Del Monte Kenya Limited, Kenya’s largest producer and exporter of pineapple products and fruit beverages, has been recognized as the most admired food brand in Kenya, in annual Africa’s Best Brands survey.
Del Monte was chosen after a comprehensive pan-Africa survey of the most admired brands among African consumers. In the Kenya and regional results, which are dominated by non-African brands, Coca Cola was recognized as the overall Most Admired Brand in Kenya.
Safaricom was chosen as the Most Admired Brand Made in Kenya and the Most Admired Made in Kenya Brand Listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange.
In a category analysis, Kenya Airways (Aviation/Transport), Citizen (Media), Safaricom (Telecoms), Tusker (Alcoholic Beverages), KCB (Financial Services) are the leading Made in Kenya brands in a list that’s 50% African (Kenya) and 50% non-African.
Established in 2011, the Brand Africa rankings, developed by pan-African branding and reputation advisory firm, Brand Leadership Group supported by GeoPoll the world’s leading mobile surveying platform, and strategic analysis and insights by Kantar, the world’s leading data, insights and consulting company. The rankings are based on a comprehensive survey among a representative sample of respondents 18 years and older, conducted in 25 countries which collectively account for 80% of Africa’s population and 75% of the continent’s GDP.
In the main overall Brand Africa 100: Africa’s Best Brands list announced in May at the JSE in South Africa, while the top 100 is relatively stable, African brands faltered to an all-time low of 14% share of the Top 100 most admired brands in Africa. Over the past three years, Africa’s share of the most admired brands has declined from a high of 25% in 2013/14 to lows of 16% in 2015/16, 16% in 2016/17 and 17% in 2017/18 respectively.
In the Top 100, the US sports and fitness mega brand, Nike retained the overall #1 brand in Africa spontaneously recalled by consumers. The most admired African brands spontaneously recalled by Africans were South Africa’s leading pan-African telecoms brand, MTN, followed by Ethiopia’s Anbessa and Nigeria’s, Dangote. Where consumers were prompted to recall an African brand, Nigeria’s Dangote, was the most admired African brand, with South Africa’s MTN and Ethiopia’s Anbessa rounding out the Top 3.
In a geographical spread that covers brands from 25 countries in Africa, North America, Europe, and Asian brands lead the list with 41%, 28%, and 17% respectively rounding up the continental spread of brands Africans admire.
“One of the biggest challenges facing Africa is transforming its vibrant entrepreneurial energy and environment to create competitive brands that meet the needs of its growing consumer market, says Thebe Ikalafeng, Founder and Chairman of Brand Africa and Brand Leadership.
“More importantly, as is evident with Safaricom, Mpesa and Tusker, the leading made in Kenya brands, the next biggest challenge is retaining the ownership of these brands and ultimately the profits in Africa. These rankings are an important metric of and challenge for creating home-grown competitive African brands that will transform the African promise and change its narrative and image as a competitive continent.”
GeoPoll used their sophisticated mobile survey platform and its proprietary access to a database of over 250 million respondents in emerging markets around the globe to identify the most admired brands in Africa among a representative sample of African consumers.
Kantar analyzed the resultant 15 500+ brand mentions and 2 200+ individual brands and created a weighted scoring to produce the Top 100 brands.
“The key to success for building sustainable brands, irrespective of origins or domicile, is to establish an emotional connection, creating intimacy and being more present in consumers everyday lives. This survey, a complex analysis of diverse data and countries to arrive at a representative ranking, is an important metric of the brands that play that are doing a better job and playing a vital role in Africa,” says Karin Du Chenne, Kantar, Chief Growth Officer Africa Middle East.
