Brands win by staying meaningful with the people
IN 2010, the 4As launched the Putra Brand Awards as a benchmarking exercise intended to serve as a springboard to enable Malaysian brands to aim and compete globally. Today, the Putra Brand Awards stands apart from other award shows. It honours the very best of brands in Malaysia as voted by more than 6,000 consumers nationwide.
The Putra Brand Awards is widely acknowledged and recognised for being one of the most representative and transparent brand popularity surveys in the country. The winners in each category are chosen by consumers and verified by the Putra Brand Awards Board of Governors.
These are brands that consumers have engaged with consistently based on quality, value, trustworthiness and credibility. They are exceptional brands with outstanding achievements across multiple platforms – from advertising, promotions, retail presence, social media dominance, and consumer connectivity.
It is not an easy feat in today’s highly competitive marketplace to reach the pinnacle in terms of ranking and recognition. These brands have succeeded in creating an experience, and a personal attachment.
The survey, too, has terrific credibility as the results are determined entirely through consumer voting. Widespread polling and professional survey methodology ensure these results accurately reflect the preferences of consumers.
Our belief is founded on the fact that Malaysia, with its proven intellectual skill and expertise, creative capacity, and entrepreneurial capability, has the right ingredients in place to produce globally competitive Malaysian brands.
The Awards are intended to help achieve the aspiration that successful brands are the country’s wealth creators. A successful brand is a mark of honour for the nation, and a prime driver in creating sustainable wealth and livelihoods. This is attested by the fact that many winning brands carry the Putra Brand Awards logo in their packaging, advertising, and websites.
Winning brands are those that made meaningful connections with consumers. It is not so much about how much the brands invested but rather how meaningful the brands are connected with consumers. Brand awareness alone is not the ticket to winning the Awards; brand affinity carries more weight.
One of the priorities of the Awards is to give recognition to local brands through special awards – Putra Enterprising Brand of the Year, Putra Marketer of the Year, Putra Brand of the Year, and Putra Personality Award.
The Putra Personality Award, which was introduced in 2015, continues to recognise the achievements of amazing personalities who have successfully built a business venture from an idea to a profitable business.
In the past year, we have seen brands actively putting together cohesive campaigns to reach the broadest majority of consumers. Technology has disrupted fatigued marketing communications disciples. The good news is that it has forced marketers to innovate, to break barriers – and to boldly explore fresh ideas to build brand leadership. Marketers must maintain their brand building efforts to stay relevant and profitable.
On behalf of the 4As, our heartiest congratulations to this year’s Awards winners! Also, on that note, I want to thank Matrade and the various marketing communications agencies for their unwavering support.