<font color="#CC0033"><b><font color="#FF0033">CII Brand Summit</font></b></font>: Nokia upstages Titan to become Brand of the Year

After a hiatus of five years, the CII Brand Summit has returned with a bang. A superlative fusion music performance by kanjira wizard Selva Ganesh, legendary bass player Jonas Hellborg, ghatam exponent Vikku Vinayakram and others, was the perfect break from a day packed with facts and figures and analyses by eminent speakers from across the country and the globe. It also set the stage for the Brand of the Year award.

Making its debut this year, the award, constituted by the CII, marks the return of the Summit with style. An impressive list of brands from across all categories were placed on an even keel, and then passed through a rigorous test called Brand Microscope, said Anita Gupta, member CII Brand Summit Steering Committee, senior VP and GM, JWT.

The methodology, devised by Vertibrand, tested each brand against its peers, in the marketplace and the consumers before arriving at the final list. The jury members included Gurcharan Das, K.N. Shenoy, Dorab Sopariwala, Mani Aiyar and Prof S. Ramachander among others.

The 10 finalists were Titan (which seemed to be everyone’s favourite), Nokia, Eveready, Lux (noisily cheered by the male audience), Pond’s Dreamflower Talc, Dabur Chyawanprash, Fair & Lovely, Rin, Indane and Pond’s Body Lotion.

Even as a large section of the crowd rooted for Titan, the surprise winner came in the form of Nokia, which in a decade’s time, seems to have made itself completely at home with the consumers. Sanjeev Sharma, MD, Nokia accepted the award.

Earlier, chief guest Suresh Krishna, former president CII, and chairman and MD Sundaram Fasteners, touched a chord with the audience when he said that one day he hoped to see home-grown Indian brands turning into objects of desire even in the West.

“That would be the day we will arrive. We may be the largest and best manufacturers of industrial products, but unless the consumer can touch and feel the brand, there can be no brand recall,” he said.

He pointed at the stage and said rather emotionally that one day, he hoped that such a function will take place in the US, where the industry and the consumers will cheer and vote for truly global Indian brands. And by Indian, he meant the completely indigenous brands such as Titan and Indica.

© 2005 agencyfaqs!