A number of Middle East brands were named “Brand of the Year” at the recently held third edition of the prestigious World Branding Awards at Kensington Palace in London, UK.

The event saw 210 brands from 30 countries named “Brand of the Year”.

Winners from the Middle East include GIG, KEMS, NBK and Riva from Kuwait; Al-Maha, Bank Muscat, Muscat Pharmacy, Omantel and Pofak Oman from Oman; and ADNOC Distribution, BinSina Pharmacy, Dubai Duty Free, Dubai Mall, Emirates NBD, Etihad, and Etisalat from the United Arab Emirates.

The event was also attended by the United Arab Emirates ambassador to the United Kingdom, Sulaiman Almazroui.

Apple, BMW, the British Council, Cartier, Coca-Cola, Facebook, Google, Lego, L'Oréal, Louis Vuitton, McDonald's, Nescafé, Nike, Oral-B, Pampers, Rolex, Samsung, Starbucks, Schwarzkopf and VISA were announced as global winners.

Other national tier winners included ICBC (China), Bang & Olufsen (Denmark), Hermès (France), Nivea (Germany), State Bank of India, Prada (Italy), Dulux (Netherlands), HBL (Pakistan), Sberbank (Russia), Santander (Spain), Zurich (Switzerland), King Power (Thailand), Dubai Duty Free (UAE), and Prudential (UK), among others.

Regional winners included Eu Yan Sang , Giordano, Lee Kum Kee, Mandarin Oriental and Watsons from Hong Kong; Indomie (Indonesia); Ajinomoto, Isetan, Kikkoman and Uniqlo from Japan; MTN from South Africa; Zara (Spain); and RAK Ceramics (UAE).

Uniquely, winners are judged through three streams: brand valuation, consumer market research, and public online voting. Each brand was named “Brand of the Year” in their respective categories. This year, a newly designed 24-kt gold plated trophy was introduced for all winners.

The awards is organised by the World Branding Forum, a global non-profit organisation dedicated to advancing branding standards for the good of the branding community as well as consumers. It organises and sponsors a range of educational programmes, and has joint collaborations with leading universities and museums. The forum also publishes branding news on its website that reaches a global audience of over five million.

“The Awards celebrates the achievements of some of the greatest brands around the globe. With 70 percent of the scoring process coming from consumer votes, winning brands have managed to build a good trust score with their consumers,” said Richard Rowles, chairman of the World Branding Forum.

“Due to a successful campaign, this year saw a huge increase in participation of the awards. Over 120,000 consumers from around the world voted for more than 2,800 brands from 35 countries. Winners at the awards have clearly demonstrated their ability to stand out from their competitors,” said Peter Pek, chief executive of the Forum.

The event was hosted by David Croft from Sky Sports. – TradeArabia News Service