By Rafiq Vayani
DUBAI: Superbrands, the independent authority and arbiter of branding, announced it will host its annual tribute event to honour and recognize 58 of UAE’s strongest brands on June 27, 2018. At the event, Superbrands will also announce the highly awaited ‘Brand of the Year’ award and unveil the 14th edition of the much sought-after Superbrands book, which includes a two-page profile of each of the Superbrands.
In its 14th edition, the Superbrands tribute event is considered the ‘Oscars of Branding’ by the corporate world and speaking about the event, Mr. Mike English, Director, Superbrands Middle East, said, “Marketers have always had to juggle two seemingly contradictory goals: making their brands distinctive and making them central in their category. Being acknowledged a Superbrands helps strengthens a brands position, adds prestige and reassures consumers and suppliers that they are buying the best brand in its category. This year has seen an unprecedented number of local brands making it to the Superbrands list with a few new entrants in the market, in addition to internationally recognized brands.”
After carefully filtering through the selection list set by the Superbrands Council, over 2,000 senior managers and marketing professionals were invited to vote for candidate brands. More than 2000 leading brands in the UAE were scored by the Superbrands Council members and through an online poll. The highest scoring brands have been chosen as Superbrands and only the brands that achieve the level of recognition set by the independent Superbrands Council are eligible for inclusion in the Superbrands UAE book, which traces the history and achievements of each of the brands.
Speaking on the stringent selection and voting process, Mr. English added, “Getting onto the Superbrands list is both a prestigious accolade and an arduous task, where brands have to be voted for by our distinguished brand council members as well as by marketing professionals, who have voted through an online poll. The brand which scores the highest points will be adjourned the top honour of ‘Brand of the Year’ which we will announce at the tribute event. Participation in the Superbrands book is by invitation only and acknowledges the inherent strength of the organisation and its brand value. This event is a true celebration of many of the country’s highest profile brands.”
As ‘Superbrands’ gains ground in terms of loyalty, respect and visibility within the UAE, the Superbrands Council acknowledge the importance of looking at brands who sell primarily to the end customer (B2C) or to other businesses (B2B), both online and offline as separate categories. The primary reason for this is that although the marketing programs are the same for each type of business (events, direct marketing, internet marketing, advertising, public relations, word of mouth and alliances), how they are executed, what they say, and the outcome of the marketing activities differ.
The Superbrands tribute event will see the UAE’s crème de la crème corporate head honchos in attendance and promises to live up to its global reputation of being the ‘Oscars of Branding’.
