Every year at TOP 50 BRANDS NIGERIA®, we present the outcome of an evaluation of top corporate brands in the country for the year. This is a qualitative evaluation that is achieved using the Brand Strength Measurement, BSM, a model that tests a brand’s ability to deliver on its promise to the consumer from the consumer’s point of view.

The brand has become the most valuable asset of a corporate organisation. That is why an organisation will do everything to promote, protect, preserve, and defend its brand at all cost. Production lines may be defective and easily replaced, even top management staffs may be replaced, but building a brand takes time, it is a tedious process and costs a lot of money.

Everyone a brand manager

From the Janitors, receptionists, line managers to the chief executives, everyone is involved in the brand management process. Successful organisations make it a duty to properly inform and aligned their personnel, regardless of the level of involvement, on the brand proposition of the organisation and the way they like to be perceived. That is why when you get to certain places, from the doorman, to the receptionist, you are approached in certain ways that seems to communicate a pattern. They may even dress certain way that reflects the organisational values. Also the look and feel of vital contact points would often tell you where you are.

A brand isn’t a logo.

One way to define something for proper understanding is to describe what it isn’t, says a revered teacher.

A brand is not a logo. There have been many misconceptions about this, and a lot of business owners (small businesses and startups) put all their energies into making fine logos, color Panton and fonts. While understanding of branding concepts and practices started from farmers who would burn their insignia on their cows for proper identification and differentiation from others, however that is as far as it goes. Modern branding practices, especially in our highly competitive business environment have gone far beyond that.

Your brand is not the advertisements or PR, sales effort etc. It’s not even the product or service you provide or sales efforts. It is sure not the customer service you or the ‘cheaper’ prices –  various consumers research have shown that price is rarely among the first two consideration in consumer’s decision process.

What then is a brand?

The brand, therefore, is a promise of value to the consumer(s) or audience. “A set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another”- Seth Godin.

A brand is a collection of perceptions in the mind of the customer, the sum total of the entire customer experience. What your customers think of you and all you do – Your look and feels, your website, your language and communication styles, social media engagement, your logo, fonts, and colors. All these reflect on your vision, mission, and value proposition which is what the consumer is buying.

The brand is “a complex mixture of experiences, feelings, and personalities that (ideally) have made your customers love your company”.

It is the idea of who you are or the perception in the mind of your audience. That is why, if you are served a bottle of Coca-Cola from a little kiosk in my village or in a 5-star hotel, you are expecting to have the same taste and feel.

The brand inspires trust and tells consumers what to expect from a product or service, and it differentiates your offering from competitors.

It is not just what you say you are. Anyone can claim to be anything, but your real identity is the consumer’s perception which is formed based on experience or someone else’s trusted experience.

This has made the job of brand managers central in the entire organisation build-up. It’s now a common practice to have the CEO as the Chief Brand Manager. And to build a successful brand, every member of staff have to be a brand ambassador of the company. It is that important.

The brand encompasses the company’s total package, including people, products, culture, offerings, name, logo, believes and content into an experience for your audience and customers. It is the part of the business that consumers come to trust, and that places an organisation ahead of its competitors.

So, your brand is derived from who you are, who you want to be, and who people perceive you to be especially.

We live in an ‘over branded’ world. Every day, from waking up to going to bed, consumers are faced with increasing brand options and the daunting tasks of choice from the barrage of brands that are competing for attention, using every available means and opportunity. An average consumer is ‘’besieged’ with options from very mundane items to more important life consumption choices, almost every hour of the day, seven days a week.

As the competition for consumer attention increases, effective brand management has become a strong market differentiator in this endless race of relevance and mindshare. There has never been a more important time to develop the right value proposition and unique identity through strategic branding than now.

Companies and their marketers understand the consumer’s choice ‘difficulties’, hence they try to help them make sense (logical justification) of it by coming up with attractive propositions, targeted at addressing perceived consumer’s needs. Even though a brand is no longer what you tell the consumer it is (advertisement), it is what consumers feel it is.

That is why branding is always advised to be the first rung on the business development ladder before advertisement and other marketing activities. It gives better meaning and determines the flow across the board.

Branding is Strategic

Branding is strategic as has been proved repeatedly, while marketing is tactical. Branding determines the depth and the flow of all other activities, engagement and it influences the culture of the organisation .

From a practical point of view, the brand is what remains after the marketing has ‘swept through the room’. It’s the connecting point that associates consumers’ mind process in choice decision with a product, service, or organization, regardless of the timing of there decision.

That is why branding, though might attract a some cost, is a worthy investment that will surely give good return in forms of loyalty – from employees whose jobs have become easier because they don’t have to spend all day convincing consumers (whose minds are already or almost made up), to the consumers who have become ambassadors and fans of your product or the organization.

When done rightly, it doesn’t just make consumers choose you ahead of competitors, it positions you more or less as a ‘sole provider’ of the particular service or solution to their need.

Brand as a Driver of Choice

The brand is that thing that makes a consumer choose you over another. It is the subliminal and intangible factor that uniquely differentiates a product/service or an organization from the others.

