SA's digital-first brands dominate Valuable Brands list

According to Kantar, it highlights the power of brand resilience in the face of macroeconomic turbulence and pandemic effects and we are starting to see a reversing of the long-term trend of steep erosion of brand value in South Africa.

FNB is SA’s most valuable brand for the second year running with a brand value of US$2.7bn. Vodacom moved up the ranking to No.2 with a brand value of US$2.57bn, while Castle beer held steady at No.3 with a brand value of US$2.52bn.

Emerging ecommerce giant Takealot is this year’s only new entrant at No.23 with a brand value of US$446m. 

The rapid adoption of ecommerce during the pandemic saw brands accelerate towards digitisation. Responding quickly and decisively to the pandemic, the fastest rising brand was health and insurance giant Discovery at No.7, with a brand value of US$1.38bn. This is a 26.6% increase in brand value.

Key trends

Trends and highlights in this year’s Kantar BrandZ Most Valuable South African Brands study include:

• FNB’s performance as top brand is based on a strong focus on digital innovation pre-pandemic and strong consumer understanding.
• The ranking of this year’s only new entrant, Takealot, was due to its accelerated digitisation and rapid advance of ecommerce during the pandemic.
• Discovery was this year’s biggest improver, with a 26.6% increase in brand value.
• Discovery, Capitec Bank and Absa bank bucked a declining trend in financial services with a 26.6%, 10.4% and 3.2% growth in brand value respectively.