Banking, telecoms and alcohol the big winners in SA brand report

Against the backdrop of a challenging economic landscape, brands in the banking, telecoms and alcohol sectors dominate the 2024 study with their ability to deliver on key drivers for growth. 

“With a new pricing structure and ongoing innovation to enable convenient access to its services via award-winning digital banking channels and mobile applications, customers trust [FNB] to be acting in their best interests,” the Kantar research team says. 

Standard Bank, another of the country’s traditional ‘big five’ banking brands, is in second place. It increased its brand value by 2% over the past year. 

Telecoms brands are prominent again 

As before, telecom providers –both with a wide African footprint – feature prominently in the report. 

This year Vodacom (brand value $2.46-billion) rose one place to number three, with MTN ($2.39-billion) coming in at fourth.  

Comments Kantar: “Vodacom benefitted from acquisition, expansion of its network and a focus on enhanced customer experience. The result is a customer ecosystem that delivers offerings including telecoms, fixed connectivity, finance and insurance services.” 

Coming in at number five is beer brand Castle ($1.99-billion). It holds the same position it did last year’s rankings. 

Rounding out the top 10 is Nando’s (fast food) and Absa, Capitec Bank, Discovery and Investec (all financial services brands). 

“Across a range of business sectors, South African brands are continuing to transcend the currently challenging market conditions,” Kantar states. 

“A large proportion are meeting the needs of customers with actions and initiatives that mark them out as being ‘meaningfully different’ and relevant to consumers’ lives today. These strong, forward-focused brands are proving that they can identify what it takes to grow and follow up by implementing programmes to deliver this.” 

You can download the report here.