Various consumer behavior researches have indicated that the price is seldom among the first two considerations in choice-making, rather the brand promise and experience.

Regardless of the volume of budgets on a beautiful advertisement; as a necessary part of the marketing mix those are, without first taking the energy to build the brand, it might end up as an exercise in futility.

Adverts tell a consumer what to do as said previously, but branding helps him on how and why they should buy.

Branding is objective and deeper. It defines trajectories, while adverts are subjective and define tactics. Branding is long-term and it is ‘macro’, but advertising is short-term and ‘micro’.

Brand as an Experience

The brand is the thought or image that comes to mind when a consumer comes in contact with you or any of your connecting points. This image is formed based on previous experience or someone else’s narration of the experience he/she had with you. That is why most things are now experiential. You don’t necessarily need advertisement to sell experience. The consumer is well aware of what to expect, based on your proposition and that is what he is paying for.

Brand Builds Confidence

Since s customers already have an expectation of he gets, he doesn’t need to second guess on his choices. Based on experience, he trust that the organisation, its product(s), or service(s) will do exactly what they already believe it will do. When a user typed in a keyword on an internet enables device for example, he expect Google to respond with several thousands of relevant outcome of the search terms. A user don’t need to have a second thought or consideration, either you are browsing on the mountain or in the city. You are too sure to find an answer or something close on virtually any subject.

Any organization that takes the pain to build its brand, particularly from the consumer’s point of view and articulately makes the right proposition will spend much less on the advertisement, but with higher return on investment.

For something that is this important, there is also the need for periodic assessment and benchmarking.

Resilience Top brands

The past year has been most challenging for many brands because of the unprecedented effect of Covid19 and it’s far reaching effects. No one prepared for anything like this, hence, no template to follow. This has even been compounded with our nation’s socio-political situations with pockets of violence in certain parts of the country.

However, one thing is certain about these brands, they were resilient in delivering their promise to the consumers. Not even a lockdown or challenges could hold them back.

These brands exemplify the resilient Naija Spirit that keeps people going despite all odds. Most of them have also been selfless by rendering immeasurable assistance to the communities, particularly the helpless in the society to ease the negative effect of the Coronavirus.

TOP 50 BRANDS NIGERIA® 2021

Below is the 2021 top brands league table where we present a non-financial evaluation of top corporate brands in the country for the year. This has become like a report card with which top brands have a feel of their ranking in the market.

This is a true recognition of excellence and appreciation of brand’s perception, acceptability, and affinity, all of which go a long way in influencing consumer’s buying decisions.

The fact is, what a brand really represents is what consumers think it is – Perception. Advertisement can go as long as triggering the first buy decision, but the promise and experience sustain it.

That’s why qualitative marketing research techniques are so important. They help to identify the real meaning that consumers actually ascribe to brands and their affinity to it, not the ones managers hope they will take away.

The top brands this year are those that have been able to conceptualise consumer’s decision patterns and present well ‘justifiable’ propositions that meet these needs. People buy to meet a need.

These brands have been consistent in their proposition and offering over the years and you can easily associate them as leaders in their categories.

They have strong and unique value propositions that properly articulate the consumer’s needs and passionately work to meeting them.

You become a Top brand when your product/services become the generic name in its category as Google is to internet search or zoom to virtual meetings. Or better still when the consumers become your fanatically attracted to your brand, isn’t that cool?

BRAND STRENGTH MEASUREMENT (BSM)

To arrive at the annual top brands for the year, we use the Brand Strength Measurement (BSM Index).

BSM is a mathematical model that measures a brand’s ability to deliver on its promise to the consumers from the consumers’ point of view. It is a qualitative measuring tool that tests consumer’s knowledge, acceptability and support for these major brands, using basic variables that directly affect buying decisions.

There are seven variables in the BSM model which conceptualizes consumer’s considerations.

It starts with the Top of the Mind (TOM) survey. This is a test of people’s awareness, knowledge, or affinity with corporate brands in the country.

• TOM: Top of the Mind brands are the most remembered or recalled brand names. They are the ones that get customers excited and make them participate in their marketing, which has earned the brand an increasing mind share over the years.

We spiced things up a bit this year by engaging Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) and Head of Corporate Communication across the corporate Nigeria for the TOM survey. With this, we were able to get the opinion of the mass market in a few who have a good understanding of the market dynamics.

These men and women have been in the market in real-time for a long time. They can tell you, based on first-hand understanding and experience what the market is saying. They directly relate with and communicate their brand’s propositions to the consumers. Aside from their brands, they also could tell you which brand is really hitting it the right way or not. With the benefits of hindsight, they could predict a brand’s likely outcome in a long run.

Their opinion influences the market in many ways because it’s formed from deep knowledge.

To avoid prejudice, respondents were prohibited from choosing their brand in the survey. They have to mention other brands, other than theirs.

