The 50 Top corporate brands in Nigeria for 2017 and their rankings have just been

released.

These are brands that have been able to weather the storms, particularly in the past
year, achieving growth in a recession, with better understanding of the market,
‘aggressively’ worked towards meeting the expectation of the very discerning
consumers, delivering on their promises and many gaining equity in the midst of the
difficult times.

With the volume of competition that businesses face in most industries, it has never
been more important to stand out and develop unique identity and value proposition
through strategic branding. These brands are now part of our lives; they represent more
than their products/services and have become part of the popular culture. They provide
the ultimate experience, drive innovation, as well as deliver quality products
and services.

At this very important time in our nationhood, there is no overstatement of

the important roles top brands are playing in our national space. They are vital elements
that sustain daily lives, providing the much needed jobs, goods and services, create
wealth and also socially responsible, with many interventions that endeared them more
to the people. They understand this and are working towards satisfying the people’s
need. In order word, consumer needs has become the brand promise. Power really
belongs to the people.

One of the driven forces that will propel the Nigeria brand forward to the next level as a
nation, particularly now, and ‘enhancing the value of the Nigeria brand’ which is
the cardinal objective of the annual Brand Nigeria Leadership Forum is the positive
disposition of the brands that power the Nigeria economy.

So, at TOP 50 BRANDS NIGERIA®, we evaluate, rate and celebrate

top corporate brands that have consistently maintained leadership positions in their
categories, living up to their promises. They have been able to master the art of brand
building to the point earning equity. Things are changing very quickly in our world today,
including consumer’s tastes and preferences, particularly in an open market where
there are options. These brands have showed that they understand these changes and
are very quickly adapting, with many preempting the changes before they occur.

We also have the 10 Brands to Watch, though they are not on the TOP 50
BRANDS league table yet, but they have shown promises and potentials within a
period of time. The exciting thing about the brand to watch this year is that they are
mostly home-grown brands.

BRAND AS A PROMISE

Brand is a promise an entity makes to its audience. It’s a description of its value and
character. To some extent, it’s a mission; it’s how you create and deliver value. Also,
keeping this promise result in equity which sustains the entity. The brands listed here
are those that have skillfully created desired perception in the minds of their target
audience through simple, clear and well defined messages.

There is an increasing brand consciousness among the consumers and the brands
knew it. That is why they take advantage of every media, particularly new media to
engage the consumers.

Brand messages have shifted from what the brand are offering, rather to what the
consumers really want. Brands are now tilting toward the consumers need than what
they offer.

Without any doubt, it has gone beyond beautiful imagery and slogans to creating
relationship and somewhat influencing the conversations especially when they aren’t
there. These are some of the factors that separate the winners.

BRAND AS AN EXPERIENCE
Brand is about experience. Any brand can make promise; however, the real name or
description of the brand in the mind of the audience is his/her EXPERIENCE. A
beautiful communication can only raise awareness or reinforced the description in the
consumer’s mind. If consumers know a brand promise is empty, they will just scoff at
the disconnect between the message and the actual customer experience.
A promise delivered earns equity and continuous equity means brand healthiness which
ultimately sustains the company overtime. Regardless of your huge media budget, if
you fail to deliver on the promise, your value depreciates and this affects the bottom-
line. So, brand must always find a way to sync its message to the customer experience.

BRANDS AS A DRIVER OF CHOICE

Brands are powerful drivers of choice and influence the decisions we make as
consumers, employees, business decision makers, and investors. It has become one of
the most valuable assets of a company. Strong brands create loyalty, help companies
attract and retain talent, drive competitive advantage, and even reduce business risk.

To achieve the 50 top brands in Nigeria, we use the Brand Strength Measurement,
BSM, a specially designed model that takes basic qualitative elements to determine
brand valuation and strength. The model checks consumer’s knowledge of a brand
using the top on the mind survey. It’s largely observed that consumers were able to
recall brands they relate with often, whose product/services they also use.
 BRAND STRENGTH MEASUREMENT, BSM.
The BSM model is a brand measuring tool that evaluates a brand’s intangible assets
from consumer’s point of view, using basic qualitative variables. It measures the
strength level of a brand and in some ways indicates weakness. It is an opinion on a
brands ability to perform its expectations and deliver on promise. It also attempt to test
what the brand is to a consumer.

The model serves the purpose of helping brand owners to know how their brand is
faring and also useful for resource allocation. The research approach do not put
financial value on brands, instead, it measures consumer perception and other qualities.

