The annual Markinor/Sunday Times Top Brands Survey awards were held last Thursday evening, 24 August 2006, at an event in Bryanston, Johannesburg, attended by the who's who in the marketing fraternity. David Bullard was MC, racing through the awards in his signature humorously caustic style, so the party could continue.
The results, embargoed for the rest of the media until today, Monday, 28 August, have been marred by the spat between Vodacom and MTN, which resulted in the Sunday Times having to reprint and postpone the publication of its showcase tabloid supplement with all the results, until Sunday, 3 September 2006.
Heidi Brauer, marketing director of Markinor, says that this year's Markinor/Sunday Times Top Brands Survey is the largest to date. The Business-to-Consumer categories have been extended from 27 last year to 31 this year and the Business-to-Business categories have increased from 10 to 13. Brauer points out that it is the only research-based, consumer-driven guide to brand royalty in South Africa, "Marketers and brand managers know that this is an accurate reflection of what is happening at the consumer coalface."
Of course one industry insider was heard to remark, cynically, that the increase in categories enabled the Sunday Times to sell more advertising too!
Brauer emphasises that the results of both the Business-to-Consumer and Business-to-Business categories in the Markinor/Sunday Times Top Brands Survey are expressed as Brand Relationship scores. "The ultimate measure of any brand's worth is its ability to sustain sales from loyal customers," she ascertains. "To get to this point, a brand first needs to establish itself in a prominent position in the mind of the customer - the awareness phase - and then has to build favourable attitudes - the attitudinal phase. Finally, positive attitudes should lead to favourable purchase behaviour. For this reason, the Brand Relationship score is based on measuring spontaneous awareness, trust and confidence and loyalty to a brand."
Markinor's National Omnibus Survey, M-Bus, is used to gather information for the consumer module. The sample consisted of 3500 adults, 16 years and older, resident in South Africa. The survey, which went into field in June, encompassed all races and geographical areas, urban as well as rural: 2000 respondents reside in metropolitan areas and 1500 in non-metropolitan areas. These results were weighted before analysis to represent adult South Africans of all races and creeds. Data for the Business-to-Business section came from 400 telephone interviews conducted at CEO level. Respondents were recruited from companies with a staff base of 100 or more.
Vodacom's funky campaign rules as 'South Africa's Favourite Ad'. Top five scores: Vodacom 12.6%, Coca-Cola 4.9%, Joko 4.2%, MTN 1.8% and Omo 1.8%.
Media winners in the Business-to-Consumer category were: The newspaper category has been split into weekly newspapers and daily newspapers, with the Sunday Times heading up the former at 21.1%, followed by City Press 15%, Sunday Sun 9.7%, Rapport 5% and Sunday World 3.8%; and the Daily Sun leading the latter at 24.2%, followed by the Sowetan 19.2%, Ilanga 9.8%, Isolezwe 9.7% and The Star 6.1%.
In television and radio stations, the SABC once again dominates. Television stations are headed up by SABC1 at 56%, followed by SABC2 at 33.3%, e.tv at 27.8%, SABC3 at 21.2% and M-Net at 7.1%. Scores for Radio stations were: Ukhozi FM 21%, Umhlobo Wenene FM 15.1%, Metro FM 14.2%, Lesedi FM 10.2%, Thobela FM 9.4%, Motsweding FM 8.8%, Jacaranda 94.2 (Gauteng) 5.6%, East Coast Radio (KwaZulu-Natal) 5.4%, 5fm 4.8%, Ikwekwezi FM 4.3%.
Business Media has been divided into electronic and print media. M-Net heads up the electronic business media category, followed by SABC (9.3%), Highveld Stereo 94.7 (4.8%), e.tv (4%) and DSTV (3.5%). Brauer says that it was surprising to see M-Net at the top of this category since the channel does not have a discrete business programming offering. This may be explained by the multiplicity of brands in the MultiChoice stable causing confusion between the Summit and DStv business programming and M-Net itself. In the print business media category, the Sunday Times leads the way with 11.9%, followed by Business Day at 11.5%, Beeld at 5.8%, The Star at 4.9% and Sunday Times' Business Times at 4.9%.
After being placed third in 2002 and second in 2003, 2004 and 2005 this year, Absa has, for the first time, overtaken Standard Bank to reach the top of the overall banks ranking. Nedbank's turnaround strategy seems to be starting to take effect with its Brand Relationship score strengthening from 7% in 2005 to 11.5% this year. Although no longer in operation, the enduring brand strength of NBS (Natal Building Society) and Perm (Permanent Building Society) continues to place these two building societies among the top 10 banks, showing once again how brands endure in the minds of customers! Scores: Absa 41.3%, Standard Bank 39.7%, FNB/First National Bank 32.7%, Nedbank 11.5%, People's Bank 2.7%, Ithala 2.6%, African Bank 2%, Teba Bank 1.1%, NBS 0.9%, Perm 0.9%.
