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#TopBrands2018: Ogilvy, Koo, Discovery Health excel in Sunday Times Top Brands survey 2018

24 Oct 2018

The results of the annual Sunday Times Top Brands survey were announced at an awards ceremony hosted at The Empire venue in Parktown, Johannesburg on Wednesday, 24 October, seeing two local companies excel as the overall winners in their sectors, and Ogilvy SA as top creative agency in support of winning brands.

Image: © Sunday Times Top Brands on Twitter.

Koo adds to its Top Brands awards tally by winning the grand prix in the consumer category, while Discovery Health Medical Scheme claimed the grand prix in the business category.

All the 2017 Sunday Times Top Brands winners. Image supplied.

Winners of 2017 Sunday Times Top Brands survey announced

28 Sep 2017

Reardon Sanderson, GM: Group Sales and Marketing at Tiso Blackstar, comments: “20 years ago, we could never have anticipated the longevity of this survey and how it would become the industry’s leading – and most quoted and respected beacon – for enlightening brands about the changing and fickle nature of consumer preference.”

Decade-long survey partnership

The survey also celebrates 10 years in partnership with Kantar TNS South Africa, who conduct the annual survey. They conducted face-to-face interviews with 3,500 adults in the metro and non-metro areas of South Africa in the Consumer sample. The Business sample represents businesses of all sizes, with 469 C-level decision-makers participating in online self-complete interviews.

The final results have been weighted to represent the population according to Stats SA 2015 mid-year population estimates. The Kantar TNS methodology used to establish brand ranking and category winners is based on the concept of relative advantage. This takes brand familiarity and awareness, the perceptions of users and non-users, as well as the size of brand presence in the market into account.

Says Nuala Harris-Morele of Kantar TNS:

While 2018 saw a downgrade of the South African economy and increasing pressure on food prices through rand fluctuations and the increase in the price of fuel, South Africans are still creating space for some additional luxuries here and there. We see usership in beauty and cosmetics, alcohol, personal care and fast food increase. In some cases, to offset these expenses, we see an increase in the usage of micro loans. This may be irresponsible spending, as we also see a decrease in the ownership of long-term insurance policy ownership.

Consumer categories

Koo reclaimed the top spot to receive the Consumer Overall Favourite Brand Grand Prix – an award it has won on multiple occasions previously. Coca-Cola and Samsung came in second and third place respectively.

Coca-Cola received the Consumer Green Award for the preservation of SA’s natural resources, as well the Consumer Social Investment Award. Coca-Cola was the recipient of both awards in 2017 as well. Shoprite and Eskom also continued to feature in the top three positions of these two category rankings.

Winners in the other 32 consumer categories included: BonAqua, Powerade, Heineken, Hunter’s Dry, Bernini, Hennessey, Vaseline, Oros, All Gold Tomato Sauce, Tastic, Koo, Coca-Cola, Rainbow, KFC, Spur, Nivea, Mercedes-Benz, Engen, South African Airways, Capitec, Discovery Insure, Old Mutual Group, Capfin, Vodacom, SABC1, Pick n Pay Smart Shopper, Daily Sun, Shoprite, and the Sunday Times. Samsung won in three categories: electronic goods, large kitchen appliances and cellphones.

Business categories

Discovery Health Medical Scheme fought back from third place in 2017, to claim the Grand Prix award as the 2018 Business Overall Favourite Brand. Vodacom was nudged into second place, with the Apple iPhone in third.

Nedbank received the Business Social Investment Award, followed by Woolworths and FNB in second and third place respectively.

Banks dominated in the green category with FNB claiming the Business Green Award, while Capitec took second spot and Nedbank placed third.

Brands that won in the other 12 business categories included: Kulula.com, Avis, Mercedes-Benz, Liberty, Santam, FNB, Apple iPhone, Vodacom, Allan Gray, Discovery Health Medical Scheme, Glenfiddich and Business Day.

Mercedes-Benz and Vodacom were the only brands to win across both consumer and business categories.

The 2018 Robyn Putter Award for creative agencies

The Robyn Putter Award recognises the contributions made by creative agencies in support of winning brands, with the winner decided on a points system, based on the performance of its clients in the survey. The 2018 recipient is Ogilvy South Africa.

Grand Prix Robyn Putter Brand Agency awarded to @OgilvySA #TopBrands2018 pic.twitter.com/wTWiKWhSl6
— Ogilvy Cape Town (@OgilvyCT) October 24, 2018

“Consumer behaviour and consumer perception about brands is definitely changing. This is what makes the Sunday Times Top Brands survey, conducted by our partner, Kantar TNS South Africa, such a valued and respected benchmark for the industry. Tiso Blackstar’s ongoing support for the survey is to give marketers the research they need to not only become more competitive, but to deliver real value to their consumers. It continues to deliver insights about the endearing longevity of some brands, or highlight the catch-up game that needs to be played by others,” concludes Sanderson.

See all the winners below.

