M-PESA takes the crown as Kenya’s leading Superbrand

According to the London-based Centre for Brand Analysis, Mobile payment service M-PESA has become Kenya’s leading Superbrand, beating its parent firm and last year’s top superbrand Safaricom and several others in the race.

Stephen Cheliotis, Chief Executive of The Centre for Brand Analysis said, “we have surveyed both informed experts and the end consumers who ultimately decide what brands to buy to determine the region’s strongest Superbrands. The leading brands not only prove that they offer quality products and services that consumers can trust but do so on a consistent basis.”

M-PESA was followed by the Kenyan Red Cross Society and Safaricom in the second and third positions respectively while household everyday brands continued to consolidate and feature in the top group with Coca-Cola, Colgate, Dettol and Crown Paints all maintaining a top twenty position.

The Daily Nation and Citizens TV retained their placing within the elite group, albeit falling marginally by two and four places respectively to 4^th and 9^th. Citizen Radio also fell and dropped out of the top twenty, meaning that unlike in 2012-13 both Citizen brands do not feature in the leading pack.

“Close to 1,000 brands were reviewed so those brands placing high in the rankings can be rightly proud of their performance and their success in generating respect among experts and desirability among consumers.” Cheliotis reiterated.

The leading brands were judged on three core criteria namely, quality, reliability and distinction.  Separate surveys are currently taking place in Tanzania and Uganda. These surveys, as well as informing which brands can enter the East African edition of the global branding publication Superbrands, also offers brands a summary of the changes in their brand performance in the region.

In addition to the consumer surveys, three separate surveys, one in each country, surveyed the leading business-business brands. In Kenya the leading business-business brands was found to be Tetra Pak. In second place was Bamburi Cement and third was Tile and Carpet.

Brands do not pay to enter the survey and all of the key brands regionally are considered in the extensive research process.

Here are the top 20 top consumer superbrands

The Kenyan Consumer Superbrands are chosen by a combination of local Marketing Experts, appointed to the Kenyan Superbrands Council, and just fewer than 1,000 Kenyan consumers. The Centre for Brand Analysis considers thousands of brands from over 46 sectors.