consistency is equal to achieving a competitive advantage over any brand of its time. The most consistent brand award recognizes the brand that has been the most consistent over the years. Grameenphone has ranked top 3 over the course of the last 3 years, so the crown for ‘The Most Consistent Brand of 2017’ was undoubtedly taken over by Grameenphone.
COMMENCEMENT OF BANGLADESH CREATIVE FORUM
The glamorous award ceremony observed the commencement of a timely initiative, Bangladesh Creative Forum. Announcing the commencement, Nazia Andaleeb Preema, Director, BBF and President, Women in Leadership, stressed, “As society evolves, experts from all over the world are trying to figure out how do we address the negative and pursue human progress and happiness within this changing dynamics. Brands are trying to comprehend how do they remain relevant when people’s attention span is getting closer and shorter. We are trying to figure out what skills we need more for business and brands to grow. And most experts are of the opinion that creativity will be one of the most important skills we will need to solve social problems, take the business forward to create a sustainable peaceful dynamic society.”
A Prolific Visual Artist of Bangladesh, Ms. Nazia Andaleeb Preema continued, “Albert Einstein famously said that – Imagination is more important than knowledge. As an artist myself I always felt that most artists think of art and their artistic expression within a narrow confine. And at times we miss what bigger power and influence Art could give within society.” Driven by all these, she founded Bangladesh Creative Forum.
The Forum has a very simple & stretching vision –
[blockquote style=”3″]Pursuing the future progress of Bangladesh and its people through creative inspiration.[/blockquote]
The platform will have two operating spaces. Firstly, it will collaborate with professionals in creative space – Artist, Designer, Architect, Musician, Author and others to share their expression and work within society to broaden their horizon – and engaging people both physically and virtually.
The second part will involve in using the artistic manifestation and working with professional, youth and children to nurture their creative side. Nazia Andaleeb Preema believes this will also help the marketing professionals in navigating the complex and constantly evolving landscape.
“For a better understanding of brands creativity is one of the key components. So the process of creative culture will help us collect these loose yet critical dots for a meaningful cultural expression,” she added.
PARTNERS AND PATRONS
The 9th Best Brand Award was held In Association with The Daily Star; Research Partner Kantar Millward Brown; Airlines Partner Etihad Airways; Event Partner Le Meridien Dhaka; Knowledge Partner Marketing Society of Bangladesh (MSB); IT Partner Aamra Technologies Limited; PR Partner Masthead PR; Social Media Partner Webable; and initiated by Bangladesh Brand Forum.
The patrons for this year’s Best Brand Award were: Basundhara LP Gas Ltd, Bangladesh Edible Oil Limited, Berger Paints Bangladesh, BSRM, City Group, Linnex, Maggi, Polar, PRAN-RFL Group, Pepsi, RAK Ceramics, Reckitt Benckiser Bangladesh Ltd, Savlon, Shah Cement, Shwapno, Symphony, and Unilever Bangladesh Ltd.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
The presence of all the key members of each brand and their support towards Bangladesh Brand Forum made the 9th iteration of this grand event possible. Bangladesh Brand Forum exists to influence brands like these to achieve more, as this improves Bangladesh as a country and helps us to develop our economy even further.
