The MFSA's inaugural Brand Excellence Awards held last night, 7 June 2005, at the Sandton Sun, formed part of the organisation's Winter Marketing Festival and the highlight of its campaign to transform the organization and unite the industry in celebrating the brands that have made it what it is - one of the most vibrant and dynamic industries in the world.
After global branding agency, Interbrand, through it's local partner, Interbrand Sampson, announced its first Brand League table for South African brands at the Financial Mail's AdFocus industry event last month, the MFSA decided that an industry specific celebration was called for to celebrate the top brands.
However, Vodacom, ranked 3rd after MTN (2nd) in the Interbrand Sampson Brand League table, was allegedly dissatisfied with elements of the research outcome and sent a strongly worked fax to MFSA caretaker-CEO, Dee Blackie (who has incidentally been seconded to the MFSA by MTN) that Vodacom was not to be mentioned at the ceremony. They may not have been mentioned on stage, but they were the talk of every table, nicely decorated in red and orange. And in a show of support for the MFSA, the entire MTN brand team packed the stage to receive their award when their turn came.
On Monday, the Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa also upheld Vodacom's objection to MTN's "misuse" of the results of the Interbrand Sampson brand evaluation study published on 8 May 2005 in Financial Mail's AdFocus under the title 'SA's most valuable brands'. MTN is appealing.
Pick 'n Pay (ranked 10th) apparently refused to send anyone to pick up their trophy and became the butt of MC and comedian, David Kau's jokes, as he had the audience rolling in the aisles when he asked if it was "because there was a sale on?"
And while the results may be controversial, the other eight players: Standard Bank (#1), MTN (#2), Absa (#4), FNB (#5), Telkom (#6), Castle (#7), De Beers (#8), Old Mutual (#9), sent representatives, a few in force and supported by their agencies, at the evening sponsored by the SABC. The MFSA was out in full force, but there was a dirth of general marketing support at the Winter Festival and at the event from the industry in general. This is despite the whirlwind activities of the dynamic Dee Blackie, who has been mobilising the industry, regions included, in building a unified organisation to promote marketing best practise and brand excellence. To be fair, the time was short, and there is still a lot of politics driving this industry, so let's hope the industry will show more of a united front come the MFSA's Summer Marketing Festival in September this year.
One does wonder, however, though, if some CEO's and Boards of the top brands take seriously the brand value of their companies as part of their balance sheets in South Africa.
As Blackie told last night's 300-strong audience: "Each of these brands has taken a leadership role on this continent... it is your stories that will be followed... benchmarked... celebrated..."
And in her report back to the industry, after her first "100 days", she said that membership was up 10% (and hopes to get it to 10 000 members by year-end); the Marketing Directors Circle had been launched; the Chartered Marketing programme had been relaunched; key relationships rebuilt with educational stakeholders; and the first of two annual marketing festivals launched - the Winter School of Marketing Excellence in Sandton this week, culminating in the Brand Excellence Awards last night.
The key note speaker at this event was Tom Blackett, Group Deputy Chairman of Interbrand UK and delegates were entertained by MC, comedian David Kau, and renowned storyteller Gcina Mhlope-Becker, to carry the theme of the great brand stories of our time in our country, forward.
In the first ever tables of South Africa's Most Valuable Brands™, launched by Interbrand Sampson in May, it was found that South Africa has three 'billion dollar brands'. Standard Bank is by far South Africa's most valuable brand according to the tables, valued at R10,165 billion; MTN comes in second, valued at R8,895 billion; and Vodacom was placed third, valued at R6,501 billion. As the financial value of brands has gained increasingly critical importance globally over the past 12 years, the annual Interbrand Top Brands by Value table has become a vital business performance monitoring tool internationally. In recent years local tables have been produced by the Group in some 10 countries, including the USA, the UK, Australia, Singapore and France and some of the world's biggest brands have been valued, such as Shell, BP and IBM.
The tables were produced according to the Interbrand Group's global methodology and jointly by Interbrand Sampson in Johannesburg and Interbrand London. The Brand Value is premised on the argument that brands, like any business asset, are valuable insofar as they are able to generate economic benefit to their owners. This evaluation is based on more than perception or popularity; it demonstrates how brands, as key elements of corporate wealth, can and should be considerable factors in business strategy.
The Interbrand Group pioneered professional brand valuation in 1988, and its model is now considered to be the global standard, endorsed by tax authorities, stock exchanges, high courts, banks, accounting firms and business schools. The global tables are produced annually in partnership with JP Morgan and Citibank, and the model is used by more than 400 leading companies in over 35 countries. In South Africa, Interbrand Sampson has valued several top brands, including ABSA (twice), South African Breweries, Eskom, FNB and Vodacom (previously).
1. Standard Bank comes in at a value of R10,165 billion (approximately US$1,7 billion).
2. MTN's value is R8,895 billion (approx. US$1,5 billion).
3. Vodacom's R6,501 billion (approx. US$1,1 billion).
4. Absa: R4,924 bn
5. First National Bank: R2,915 bn
6. Telkom: R2,704 bn
7. Castle Lager: R2,576 bn
8. De Beers: R2,443 bn
9. Old Mutual: R2,366 bn
10. Pick 'n Pay: R2,318 bn
