And the winner is … SA’s top brands announced

The annual Sunday Times Top Brands Awards event recognises and celebrates the country’s best-known and popular brands by monitoring consumer perceptions and sentiment. This year the 18 brand survey was undertaken, and winners were selected by surveying 3,500 consumers and 502 corporate decision makers.

Koo, once again, scooped the Overall Favourite Top Brands Grand Prix in the consumer category, as well as winning in the tinned food category. Vodacom walked away with the Overall Top Brands Grand Prix in the business category, as well as clinching the top brand award in the telecoms providers category.

Coca-Cola claimed only second place as favourite consumer brand, but scored well in other areas and won in the soft drink category, the Top Brands Community Upliftment Grand Prix and the Top Brands Green Grand Prix for its commitment and contribution to environmental sustainability.

Nedbank was awarded the Top Brands Green Grand Prix in the business awards, while Woolworths walked away with the Community Upliftment Grand Prix. Other business award winners included FNB as the top brand in the corporate banking category, Discovery Health in the medical aid category and Mercedes-Benz as the most sought-after car.

The consumer awards illustrated some firm favourites with a number of repeat winners, including Castle Lite in the beer category, Johnnie Walker in alcoholic spirits, Hunter’s in cider, Shoprite in grocery stores, Cadbury slabs in chocolates, Tastic in essential foods, Rainbow in frozen chickens, Spur in sit-down restaurants, KFC in fast food restaurants and Samsung in electronic goods.

Times Media Group’s GM of sales and marketing Trevor Ormerod said an interesting trend was that economic uncertainty had dulled consumers’ appetites for experimentation. “The economic climate has meant that consumers are making smarter, more traditional brand choices – in the essential/staple food and drinks categories, people are choosing brands that have a strong heritage that they trust, and the old favourites continue to come out on top,” he said.

“This thinking manifests slightly differently in the luxury and high-spend categories, where we see a rise of premium, high quality brands. It’s not about spending less in harder times, it’s about choosing brands that won’t disappoint.”

Big take-out: Vodacom was named overall favourite brand in the business category, while Koo once again won top brand in the consumer category in the 2016 Sunday Times Top Brands Awards. There was a trend, particularly in the consumer category, of a depressed appetite for change as a result of economic uncertainty.