New Ask Afrika Icon Brands winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in Johannesburg on 28 July. Ask Afrika Icon Brands are brands that are ubiquitous and quintessentially South African. Twenty-eight Ask Africa Icon Brands will be announced, and invaluable top line insights and trends will be shared about what the South African consumer really wants and what brands are doing right and wrong, and how they can improve their marketing strategy.
The Ask Afrika Icon Brands survey provides marketers wishing to target the entire population with the requisite tools to track trends and to gain greater insight into the South consumer mind-set and behaviour. Even though this is the primary focus, the survey also provides insights into a diversity of product categories that are targeted at only a portion of the South African demographic. Tailor-made reports can be ordered, providing insight and competitor analysis into specific industry sectors.
“Ask Afrika Icon Brands define a common experience, often on a daily basis to which South Africans are committed to in a real sense. They put their money where their mouths are to demonstrate this commitment. South Africans love these brands, are loyal to them and will even look for them when abroad,” says Maria Petousis, TGI Director at Ask Afrika.
For the 2015/2016 awards, South Africans have voted with their wallets and hearts and in the process created 28 Ask Afrika Icon Brands. Brands do more than just satisfy consumers’ wants and needs, they become symbols and contribute to the way individuals define their status and their personalities.
Some brands even achieve international iconic status, which helps to define nationhood and nations. These brands sometimes become symbols of the nations that created them. Examples of some international icon brands include: Coca Cola and Big Mac = USA; BMW and Mercedes = Germany; Fosters = Australia; Dom Perignon = France; Rolls Royce and MG = Britain; Guinness = Ireland; Bells and Glen Fiddich = Scotland; Smirnoff = Russia.
“From a South African perspective we have to ask ourselves which brands unite us as a nation, which brands are used most loyally by South Africans across the age, income, race and language spectrums. The Ask Afrika Icon Brands™ survey answers these questions,” says Petousis.
