Samsung Is the Number One Most Admired Brand in Africa, Report Says

Despite the crisis behind Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7, the South Korean giant has emerged as the number one most admired brand in Africa.

By Earl Nurse and Tanni Deb (CNN) |

Slow growth and challenging economic conditions negatively affected the perception of African brands in 2016.

This is reflected in Brand Africa’s 2016/17 list of Most Admired Brands in Africa. Only 16 African brands made the latest list, compared to 23 in 2015. And only two are in the top 20.

Brand Africa, which has annually ranked brands that consumers admire since 2011, has compiled the list from more than 11,000 brand mentions on a mobile survey conducted in 19 countries. This collectively represents 74 percent of the continent’s population.

MTN Group

Ranked at number nine, South Africa based telecom MTN is the only African brand in the top 10. Just last year it was ranked number one, but Brand Africa attributes legal challenges for its fall.

“The halo around MTN in the last two, three years, are the challenges that it had in Nigeria both in terms of not disconnecting consumers, some who were not active anymore,” says the founder of Brand Africa, Thebe Ikalafeng.

“Also challenges about moving their profits around the continent, around importing them.

“So all those challenges really had a massive impact on the perception on the brand. “And of course it also had some leadership challenges and leadership changes.”

Samsung

In contrast, despite the crisis behind Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7, the South Korean giant has emerged as the number one most admired brand in Africa.

The company grew its brand value by 13 percent. This progress can be credited to Samsung’s expedient recall and customer service solutions.

“The most important thing that they did is how responsive they were when the crisis hit them, says Ikalafeng.

“They were available, they were responsive, and they gave no excuses.”

Following Samsung, Nike, Adidas, Coca-Cola, Apple, LG, Nokia and Toyota ranked the highest among the most-admired brands in Africa.

Read the complete story at CNN Africa
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