Sixty nine brands from 25 countries were honoured at the World Branding Awards in a glittering ceremony at the prestigious One Whitehall Place in London over the weekend.
Global winners include Apple, Coca-Cola, Del Monte, Guinness, Heinz, Louis Vuitton, McDonald’s, Mercedes-Benz, Samsung, Sony PlayStation, Nescafé and VISA. National tier winners from around the world include Barclays, the BBC, British Airways, Thomas Cook, the University of Oxford, Lego, Ferrari, Shell, Telstra and Burj Al Arab Jumeirah. Each brand was named “Brand of the Year” in their respective categories.
Brands from Asia included Baidu, China Southern Airlines and the Ritz-Carlton Shanghai from China; HSBC from Hong Kong; Kingfisher and McDowell’s No. 1 from India; Garuda Indonesia and Pertamina from Indonesia; Toshiba and Park Hyatt Tokyo from Japan; Hyundai and Samsung Life Insurance from South Korea; AirAsia, Maybank, SEGi University, Tenaga Nasional, ELS Language Centres and Marini’s on 57 from Malaysia; Singtel, Marina Bay Sands and Raoul from Singapore; and, Acer and Chatime from Taiwan.
The awards was organised by the World Branding Forum, a global non-profit organisation which produces, manages and supports a wide range of programmes covering research, development, education, recognition, networking and outreach. It is also involved with the implementation of standards, best practice guidelines and tools, as well as other branding initiatives.
Richard Rowles, chairman of the World Branding Forum said, “It takes years to build a strong brand, and brands that make the list at these awards deserve recognition. Their work inspires those who in the branding industry. These are brands that have a strong relationship with consumers. In addition to a brand valuation, voting by consumers show that connection that winning brands have with the general public.”
The awards recognised some of the best global and national brands for their work and achievements. Uniquely, winners were judged through four streams: brand valuation, consumer market research, public online voting, as well voting by the World Branding Forum Advisory Council, which is made up of luminaries from the world of branding.
The awards gave special recognition to Tony Fernandes, founder of AirAsia, naming him “Brand Builder of the Year”, for his work in building the airline brand. The airline was also the only regional winner, having scored the highest for a budget airline in Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand.
The event was hosted by David Croft from Sky Sports. For more information and the full list of winners, visit the awards website.
