The Hindu Business Line : Consumers to choose `Superbrands'

Branding game
Superbrands for the first time have made consumers responsible for ratings.
AC Neilson will verify the ratings by the consumers.
Companies have to pay a fee of around Rs 5.5 lakh to participate in the final round.

New Delhi , Aug. 22

Superbrands India, the Indian leg of the global brand-mapping organisation Superbrands, has for the first time made consumers responsible for rating their own indigenous Superbrands across 169 categories.

"Consumers have never been involved in the selection process across the world. It is for the first time that the organisation has decided to involve consumers in India to rate their own indigenous Superbrands, across 169 categories for the second edition of `Consumer Superbrands' due to hit stands by the end of this year," said Mr Anmol Dar, Managing Director and Council Chairman, Superbrands India.

He added that AC Neilson, the market research company, would verify the ratings by the consumers before the special 12-member jury panel takes over the proceedings to give the final verdict. The jury panel consists of eminent personalities from the marketing world as well as from the media.

Survival of the fittest

Explaining the selection process, Mr Dar said that it follows the procedure of survival of the fittest, where the brands are subject to elimination right from the first round where the consumers play a vital role. "Any brand that scores less than 6.5 on a scale of 10 or any brand, which gets less than 50 respondents gets eliminated right in the first round. In fact, out of the initial entry of 1,699 brands only 652 survived the first round of onslaught," he said.

In the second round, the jury ranks the brands and those scoring less than 6.5 on a scale of 10 are ousted. Besides this, the panel is also not allowed to rank brands that belong to their own stable.

"It was seen that while only 200 brands survived this round of scrutiny, many categories were totally wiped out," remarked Mr Dar. He added, "While invitations have been sent out to the owners of the chosen brands, we expect 50 per cent participation this year." Companies have to pay a fee of around Rs 5.5 lakh to participate in the final round.

Brands this year

Though brands such as Cadbury Dairy Milk, Hutch and Shoppers' Stop, among others have featured in the final list this year too, brands such as Dhara, Cinthol and Air Sahara failed to hold their ground in the selection process. Among the several new entries are Park Avenue, Real Juices, NDTV and Yellow Pages.

The organisation has also introduced the Member Exchange System this year, whereby companies will be able to network and do business with international brands as well as other domestic brands. Apart from this, the organisation also plans to start the selection process for the second edition of `Business Superbrands' and the first edition of `Export Superbrands'.