Superbrands India to be launched in October 2003

agencyfaqs! News Bureau

NEW DELHI

Superbrands Organisation is set to publish the first edition of Superbrand India in October 2003. Unveiling the news to agencyfaqs!, Anmol Dar, CEO, Superbrands India (he is also president & CEO, FS Advertising), said, "The idea is to pay tribute to exceptional brands - those that have become larger than life over the years and elicit tremendous regard from the consumer community. Given the increasing brand consciousness among consumers in India, we feel this is the right time to bring Superbrands in India."

Superbrands is an independent arbiter of branding. The Superbrands organisation was originally set up in London nearly a decade ago, where it published the first Superbrands book. Since then, it has expanded its operations to 17 countries worldwide - Australia, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Ireland, Malaysia, Netherlands, Philippines, Singapore, Spain, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, the United States and now in India.

Superbrands publishes a series of books including Superbrands, Business Superbrands (on B2B brands) and eBrands - making the series of books the largest collection of insights into some of the greatest brands in the world. Till date, over 800 individual brands have been featured worldwide.

These brands have been awarded Superbrand status by a country-specific Superbrands Council, made up of eminent figures from the world of branding. Elaborating on the role of the Council, Dar says, each member of the Council has deep appreciation of what makes a great brand and keeps the following definition top-of-mind: "A Superbrand offers consumers significant emotional and/or physical advantages over its competitors which (consciously or sub-consciously) customers want, recognise, and are willing to pay a premium for…"

As things stand now, for the India chapter, only the first step has been taken with the constitution of the Superbrands Council. The council includes such prominent personalities as Shunu Sen, CEO, Quadra Advisory, Tara Sinha (chairperson, IIMC), Raghav Bahl (managing director, TV18), Nabankur Gupta (group president, Raymond), Mike Khanna (CEO, JWT), Piyush Pandey (group president & national creative director, O&M), Titoo Ahluwalia (chairman ACN ORG-Marg), Dalip Sehgal (executive director, HLL), Sunil Alagh (CEO & MD, Britannia Industries) and Pradeep Guha (president, The Times of India).

In the first stage, the Council has identified around 65 categories to comb for prospective Superbrands. From these categories about 600 brands have been shortlisted that can qualify for the Superbrand stakes.

From here on the process will become slightly more time consuming. The companies owning these brands will be intimated about their standing in the shortlist along with a request to file a complete case study on the brand plus submit a participation fee (which is yet to be decided). Those companies that pay the participation fee will be considered by the Council for the final selection. Once the selection process is complete, the Superbrand India book will be sent for printing in Italy.

As Dar sees it, the entire process could take up the next 10 month or so. "We would try and update the compilation every year," says Dar, who is clearly looking ahead to the launch next year. © 2002 agencyfaqs!