Top brands honoured

Bangladesh Brand Forum yesterday honoured the finest local and international brands in Bangladesh, highlighting their acceptance among consumers.

The Best Brand Awards were handed over in partnership with leading brand research company Kantar Millward Brown Bangladesh, in association with The Daily Star, at Le Méridien hotel in Dhaka.

The brands were awarded in 22 fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) categories and 11 non-FMCG categories.

Grameenphone, the leading mobile phone operator, got the Best Overall Brand award and Radhuni Masala, the Best Local Brand award.

Shwapno, owned by ACI Logistics Ltd, was awarded in the superstore category; Unilever Bangladesh in personal care category and Ispahani Mirzapore in hot beverage.

Transcom Beverage, sole franchisee of PepsiCo in Bangladesh, won the top award for 7Up in the carbonated soft drink category and the second award for Complan in the health food drink category.  This is the seventh time 7Up has been voted the best beverage brand in Bangladesh. Three special awards were handed over for Best Newcomer to Pran Frooto, Most Improved Brand to Super Fresh Fortified Soyabean Oil and Most Consistent Brand to Horlicks.

Sharfuddin Bhuiyan Shamol, brand development coordinator of Transcom Beverages, and Md Sami-ur-Rahman, brand executive, accepted the award for 7Up from Sher Ali, general manager for business development at The Daily Star.

The brands were picked under 33 categories, based on a nationwide survey consisting of 4,800 respondents, which was carried out by Kantar Millward Brown Bangladesh. The research took a quantitative approach where face to face interviews were conducted with a structured questionnaire among randomly selected respondents.

The brands that were awarded include Lux, Lifebuoy, Sandalina Sandal Soap, Wheel, Surf Excel, Rin, Fair & Lovely, Pond's, Tibet Snow, Pepsodent Germi Check, Closeup, Colgate, Sunsilk, Dove, Clear, Parachute Advansed, Jui, Kumarika, Fresh, Teer, Pusti, ACI Pure Salt, Fresh Super Premium Salt, Molla Super Salt, Radhuni, Fresh, Dano, Pran UHT Milk, Fresh Full Cream Milk Powder, Teer Refined Soybean Oil, Maggi Noodles, Cocola Noodles, and Pran Mr Noodles.

Awardees also include Coca-Cola, Sprite, Pran Frooto, Frutica, Mangolee, Horlicks, Maltova, Pran Milk Candy, Center Fruit, Pran Mr Mango, Polar, Igloo, Kwality, MUM, Super Fresh Drinking Water, Jibon, Harpic, Clean Master, Vanish Toilet Cleaner, Ispahani Mirzapore, Taaza, Finlay, Olympic Energy Plus, Olympic Nutty and Nabisco.

BBF also named the top 10 local brands -- Radhuni Masala, Ispahani Mirzapore Tea, Super Fresh Fortified Soyabean Oil, Symphony, Walton Refrigerator, Teer Refined Soybean Oil, Pran Frooto, Fresh Refined Sugar, Fresh atta/maida/suzi and Teer atta/maida/suzi.

The overall top 10 brands are: Grameenphone, Horlicks, Radhuni Masala, Ispahani Mirzapore Tea, Fair & Lovely, Rupchanda Fortified Soyabean Oil, Harpic, Parachute Advansed, Sunsilk, Lux, and Banglalink. Special recognition was given to Mustafizur Rahman for his outstanding contribution to Bangladesh cricket on the global stage.

Launched in 2008, the Best Brand Award is held every year in association with The Daily Star to honour the finest brands in the country based on a consumer survey. This year's awards are also supported by Etihad, Le Méridien Dhaka, Rakeen, MSB, GTV, Aamra Networks, Masthead PR, and WebAble Digital.

Bangladesh Brand Forum also inaugurated 'Bangladesh Youth Hub', an online platform designed to prepare the youth for the next phase of human development.

Nazia Andaleeb Preema, director of BBF and president of Women in Leadership, said the award recognised the brands which have brought changes to people's life. Khandaker Samina Afrin, country manager of Kantar Milward Brown Bangladesh, said local brands have grown at a much faster rate in recent years.

She said Bangladesh's steady economic growth offers a huge opportunity for marketers to expand their footprint in the market.

Tajdin Hassan, head of marketing at The Daily Star, also spoke.