Brand, the most valuable asset of any business, says SLIM founder member
Brand plays an important role in the success of a business, said Lalith De Mel, founder member and past president of the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) at the 12th SLIM Brand Excellence Awards held at the Sri Lanka Exhibition and Convention Centre (SLECC) last Wednesday. Mr. De Mel graced the occasion as the Chief Guest.
He said, “Under current accounting conventions a value for brand cannot be included to tally the balance sheet. It is undoubtedly the brand that creates the market value of a business. The market value of a business is simply the price per share multiplied by the number of shares which gives the market capital. The price per share is determined by the current earnings and prospects of future earnings. The share price today is the net percentage value of future earnings.”
Lankasoy collects the award. Pic by Indika Handuwala
Although brands are not mentioned in the balance sheet as an asset, earnings of a business is owned by brands.
“Adding value to stakeholders is one of our objectives,” said Gamika De Silva, President of SLIM. And among the stakeholders, the marketing fraternity is the key stakeholder, he added.
He also said, “The two key objectives of SLIM Brand Excellence are inculcating best practices in branding among the marketing fraternity and rewarding and recognising the brands which have contributed to the growth of the organisation.”
Mr. Silva said today the country is poised for an economic boom and all brands have a big role to play in this development.
Post-Graduate Institute of Management, Prof. Uditha Liyanage said, “Brand Managers and Brand Custodians have to consider two important megatrends that are unfolding in the field of marketing. Marketers misunderstand the fact that customers do not know (what they already know).”
There were four sets of criteria used in evaluating the applications. Brand intent, brand content, brand process and brand performance. The first three related to what a brand has done whereas brand performance was about the results or outcomes a brand has achieved. The brand performance was evaluated for 50 per cent of the total marks and the remaining 50 per cent was allocated for the branding process.
Lankasoy grabbed the ‘Brand of the Year 2013’ award, Gold award for ‘Product Brand of the Year’, Gold award for ‘Local Brand of the Year’ and Gold award for ‘Innovative Brand of the Year’ at the awards ceremony. A panel of 15 judges was involved in the selection process of the awards.
SLIM Brand Excellence Awards Head of Judges, Graham Marshall said, “The panel was looking the establishment of a strong link between the brand process, the strategy and the brand health. This was not coming out in most of the cases.”
He also said that the panel was looking at developments in the year-on-year financial results. “Most entrants had great business cases and indeed the winner of ‘Brand of the Year’ had a fantastic brand story which made the difference,” concluded Mr. Marshall.
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