Other variables in the model are:

Online Engagements: In an unprecedented manner, the online platform has become the de-facto workplace. The world of work, marketing of goods and services, etc has changed permanently as a result of the effect of Covid 19. The online platform has become indispensable for all businesses, regardless of size. It’s a common practice for consumers to check you out before making a buying decision. The internet also provides the right opportunity for better engagement and customer service. So, here we evaluate the top brand’s internet activities based on their website quality, search engine optimisations, Google mentions and social media engagements, etc.

Quality- This is a check of certain elements that enhance consumer’s confidence in an organisation, its products, and services. Such as regulatory and quality certifications, trademarks, and other elements that boost consumers’ confidence.

Innovation- This is a test of product/service delivery, innovation in customer services, marketing, or media activities.

Category Leadership; Here we can classify brands according to their industrial categorisation and rate their market share, vis-à-vis the competitors’.

National Spread: A brand necessarily should be operational or have substantial presence in at least half of the states of the federation or four of the 6 geo-political zones, to be evaluated as a top brand in Nigeria.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): CSR is one of those vital parts of a corporate brand that easily endears it to the community. This helps consumers to see the brand beyond just its product and service offering (the business), but part of the community, hence earning some affinity.

All these are aggregated into the BSM model to arrive at the top brands for the year.

Exclusions

It is important to note that this evaluation excludes public (governmental), political, religious or NGOs brands. We also shy away from tobacco and betting brands for moral and health reasons.

TOP BRANDS 2021 HIGHLIGHTS

Dangote Group – The Most Valuable Brand in Nigeria 2021. Dangote Group emerged as the Most Valuable Brand in Nigeria for the fourth year consecutively. This also made Dangote, The Most Valuable Nigerian brand and topped the Conglomerate category at this 2021 evaluation.

MTN Communication Nigeria PLC – Most Popular Brand, Most Valuable Multinational and Telecoms Brand

Coming in the second place this year is a brand that has been connecting Nigerians together for the past 20 years, with over 100 Millions subscribers on its network, amounting to 83% of the Nigerian telecom market share according to a recent NCC’s statistics.

Globacom Emerged the 3^rd place

Another proudly Nigerian brand and a telecom firm, Globacom emerged on the third place this year. Others brands in the top 10 are:

Coca- Cola Nigeria Limited who also emerged as the Most Valuable in the Beverages Category

GTBank Plc- The Most Valuable Brand in the Banking & Financial Services Category

AIRTEL

ACCESS BANK

ZENITH BANK PLC

FIRST BANK OF NIGERIA and Dufil at the 10^th

AMONG THE TOP 10

6 among the Top 10 are Nigerian brands, that is, Dangote, Globacom, GTBank, First Bank, Zenith Bank and Access Bank.

Banking & Financial services category had the highest number of entries, 4 brands in the total – GTBank, First Bank. Zenith Bank and Access Bank.

5 brands among the top 10 maintained their previous year’s position, these are Dangote, MTN Globacom, Coca-Cola and GTBank.

Highest Gainer among the top 10 is Airtel Nigeria who jumped 5 Places

6 brands have maintained top 10 position for 6 years consecutively- Dangote, MTN, GLo, FirstBank, GTBank and Coca-Cola

Among the top 10

5 brands among the Top 10 maintained previous year’s positions- Dangote, MTN, Globacom, Coca-Cola Nigeria and UBA.

7 brands among the Top 10 had maintained Top 10 position for 4 consecutively years – Dangote, Globacom, MTN, Coca-Cola, GTBank, Zenith Bank and First Bank.

3 of the 4 leading Telecoms brands in Nigeria among the top 10- MTN, Glo, Airtel.

Overall

These are 22 Nigerian brands, amounting to 44%, while the Multinationals had the majority of 28 brand, an equivalent of 56%

INDUSTRIAL CATEGORISATION & LEADERS

• The Banking & Financial Services category had the highest entry as usual with 11 brands, an equivalent of 22%, with GTBank topping the category.
• This is followed by the Consumer Goods with 8 brands, where Dufil Prima, makers of Indomie took the lead.
• The Conglomerates and Oil & Gas categories had 5 brands each with Dangote and Oando Plc topping their categories respectively.
• Telecoms and Beverages categories had 4 brands each, while MTN Nigeria and Coca-Cola are category leaders.
• Media, Electronics, Building & Construction and Agricultural categories had 2 brands each and Channels TV, Transsion Holdings, Julius Berger and FlourMills of Nigeria emerged category leaders respectively.
• There are 3 Insurance firm this year. We had to create a separate category for this sector because of the increasing number this year. AIICO insurance topped them
• Automobile and Retail categories had 1 brands each. Toyota Nigeria and Jumia automomatical becomes the category leaders respectively.

Highest Gainer (YoY)

Transsion Holdings, makers of popular mobile devices emerged the highest gainer this year from 50th position last year to 39, a record 19 place up thrust. This is followed by the duo of FlourMills Nigeria and Chivita Limited.

New Entrant

Leadway Assurance made the top brand league table for the first time this year.

10 brands maintained their previous positions- These are Dangote, MTN, Glo, GTBank, Coca-Cola, Nestle, Channels Tv, Julius Berger.Axa Mansard, Addova Plc