For the top brands measurement, each brand is weighed against the factors listed
below and their variables. The 50 brands with the highest cumulative is the TOP 50
BRANDS NIGERIA® for the year.




  Brand Popularity:
 Category Leadership:.
 Innovation:
 Quality Element:
 Online Engagement:
 National Spread:
 Corporate Social Responsibility:

HIGHLIGHT OF THE TOP 50 BRANDS NIGERIA®2017

50% OF THE TOP BRANDS ARE HOME GROWN

25 of the 50 top brands for 2017 are home grown, this is the highest we have had since
2013. This shows an improvement in performance among home grown brands,
particularly in the midst of a troubling recession which the country just got out from.
Many of these brands have even spread to other African countries and beyond, such
brands as Dangote Industries, GTBank, First Bank, Zenith, Gobacom, UBA etc.

MTN NIGERIA RETAINS ITS TOP POSITION

Again, this telecoms giant emerged as the most valuable in the annual rating with 80.4
point, a 7.1% reduction from the record 86.1 last year.
The success of MTN Nigeria, apart from the benefit of large market is building a
formidable brand from the beginning and consistently living up to its promise.

DANGOTE INDUSTRIES MOST VALUABLE NIGERIAN BRAND

Dangote Industries had a record jump among the top 10 brands, jumping 5 places to
emerge the 2nd position and the most valuable Nigeria brand for 2017.

GTBANK- MOST VALUABLE IN BANKING & FINANCIAL SERVICES

GTBank led the banking sector and came as second among the Nigerian brands.

CHANNELS TELEVISION AND SHOPRITE NIGERIA ARE NEW ENTRANTS

Channels Television, a Nigerian independent TV station known for breaking many news
and exciting its viewership with analytical sociopolitical affairs made a grand entry this
year and on 22nd position on the 50 table.
Shoprite operates the largest retail hop in Nigeria since it started operations in the
country in 2005. Its promise of lower prices which has seeing the brand expand across
Africa has also worked in Nigeria with new stores springing up everywhere.

UNION BANK, THE HIGHEST GAINER

Union Bank of Nigeria emerged the higher gainer this year jumping 25 places to
emerged on the 23rd point from its 45th last year. The bank had a successful re-
branding exercise and has also improve in service delivery. Its once standing horse
seems on a motion now with an exciting blue.
Other top gainers are Access Bank. It jumped 24 places, now on 16th position, Diamond
bank gained 19 places, now on the 27th position and Olam appreciated by 12 and
emerged 38th position.
Banking and Financial Services took 20% of the top brands, amounting to 10 brands.
This is led by GTBank

The consumers good had 8 entries this year. Nigeria with it’s over 180 million people
and mostly within the active demography is a good market for any consumer brand in
the world. Dufil Prima, the makers of popular Indomie and Power oil led the sector in
this year’s rating; this is closely followed by Nestle.

Just like the consumer goods, the Food & Beverages also have the benefit of Nigeria’s
large market. They had 6 entries, led by Coca-Cola Nigeria which came second on the
top 50 table.

Increasing Conglomerate: We are seeing a continued growth among the conglomerate,

not even the economic situation of the past year could slow them down. Conglomerate
had 6 entries, highest since 2013.

Oil and Gas has 6 entries: The Nigerian economy is very dependent on this sector; the
country gets its largest foreign earning from crude oil. The oil and gas category is led by
Total. However, 3 of the 6 listed Oil and gas brands in the top 50 table are Nigerian
brands. We look forward to more home grown brands taking front row in this sector
which is still the backbone of the Nigerian economy.
The media sector is really driving traffic with innovation

Telecoms Takes the lead and 3 of them among the top 10. Its important for me to state
that 9mobile rode on the strength of the rested Etisalat brand.

Retail had first entry

Olam Represents the Agriculture Sector

 TOP 50 BRANDS NIGERIA 2017 RANKING TABLE

10 BRANDS TO WATCH
For the 10 Top Brands to Watch, it is important to state that only the TOP 50 BRANDS
NIGERIA® were subjected to the BSM review. However, a brand needs to have
sufficient entries in the TOM survey for qualification in the brands to watch category.

Very excitingly, eight of the 10 brands to watch this year are home grown, while 2 are
international. Out of the 10 brands, 5 are ICT related with particular interest in retail.
This is good because it shows the online retail sector is gaining ground aggressively in
Nigeria as they do in developed economies.