Buzziest Brands to pack a punch in its fifth year

The year 2010 marks the fifth year for the Buzziest Brands of the Year poll, organised by afaqs!. The poll is an opportunity for marketers to check whether their respective brands buzzed with the consumers in the previous year. Visitors to the afaqs! site have already begun voting for the brands that they think were most talked about in 2009.

For the poll each year, afaqs! shortlists the most searched brands on the site in the year gone by; and these brands then compete for the Buzziest Brand of the Year title. To view the shortlist this time round (based on the most searched brands on afaqs! in 2009), click here.

In addition, five media brands have also been shortlisted by the afaqs! committee, based on the thought that users would not normally search for a media brand on afaqs!. These five brands are -- Hindustan Times, Colors, Twitter, YouTube and Indian Premier League (IPL). The afaqs! committee selected these brands based on the buzz they created last year.

Another brand that has been shortlisted is Yahoo!, because the brand was nominated by the afaqs! committee last year and was voted amongst the top 50 Buzziest Brands.

As in the past, advertising and marketing professionals visiting afaqs! will each vote for five brands, which they believe were the most talked about last year.

The process includes first choosing five brands that one thinks created the maximum buzz. Next, these brands have to be arranged in the order that is most likely match the order of the final top five winners.

Voters have to key in a valid email ID. A link for validation will be sent immediately to that email ID, and the votes will be considered valid only after the voters click on the mailed link and validate their votes.

Furthermore, voters, who are able to arrange their chosen brands in the same order as the top five brands that are eventually chosen, are eligible to win some great prizes. One lucky winner can take home a return air ticket to anywhere in India. Another 10 winners will get exciting gifts and vouchers.

An independent jury will also cast its vote on the shortlisted 60 brands. Votes from visitors to afaqs! and the jury's votes, will have equal weightage in determining the winners.

In 2009, the Buzzy Gold was awarded to Airtel, which has been the recipient of the Buzziest Brand of the Year title for four years in a row. It will be worth watching whether Airtel continues its reign at the top this year as well. The Buzzy Silver and Buzzy Bronze last year went to digital brands - Facebook and Google, respectively.