A brand new voice in Africa

Says initiator and funder Thebe Ikalafeng, founder of Brand Leadership, "LeadingBrands.org's basic premise is the belief that a brand is an organisation's, and indeed a country's, most important asset and a key driver of business performance and value... We believe the portal will contribute to a transformation in the way the continent of Africa perceives itself."

Ikalafeng, who has chaired the Loeries for the past three years, collaborated with colleagues and marketing academics Professor Roger Sinclair (developer of the BrandMetrics methodology); Professor Peet Venter (both associate professor in strategy and marketing and director of business development and marketing at UNISA's Graduate School of Business Leadership); and intellectual property attorney, Hans Muhlberg. Supporting partners include UNISA, Telkom and Markinor.

Dedicated to developing awareness across the continent of the importance of brands and the role that they play as key drivers in business performance and vectors of national image and identity, the portal features contributions from marketing and brand experts and a forum for interested brand enthusiasts to debate brand-related issues. Visitors are also encouraged to post their own ideas, comments and thoughts.

Additional features will include access to the latest brand and advertising surveys, such as

• Markinor's Top Brands and InterbrandSampson's South Africa's Most Valuable Brands
• links to Kalahari.net, Telkom and the on-line Yellow Pages
• a calendar of brand and advertising events such as academic courses, conferences, festivals and award ceremonies, and
• a directory of African advertising and branding agencies

Also in the pipeline is a regular critical look at existing brands - their good and bad points.

Concludes Ikalafeng, "We are looking to create a repository of brand knowledge and information that will assist both companies and the brand marketing and design industry in creating new brands and getting the most value out of existing ones... We... encourage interested parties to submit papers for publication on the site."