By afaqs! news bureauPublished: 27 Feb 2015, 12:00 IST

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Surewaves Buzziest Brands 2015: Flipkart is India’s Buzziest Brand!

The annual ranking of brands with the highest buzz factor in India. Presenting the milestone 10th edition. This time, Flipkart, Samsung and Micromax have topped the charts, in that order.

At a glittering ceremony held at Gurgaon's Crowne Plaza Hotel last evening, Flipkart earned the title of India's 'buzziest' brand. This was the tenth edition of Surewaves Buzziest Brands.

At the No.2 and No.3 positions were Samsung and Micromax, respectively. Recall that Samsung topped the charts last year, followed by Micromax.

ITC's Vivel and Vodafone stood fourth and fifth, followed by Tata's Tanishq, Google and ITC's Sunfeast. Airtel and Dove stood ninth and tenth, respectively.

A detailed look at the Top 10.

FLIPKART

Last year this time, when we made public Samsung's No.1 buzzy rank, a reader left a comment on the article that read: "Two years in a row for Samsung! Will be fun to have a vote to see who will topple them next year."

Well, Flipkart has done the deed. It has toppled Samsung to claim the No.1 spot and has done so in style – Flipkart has climbed nine whole ranks to reach the top; last year it sat at No.10, the lowest it has ever been.

This year, Flipkart got two out of four jury votes. Which is why, it managed to grab the top spot despite standing at No.5 on the popular vote.

Buzzy Brands was born in 2006, Flipkart in 2007. The brand didn't feature in the ranks at all till 2012, when it debuted at No.3. The next year, it slipped to No.5.

We're going to risk it and attribute Flipkart's dramatic victory, in part, to the noise it made on October 6 last year, the Big Billion Day. Though technical issues and customer complaints turned the online sale into a PR nightmare for Flipkart, it seems to have done its bit to put the brand on the buzz map. After all, buzz and drama are distant cousins.

Last year, many brands tied up with e-commerce players of their choice to generate artificial scarcity around certain products. Flipkart has one such exclusive tie up with Chinese handset maker Xiaomi, a sexy brand, led by Manu Kumar Jain, spunky co-founder of Jabong. By December 2014, the brand sold over a million handsets in India. What can we say? Buzz breeds buzz, indeed.

SAMSUNG

All said and done maintaining buzz is as difficult as generating it. Though Samsung is still standing tall, fact is it has stepped down from the No.1 position to No.2 this year, after ruling the list for two consecutive years.

This time, one juror backed Samsung. The brand secured the second position on the popular vote.

An aerial view shows us that Samsung has had an ascending run at the Buzzies over the years: From No.32 in 2006, to No. 26 in 2009, to No.18 in 2011, No.5 in 2012, and finally No.1 in 2013 and 2014, the buzz around Samsung has only increased.

What led to its dethroning this time? This might have something to do with the heat Samsung is facing from a whole host of brands led by Micromax and iPhone in the tablet segment and from brands like Micromax in the smartphone segment.

MICROMAX

With a new No.1 in the list, we see a domino effect in the top slots. As Samsung slipped from No.1 to No.2, so did Micromax from No.2 to No.3. This time, one juror backed Micromax. The brand secured the third position on the popular vote.

Micromax's performance makes us think hard about the correlation between market share, a tangible concept, and buzz, an intangible one. While one may attribute Samsung's slip from No.1 to No.2 to its loosening grip on the Indian market, the same can't be said about Micromax. The brand has, in fact, been gaining share in the smartphone category.

But amid IPO plans and valuation studies, the brand appears to have let its hard-earned buzz factor take a backseat. Micromax has had a swing or two on the buzz curve, over the years. Outside of this year and the last, Micromax last found itself in the Top 5 back in 2011. The next year it plummeted to 39 and then up to 14 the following year. In and before 2010, Micromax was not on the list at all.

VIVEL

ITC's personal care brand Vivel has made its buzzy debut this time, albeit with no juror votes on its side. Which means, it has made its surprising way to the list purely on the back of the popular vote.

Vivel was launched in 2008. The range included soaps and shampoos then. After around five years, the parent company re-launched it, positioning Vivel as a 'skin nourishment brand'; previously, it promised to soften skin. The exercise was aimed at positioning Vivel as a contemporary and premium offering, and included a packaging overhaul as well as the inclusion of new products and variants. Bollywood actor Kareena Kapoor Khan has been endorsing Vivel for a while now.

Last November Vivel launched Love & Nourish, a luxurious bathing range. In its latest ad film, Kareena makes a case for Vivel – as she foams away in a bath tub, of course – by telling us it has ten times the amount of olive butter. Ten times more than? Either Vivel's previous soap or perhaps its non-buzzy competitors, we reckon.

VODAFONE

Vodafone made its entry into the buzzy list in 2009 and has stayed on it since. This year it is perched at No.5. This time, two jurors out of four backed Vodafone, which is what helped push its overall rank to No.5. The brand's popular vote rank is 34.

Though its performance this time is two ranks better than last year, it is not the best Vodafone has done at the buzzies; in 2010, the brand finished second, after Facebook, which in turn has slipped to the 35th place this year – 22 ranks lower than last year. In defense of Facebook, it has featured in the top two bracket five times since its buzzy debut in 2009.

The lowest rank Vodafone has ever got is No.12, which was in 2013.

