Business & Money | Tuesday 13 February, 2018 4:03 pm |

Superbrands, the independent authority and arbiter of branding, announced that the voting process to choose the brands in the UAE which will be recognised and honoured as a Superbrand 2018 has commenced. This year Superbrands has decided to segregate brands as Consumer Superbrands (the UAE’s strongest B2C brands) and Business Superbrands (the UAE’s strongest B2B brands) in order to recognize the relationship building marketing efforts by various brands to their target audiences.

 

Superbrands is by invitation only, and the brands which have been successfully graded or voted through independent research and the stringent Superbrands Council selection processes can participate in the Superbrands Programs.

 

Speaking on the stringent selection and voting process, Mr. Mike English, Director, Superbrands Middle East, said, “The Superbrands programme identifies those brands which have captured the imagination of the general public. We do this by compiling a list of every brand available throughout the whole country. This list has over 10,000 brands on it which has to be whittled down to make the process easier to manage. This is done by our Superbrands Council who create a shortlist of brands that the public are invited to vote for. We put the shortlist online and then invite the CEO and Marketing Director of all the shortlisted brands to score the other brands on the list.”

 

As ‘Superbrands’ gains ground in terms of loyalty, respect and visibility within the UAE, the Superbrands Council acknowledged the importance of looking at brands who sell primarily to the end customer (B2C) or to other businesses (B2B), both online and offline as separate categories.  The primary reason for this is that although the marketing programs are the same for each type of business (events, direct marketing, internet marketing, advertising, public relations, word of mouth and alliances), how they are executed, what they say, and the outcome of the marketing activities differ.

 

Once the online voting process is complete, the results are compiled and the brands that scored in excess of 80% are awarded the accolade of Superbrand. “The winning brands are invited to a Gala Tribute Event where they receive their trophies. We also compile a beautiful coffee table book which will be divided into the two new categories which tells the stories behind the success of each winning brand and serves as a permanent reminder of the brands' achievement. To be voted as a Superbrand is a powerful endorsement and is evidence for existing customers, potential customers, media, suppliers, investors and employees of each brand’s exceptional status,” said Mr. English.

 

2018 marks the fourteenth edition of the Superbrands programme in the UAE which is considered the ‘Oscars of Branding’ by the corporate world and is the culmination of six months of stringent evaluation and voting by the Superbrands Council members and through the online poll.

 

Competition among UAE brands to be a Superbrands is fierce.  In 2017, more than 1,800 leading brands in the UAE were scored. Of the total number of Brands that were considered, only a select few made the cut to be recognised and awarded the Superbrands title. 

 

“Every year we are excited to see more local brands making it to the Superbrands list including some new entrants. At Superbrands we want to support and encourage local home-grown brands to compete with the big international names,” concluded Mr. English.