Social Investment - Consumer
1 Coca-Cola
2 Shoprite
3 Eskom
4 Pick n Pay
5 Vodacom
6 South African Breweries (SAB)
7 Telkom
8 KFC
9 Tiger Brands
10 Lever Brothers/Unilever

Green - Consumer
1 Coca-Cola
2 Shoprite
3 Eskom
4 Pick n Pay
5 Telkom
6 Vodacom
7 Unilever/Lever Brothers
8 Tiger Brands
9 MTN
10 South African Breweries (SAB)

Water
1 BonAqua
2 Aquelle
3 Woolworths Water
4 Valpre
5 H2O
6 Glaceau vitamin water
7 Aquartz
8 Oasis water
9 Seltzer water
10 Nestle pure life still water

Energy drinks
1 Powerade
2 Red Bull
3 Power Play
4 Energade
5 Lucozade
6 Monster
7 Dragon
8 Aloe Mas-Aloe Vera Energy Drink
9 Bioplus
10 Mofaya

Beer
1 Heineken
2 Castle Lite
3 Carling Black Label
4 Castle Lager
5 Corona
6 Flying Fish
7 Amstel Lager
8 Windhoek Draught
9 Hansa
10 Windhoek Lager

Ciders
1 Hunter's Dry
2 Savanna Dry
3 Hunter's Gold
4 Hunter's Extreme
5 Redd's Original
6 Redd's Dry
7 Savanna Light
8 Strongbow

Alcoholic Coolers
1 Bernini
2 Red Square
3 Brutal Fruit
4 Smirnoff Spin
5 Smirnoff Storm
6 Bacardi Breezer

Alcoholic Spirits
1 Hennessey
2 Johnnie Walker
3 Jameson
4 Amarula
5 J & B
6 Skyy Vodka
7 Jack Daniel's
8 Glenfiddich
9 Richelieu
10 Three Ships

Personal Care
1 Vaseline
2 Nivea
3 Sunlight
4 Protex
5 Dettol
6 Ingrams
7 Bio-Oil
8 Johnson & Johnson
9 Dove
10 Yardley

Fruit-Based Drinks
1 Oros
2 Liqui-Fruit
3 Clover
4 Fruitree
5 Halls
6 Ceres
7 Tropika
8 Magalies
9 Minute Maid
10 Clover Life Nectar

Condiments & Sauces
1 All Gold Tomato Sauce
2 Crosse & Blackwell Mayonnaise
3 Nola Mayonnaise
4 Mrs Ball's Chutney
5 Nando's Sauces
6 Wellingtons Sweet Chilli
7 Steers Sauce
8 Tabasco Sauce
9 Woolworths Mayonnaise
10 Spur Sauces

Essential Foods
1 Tastic
2 Albany
3 White Star
4 Fatti's & Moni's
5 Sasko
6 Spekko
7 Ace
8 Blue Ribbon
9 Aunt Caroline
10 Iwisa

Tinned Foods
1 Koo
2 Lucky Star
3 All Gold
4 Bull Brand
5 John West
6 Glenryck
7 Hugo's
8 Denny
9 Gold Dish
10 Rhodes

Soft Drinks
1 Coca-Cola
2 Stoney Ginger Beer
3 Sprite
4 Appletiser
5 Fanta
6 Sparletta
7 Nestea Ice Tea
8 Grapetiser
9 Twist
10 Iron Brew

Frozen Chicken
1 Rainbow
2 Goldi
3 Woolworths
4 I & J
5 Farmer Brown
6 Country Fair
7 Supreme
8 Any retailer brand
9 Yummy

Fast-food Restaurants
1 KFC
2 Nando's
3 Debonair's Pizza
4 McDonald's / McCafe
5 Wimpy
6 Chicken Licken
7 Steers
8 Roman's Pizza
9 Zebros
10 FishAways

Sit-down Restaurants
1 Spur
2 Nando's
3 Wimpy
4 Mugg & Bean
5 RocoMamas
6 Ocean Basket
7 News Cafe
8 Cubana
9 Dros
10 Cape Town Fish Market

Beauty and cosmetics
1 Nivea
2 Pond's
3 Avon
4 Yardley
5 Revlon
6 Clinique
7 Woolworths
8 Elizabeth Arden
9 Dawn
10 Dove

Electronic Goods
1 Samsung
2 LG
3 Sony
4 Apple
5 Hisense
6 Nokia
7 Panasonic
8 Telefunken
9 JVC
10 Sansui

Large Kitchen Appliances
1 Samsung
2 Defy
3 LG
4 Kelvinator
5 Whirlpool
6 KIC
7 Hisense
8 Bosch
9 Siemens
10 Panasonic

Car Category
1 Mercedes-Benz
2 Volkswagen
3 BMW
4 Toyota
5 Audi
6 Hyundai
7 Ford
8 Mazda
9 Isuzu
10 Nissan

Petrol Stations
1 Engen
2 Total
3 Shell
4 Sasol
5 BP
6 Caltex
7 Exel

Domestic Airlines
1 South African Airways
2 British Airways
3 Mango
4 Kulula.com

Retail Banks
1 Capitec
2 FNB
3 Standard Bank
4 Nedbank
5 ABSA

Short-term Insurance
1 Discovery Insure
2 OUTsurance
3 Old Mutual Group
4 FNB
5 Stanbic (Standard Bank)
6 Hollard
7 Auto & General
8 Santam
9 Nedbank
10 Miway

