Africa’s leading Telecommunication Company, MTN, has emerged as the first African brand to be ranked on the BrandZ top 100 global brands.
According to the report released by BrandZ, MTN Group ranked 88th with a brand value of $9.3 billion among other brands in the world. The BrandZ Top 100 companies have over the years featured companies from other parts of the world, however this year MTN Group broke the norm to set the pace for other African indigenous companies.
This achievement came at the heels of the company’s ranking on the Brand Finance Global 500 survey. MTN was positioned as the 188th most valuable brand in the world – thereby improving twelve places from its position on the list last year.
The prestigious brand ranking – BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands, which is in its seventh year – was commissioned by WPP and developed by a leading research agency, Millward Brown Optimor. It is the only brand rankings that include consumer data as a component element in arriving at the brand value. The rankings surveyed over 150,000 people around the world.
The BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Brands 2012 highlights the continuing impact of recession, the ongoing rise of technology and the growing power of emerging markets. In addition, the accompanying analysis identified a number of themes that have emerged in the last 12 months, and are having a significant impact on brand and business performance. It identified and ranked the world’s most valuable brands by their dollar value; an analysis based on financial data; market intelligence; and consumer measures of brand equity.
It demonstrated the power of strong brands as both a driver of new business growth and a critical support in hard times. Between 2006 and 2012, the total value of the BrandZ Top 100 rose 66% and is now worth $2.4 trillion.
Global CEO of brand research company Millward Brown, Eileen Campbell, said “Brands are an insurance policy for businesses.”
“Despite a prolonged period of economic stress, political uncertainty and natural disasters that buffeted brands across many categories, the value of the world’s leading brands keeps rising across many categories, sustaining and nurturing businesses,” She stated.
Commenting on the recent accolade, the Executive for Marketing, MTN Group, Jennifer Roberti, says the recognition by BrandZ is humbling for a young brand such as MTN. “For MTN, it’s about brand relevance. MTN has established a number of Foundations to work with our communities to address socio-economic challenges in our markets. We also continue to introduce products and services that add value to the daily lives of our customers and communities alike.”
She posits that the success can be attributed to MTN’s commitment to invest on the continent.
“MTN has been investing in Africa since 1994, making significant commitments towards infrastructure and products and services unique to the needs of our customers on the continent. MTN Mobile Money, Pay As You Go and related mobile-based financial services offerings come to mind. As a result, MTN views this recognition as another acknowledgement of the contribution our brand continues to make in touching the lives of our communities and customers.”
Roberti believes the listing is not only an appreciation of the socio-economic impact mobile telephony through MTN has on the continent, but also signifies the growth of our brand over the years.
“We are grateful to our employees for their ‘Can Do’ attitude and to our customers for their support. Their commitment, loyalty and trust in our brand go a long way towards making MTN the most admired brand on the continent. Furthermore, this accolade further inspires us to continue exploring innovative ways to offer them more value in their MTN SIM cards,” Roberti stated.
MTN with its multinational presence and more than 170 million subscribers is a South African company established in 1994 after the old apartheid regime was being dissolved. It has it tentacles spread majorly across Africa as well as the Middle East including Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan.
The telecommunication company is known for sponsorship activities that are of relevance to its customers. Its sponsorship programmes are majorly on music and sport, particularly football across its markets in Africa. Amongst its involvement in football, Africa’s leading mobile operator sponsors current African champions, Zambia, UEFA Champions League giant-killers, Apoel FC of Cyprus, four teams in South Africa’s professional football league, street soccer in Lagos, Nigeria, football league in Swaziland, MTN FA Cup in Ghana, and is a broadcast sponsor of the English, German and Spanish leagues on key sports channels on the continent.
MTN’s music properties include South Africa’s premier music awards, the MTN SAMAs, MTV Meets…with MTN, the MTN Bushfire Festival in Swaziland and MTN Project Fame West Africa.
Globally the number one brand for the second year is Apple, which rose 19% in value and is now worth $182.9 billion. IBM grew 15% in value to $115.9 billion and overtook Google, which dropped to third place in the ranking and is now worth $107.8 billion.
Eight-year-old Facebook rose 74% in value, as a result of its advance in IPO – making it the fastest brand value riser on the ranking. Rated on the value of $33.2 billion, the social networking company now ranks 19 from its former position at number 35.
The top 10 brands in the BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2012 are:
Rank 2012 Category Brand Brand Value 2012 ($M)
1 Tech Apple 182,951
2 Tech IBM 155,985
3 Tech Google 107, 857
4 Fast Food McDonald’s 95,188
5 Tech Microsoft 76,651
6 Soft drinks Coca-Cola 74,286
7 Tobacco Marlboro 73,612
8 Communication Provide AT&T 68,870
9 Communication Provider Verizon 49,151
10 Communication Provider China Mobile 47,041
The report affirms, “Technology has become ubiquitous in all areas of our lives. Seven of the top 10 brands are technology or telecoms brands.”
