Superbrands East Africa unveils new council

The new council brings together leading players in the regions; marketing, public relations, advertising, legal and governmental sectors who will be charged with the duty of selecting what they consider East Africa's top brands under various categories, according to Jawad Jaffer, the project director at Superbrands East Africa.

Superbrands, is the world's largest independent arbiter of branding. It identifies and pays tribute to exceptional brands by recognising, rewarding and reinforcing leading brands from all over the world.

Following the appointments, Superbrands East Africa will send-out a shortlist about 700 brands from the total 2 200 brands to TNS-RMS for a consumer survey to identify, recognise and fete the final leading brands of the region.

Speaking during the signing of a partnership agreement between Superbrands East Africa and the Nakumatt Westgate management, Jaffer said the new council members were chosen from the four EAC member countries.

"The entire council has six members from Kenya, three from Uganda, two from Tanzania and one from Rwanda. These are the people who will score on all the 2 200 brands spread across the region," according to a press statement from Superbrands.

New council members

The Kenyan faces on the new council include: Gil Kemami, managing director at Ogilvy & Mather East Africa; Desiree Gomes, executive director of Gina Din Corporate Communications and Sameer Merali, director of the Sameer Investments Group.

Others inclue: Chris Harrison, the Young & Rubicam brands chairman for Africa and the Indian Ocean islands; Ahsan Manji, managing director of Weetabix East Africa and Anil Ishani, an advocate and member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

Maria Kiwanuka, Uganda's finance minister; Caleb Owino, the managing director of Fireworks Advertising and Roni Madhvani, director of Madhvani Group will represent Uganda, while Francis Mugisha, managing director of Management Consult Associates will represent Rwanda. Tanzania will be represented by Esther Tully, director of marketing and research at CRDB Bank and Mehboob Champsi of Gina Din Corporate Communications.

Jaffer indicated that the new council was tasked with the duty of scoring the regions brands based on the key parameters of market dominance, longevity, goodwill, customer loyalty and market acceptance.

New categories

Unlike the past, the 2012-2014 Superbrands awards will also include a new category called Export Superbrands which will highlight the top brands in promoting the region's exports potential, as encompassed in the region's growth targets which peg success indicators on value addition of goods and services for the exports market.

Other categories will include: Business to Consumer Superbrands and the Business to Business Superbrands.

For more, go to www.superbrandseastafrica.com