Grocery and convenience stores:Shoprite placed fourth in 2002 and 2003, third in 2004 and second in 2005. This year it has surpassed Pick 'n Pay to become the top brand in its category. This result could be due to Shoprite's strong rural presence, which contributed to the high awareness nationally. Scores: Shoprite 29%, Pick 'n Pay 24.4%, Spar 24.3%, Checkers 12.8%, Shoprite-Checkers 9.9%, Score 9%, Woolworths 4.8%, OK Bazaars 4.7%, Hyperama 2.4%, Diskom 2.1%.
In the alcoholic drinks category, Carling Black Label has overtaken Castle Lager to achieve the top spot. The top 10 being: Carling Black Label 10.1%, Castle Lager 7.6%, Hansa 6.1%, Smirnoff 4.9%, Amstel 3.9%, Redd's 3%, Castle Milk stout 2.1%, Jack Daniel's 2.0%, J&B 2%, Klipdrift 1.9%.
In the beer category, Carling Black Label placed third in 2002 and 2003, after Castle Lager and Hansa. Last year it placed second, by a considerable margin, after Castle Lager. This year, Black Label is hot on its competitor's heels, creeping up to within 0.3% of Castle Lager, for many years one of South Africa's strongest brands. The top 10 beers are Castle Lager 13.5%, Carling Black Label 13.2%, Hansa 9.3%, Amstel 7.8%, Castle Milk Stout 3.6%, Redd's 2.7%, Heineken 2.2%, Castle Lite 2.2%, Hunters/Gold/Dry 1.4%, Windhoek Lager 1.4%.
In the international airlines category, South African Airways (SAA) came second after British Airways' 24.9%, slipping from 25.7% in 2004 to 18.2% in 2005 and further down to 11.8% this year. The top 10 in the International Airline rankings are: British Airways 24.9%, South African Airways 11.8%, Virgin Atlantic 7.2%, Lufthansa 6.1%, Emirates 4.8%, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines 1.7%, Singapore Airlines 1.4%, Qantas 1.3%, Air France 1%, Swiss Air 1.2%.
Brauer notes that, in the Business-to-Business module, SAA's Brand Relationship score must be worrying to management as attempts are made to restore the situation after last year's strike and its problems with service delivery: "On the domestic front, SAA's score was 42.9% in 2004, 36.2% in 2005 and down to 29.5% this year. Over the same time span, kulula.com has moved from 7.8% to 13.5%. 1Time has also gone down from 3.6% last year to 1.8% this year, largely due to its awareness measurement scoring only 10% versus kulula.com's 40%.
Brauer points out that rivalry for government contracts just became tougher for SAA with the news that its main domestic rival Comair, which operates British Airways and kulula.com in SA, has recently concluded an empowerment deal.
Pain killers and over-the-counter medicines: Panado 41%, Disprin 33.3%, Grandpa 23.5%, Compral 8.1%, Eno 7.2%.
Vitamins and health enhancers: Cal-C-Vita 6.3%, Berocca 4.2%, Vital 3.9%, BioPlus 3.9% and Spirulina 3.6%.
The food category has been split this year, into food that is kept in the fridge and food kept in the pantry. Rama's 25.1% came out tops in 'fridge food', followed by Clover at 24%, Parmalat at 9%, I&J at 8% and Enterprise at 7.9%. Tastic's 16.4% headed up the 'food kept in the pantry' section, followed by Huletts with 15.1%, Koo at 11.8%, Ace at 11.3% and White Star's 9.1%.
Haircare and beauty products have also been divided into beauty products for facial skincare: Vaseline 25.3%, Dawn 18.2%, Sunlight 6.8%, Lux 15.6% and Pond's 10.9% and haircare products: Sunsilk 11.3%, Sof'nFree 11.3% Dark & Lovely 11%, Restore 7.9% and Revlon 6.7%.
There were no surprises in the vehicle and asset finance category, with Wesbank dominating at 25.9%, followed by Standard Bank at 16.7%, Absa at 11.6%, Nedbank at 4.6% and Investec at 2.5%.
In healthcare facilities, the top five are Medi-Clinic (19.2%), Netcare (18.3%) Discovery 911 (9.3%), MediCross 2.7% and Sunninghill Hospital (1.6%).
Other interesting facets of the survey are:
To coincide with the Sunday Times' centenary celebrations this year, respondents were asked which brands or products that are no longer available, they miss the most. This resulted in a diverse range of answers (over 500), with the top three being Pepsi, Lion Lager and Mellow Yellow. Other interesting mentions were: good service at hospitals, good police service, LP records, milk delivery to houses, municipal services, VW Kombis, creamy toffee bar, gramophones, Baywatch and Springbok Radio.
