South Africa's most valuable brands

South Africa's biggest banks dominated the list of the top 10 most valuable brands in the country, with First National Bank (FNB) taking the number one position with a brand value of US$3.4 billion (about R64 billion), according to Kantar, the world's largest consumer research agency. Rival Standard Bank came in second at US$3 billion.

Kantar's BrandZ Top 30 Most Valuable South African Brand 2023 report, released on Wednesday, also showed Absa coming in seventh place with a brand value of US$1.6 billion and Capitec in ninth position with US$1.89 billion.

Launching the report on Wednesday, Kantar said it was the "most definitive and robust ranking of the country's brands available", adding that the 2023 ranking drew on the opinion of more than 42 000 respondents covering 844 brands and 56 categories.

To be eligible to be ranked, brands had to have originally been created in South Africa and be "owned by an enterprise listed on the JSE or a credible stock exchange", or if private, have originated in SA while making their complete financial statements available to the public.

Kantar said that as South Africa's oldest bank, with roots dating back to 1838, FNB had continued to "successfully reinvent itself, remaining relevant to existing and new customers and maintaining a point of difference over others in the category".

"The first bank to offer consumers the opportunity to switch banks by taking a ‘selfie’ and having won accolades for its mobile app, technology is at the forefront of the brand’s success, with FNB setting the market pace on innovation," it said.

Ivan Moroke, CEO for South Africa of Kantar's insights division, said that "as the number one brand, FNB continues to raise the bar despite being the oldest brand in the top 30 and operating in a highly competitive sector that includes some of the hottest fintech start-ups".

Apart from the banks, the top 10 list also featuredtelecoms companies, fast food players and retailers, with MTN (US$2.8 billion) and Vodacom (US$2.6 billion) taking third and fourth place respectively.

South African Breweries' Castle brand took fifth place with a US$2 billion brand value, while Nando's (US$1.79 billion), Woolworths (US$1.19 billion) and DStv (US$1.16 billion) took the sixth, eighth and tenth positions respectively.

Kantar said a combination of innovation, the ability to attract new customers and successful pricing strategies had seen financial services, fast food and retail brands being the most resilient across all categories, despite challenging economic conditions in South Africa and the rest of the world.

The research group said the 30 most valuable brands in South Africa had a total combined value of US$31.6 billion (R600 billion).-Fin24