Long-term Insurance
1 Old Mutual Group
2 Metropolitan Life
3 Sanlam
4 Nedbank
5 Liberty
6 Avbob
7 Standard Bank
8 Hollard
9 FNB
10 Clientele

Micro-lenders
1 Capfin
2 Wonga

Cellphones
1 Samsung
2 Apple iPhone
3 Nokia
4 Huawei
5 Sony
6 LG
7 Hisense
8 Blackberry
9 Vodafone
10 Alcatel

Telecommunications Providers
1 Vodacom
2 MTN
3 Telkom Mobile
4 Cell C
5 Telkom

TV Service Providers
1 SABC 1
2 eTV
3 SABC 2
4 SuperSport
5 SABC 3
6 Mzansi Magic
7 Channel O
8 M-Net Series
9 National Geographic
10 M-Net

Loyalty Programmes
1 Pick n Pay Smart Shopper
2 Clicks Clubcard
3 Vodacom Rewards
4 Woolworths WRewards
5 FNB Ebucks
6 Nedbank Greenbacks
7 Standard Bank Ucount
8 Jet Thank U
9 Dischem
10 Edgars Thank U

Daily Newspapers
1 Daily Sun
2 Sowetan
3 Volksblad
4 The Star
5 Citizen
6 Isolezwe
7 Pretoria News
8 Daily Dispatch
9 Cape Times
10 Ilanga

Weekly Newspapers
1 Sunday Times
2 Soccer Laduma
3 Sunday World
4 City Press
5 Saturday Star
6 Sunday Sun
7 Rapport
8 Saturday Citizen
9 Mail & Guardian
10 Beeld Naweek

Grocery Stores
1 Shoprite
2 Pick n Pay (Supermarket/Hypermarket/ Family Store)
3 Spar/KwikSpar/Super Spar
4 Checkers/Checkers Hyper
5 Woolworths
6 Fruit & Veg City
7 Makro
8 Game (Foodco)
9 U-Save
10 Cambridge Food

Social Investment - Business
1 Nedbank
2 Woolworths
3 FNB
4 OUTsurance
5 Vodacom
6 Pick n Pay
7 Coca-Cola
8 Discovery
9 Old Mutual Group
10 MTN

Green - Business
1 FNB
2 Capitec
3 Nedbank
4 Woolworths
5 World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
6 Sasol
7 Pick n Pay
8 Investec
9 Discovery
10 Spar

Domestic Airlines
1 Kulula.com
2 British Airways
3 Mango
4 Safair
5 South African Airways
6 SA Airlink
7 South African Express

Car Hire Companies
1 Avis
2 Europcar
3 Budget
4 Hertz
5 First Car Rental
6 Tempest
7 Bidvest
8 Thrifty Car Rental

Car Companies
1 Mercedes-Benz
2 Toyota
3 Audi
4 BMW
5 Volkswagen
6 Honda
7 Land Rover
8 Hyundai
9 Ford
10 Nissan

Long-term Insurance
1 Liberty
2 Momentum Myriad
3 Discovery Life
4 Sanlam
5 Alexander Forbes
6 FNB
7 Old Mutual Group
8 Hollard

Short-term Insurance
1 Santam
2 OUTsurance
3 Hollard
4 Discovery Insure
5 Alexander Forbes
6 Old Mutual Group
7 Zurich
8 Auto & General
9 AIG Insurance
10 SASRIA

Corporate Banks
1 FNB
2 Investec
3 Standard Bank
4 Nedbank
5 Rand Merchant Bank
6 ABSA

Cellphones
1 Apple iPhone
2 Samsung
3 Huawei

Telecoms Providers
1 Vodacom
2 MTN
3 Telkom
4 Cell C
5 Neotel
6 Telkom Mobile
7 Vox Telecom

Business Newspapers
1 Business Day
2 Sunday Times - Business Times
3 Mail & Guardian - Business
4 Business Report
5 Sake 24
6 Sake Rapport
7 Saturday Personal Finance

Investment Companies
1 Allan Gray
2 Momentum
3 Liberty
4 RMB/Rand Merchant Bank
5 Sanlam
6 Discovery Invest
7 Alexander Forbes
8 Old Mutual Group
9 Stanlib

Medical Aid Companies
1 Discovery Health Medical Scheme
2 Momentum
3 Bonitas

Whiskey, Brandy and Vodka Brands
1 Glenfiddich
2 Johnnie Walker
3 Jameson
4 Glenmorangie
5 Chivas Regal
6 Bell's
7 KWV
8 Glenlevit
9 J&B
10 Absolut

Robyn Putter Award
1 Ogilvy South Africa
2 FCB
3 King James
4 In-house
5 TBWA
6 Metropolitan Republic
7 Joe Public
8 Ireland Davenport
9 JWT
10 99cents