What could have led to the marginal increase in buzz this time? Last year Vodafone promoted its mobile payment service M-Pesa, a fund transfer technique that helps the under-banked sections of society get access to financial services via their mobile phones. Vodafone also promoted a mobile application for women entrepreneurs in rural India. The brand collaborated with an NGO called Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) and the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, to develop this app, which is titled RUDI (which stands for Rural Distribution Network) Sandesha Vyavhar.

Looks like being socially conscious helps with the buzz brownies.

TANISHQ

At No.6 is Tanishq, Tata's most popular jewellery brand. Surprisingly, Tanishq lost a rank; last year it stood fifth. Interestingly though, in 2013 Tanishq was way down at No.49 and the year before that, at No.27. Between 2006 and 2011 the brand didn't feature on the buzzy charts at all.

Like Flipkart and Vodafone, Tanishq too had two jurors on its side. The brand's popular vote rank is 36.

A lot of its buzz has to do with its advertising. Last year, Tanishq's advertising worked hard at drawing attention to its traditional jewellery ranges for different Indian communities. The brand recognised the friendly, and trusted, family jeweller as a formidable rival and decided to woo the families of brides-to-be through mass media. Another perception Tanishq worked at changing was that it caters only to North Indian tastes. Though just by a mere sliver, could its diminished buzz be the result of alienating consumers from the North in the bargain? We will never know for sure.

GOOGLE

If there's one word most of use each and every day it is 'Google'. Is being an oft repeated term the same as, or at least a pre-requisite to, being buzzy? Perhaps you could Google it.

Anyway, the leading search engine brand has lost four ranks and has slipped from No.3 to No.7 this time. One juror back Google this time.

Google made its first appearance on the buzzy charts at the No.6 position in 2008 and has stayed on the map since. It was at No.3 in 2009, No.12 in 2010 and No.7 in 2011. It went up to No.6 and No. 4 in the two years that followed.

SUNFEAST

Another surprise from the ITC stable was biscuit brand Sunfeast. The first-timer stood eighth and had no juror on its side.

Like many of its peers Sunfeast also took the health route last year. One of its most memorable efforts to this end was the on-ground activation it carried out at Bengaluru Airport around mid-2014. The brand placed actual exercise cycles near the conveyor belt. If passengers wanted their luggage they had no choice but to start riding because that's what powered the movement of the belt. When they did so, packets of Sunfeast's then new Farmlite biscuits appeared on the belt.

If consumer engagement via such gimmicks can lead to buzz, then the fastest route to buzz-ville lies somewhere below the line.

AIRTEL

Never mind Mary. There's something about Airtel. If there were a sub-category for stickiness, Airtel would probably win it. The telecom brand is currently at the No.9 spot, and had one juror on its side. The brand's popular vote rank is 16.

Barring one year, Airtel has been in the top ten since 2006, and has led the list five times – four consecutive times from 2006-09 and then again in 2012. No.16 is the lowest Airtel has fallen; this was in 2010, a turbulent year for the brand what with a new creative custodian, logo and positioning.

Last year Airtel finished sixth. Slipping three ranks down reflects significant loss of buzz. In a move that evoked a collective groan from Indians who have friends and family abroad, Airtel decided to hike tariffs for 'voice over internet' players like Skype and Viber, last year. Though the plan was subsequently dropped, concerns prevailed.

DOVE

What is it about buzz and foam? After Vivel, Dove is the second soap brand to have earned the title of 'buzzy' this year. Sure both brands market products besides soap bars, but odds are the other products too, generate froth of some sort.

Dove managed to get support from one juror. The brand's popular vote rank is 17.

So, infiltrating the list of Top Ten for the very first time is Dove. Last year was the first time the brand featured in the buzzy list at all – it stood at No.14 then.

Dove has been focusing on keeping it 'real' and has positioned itself as more effective than good ol' milk even. Barring the occasional viral (read: Real Beauty Sketches) Dove's ad films have resorted to the comparative advertising format.

DOWN BUZZLANE
afaqs! has been measuring the power of buzz for ten years now. This is the perfect time to look back and study the winners over the years. One look at the top three brands each year tells us a great deal about prevailing market realities of that time.
For instance, in 2006, Airtel, Hutch (now Vodafone) and wait for it – State Bank of India – topped the charts, in that order. Today, nine years later, SBI is nowhere in the list. In fact, the banking sector is barely represented at all.
Similarly, in 2008, Kingfisher stood second. This was the only time in the history of the buzzies that an airline brand appeared in the top three. Once again reflecting market trends, note how, 2009 onwards, a dot com brand of some sort has always made it to the top three. While previously it was either search engine Google or social networking site Facebook, this time it is Flipkart, an e-commerce player. The last time Flipkart made it to the top three was in 2012. This is the first time the brand has topped, though.
Flipkart's victory this year reflects the relatively recent, and rapidly growing, popularity of the e-commerce segment in India.
There's always a lot to be said for debutants. There were many such on this year's list. Take for instance, Nescafe, and media brands like Firstpost and Mumbai Mirror. What is surprising though is the large number of FMCG brands that have made it to the list this time, led by a whole lot from ITC, like Vivel, Sunfeast, Fiama and Bingo.
This may have something to do with the recent change in methodology. Like last year, voting for the main list of brands was unprompted. And you know what they say – there's nothing like free recall – as opposed to guided recall, wherein one has to pick from a list of names – to show us what's really top-of-mind. For the buzziest categories, voters chose from a list of names; the voting was, therefore, prompted.
As in the past, the popular vote had 70 per cent weightage and the jury, 30 per cent. Consequently, many brands that fared badly on the popular vote have still managed to do well because they are, well, popular with the experts.

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