The ICON Brand survey by Ask Afrika is the reportedly the largest of its kind in South Africa with 19 sectors, hundreds of product categories and thousands of brands included in the measurement.
According to Ask Afrika: "There are certain brands that define our nation, that are loved by South African's far and wide, and cross all barriers, age, race, socio-economic status, language, and culture. The annual ICON Brand survey ... looks at which brands get this right and explains how they achieve this."
The ICON Brand survey award for Protea Hotels comes hot on the heels of the Sunday Times Generation Next Coolest Hotel Award that the group has won for four years in a row and five times overall.
Protea Hotels Director of Sales, Marketing and Revenue, Danny Bryer, says the ICON Brand survey is important because it uses such a large sample - 15,169 consumers.
"Ask Afrika is absolutely correct when it says that heritage offers no guarantees of brand success; Protea Hotels may have been in the market for 30 years, but it has spent 30 years innovating the industry and reinventing itself to anticipate the changing needs of travellers.
"A brand doesn't become iconic because it has been around for a long time; it becomes iconic because it keeps delivering what its CUSTOMERS need and want, both for today and for tomorrow."
Bryer says remaining relevant is key critical to any brand in a society in which technology is changing the playing field so fast.
"You not only have to grow with your customers, but you constantly have to plan ahead for the next generation of consumers who'll see things totally differently and want you to be as relevant to them as you are to those who've come before," he says.
"That means you need brand presence across multiple channels and platforms and you need to be in whatever space the consumer chooses to engage with brands, giving them information in the format they want and then delivering on your brand promises when they physically interact with you."
