Financial Times

Munchee tops SLIM Brand Excellence
By Akhry Ameer
Munchee Super Cream Cracker was adjudged the 'Brand of the Year' at the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) Brand Excellence Awards 2004 last week. Tile manufacturer Royal Ceramics' 'Rocell' brand was also a star brand at the awards, clinching three gold awards for the best new entrant, best local, and innovative brand of the year.

SLIM's Brand Excellence is a relatively new endeavour by the local marketing body to recognize the role of brands in the marketplace and among consumers. Though drawing a similar number of entries, this year's awards recorded increased participation with 36 entries - 21 brands from 14 companies competing.

In a message on the occasion of the awards chief guest, marketing expert Dr. Uditha Liyanage distinguished the need for what he termed 'built-in' branding as opposed to 'bolt-on' branding practiced by marketers. He described manufacturers calling upon the advertiser to bolt-on a brand image as an attempt that does not yield a durable return.

Instead marketers need to build-in brands recognizing the role of the brand in providing customer value. Chairman of the judging panel, Nimal Gunewardena reviewing the judging said criteria was revisited to lay greater emphasis on strategies. He also called on multinationals, international marketers and service brands for greater participation.

One of the special awards was the award for the international brand of the year that was contested by Munchee, Elan and Alghazaleen. Alghazaleen, the international brand name created by Akbar Brothers for its tea products clinched the gold award in this category. As part of the main awards Ceylinco Life won the gold for the Service Brand of the Year.

The awards were adjudged by a panel of six judges that included Otara Chandiram (Odel), Ravi Liyanage (Janashakthi), Peter Spirig (Holcim), Prasanna Perera (Senior Marketing Consultant) and Ranjan De Silva (Sensei).

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