Twenty-eight Ask Africa Icon Brands will be announced, and top line insights and trends will be shared about what the South African consumer really wants and what brands are doing right and wrong, and how they can improve their marketing strategy.

“It’s been said that there are three kinds of marketers and how they deal with trends: Those who let it happen, those who make it happen, and those who wonder what happened. So, for smart marketers who want to fall into that second group, paying attention to what looms ahead is the wisest move they can make,” says Robert Passikoff, in an article called Brand and Marketing Trends for 2015 in Forbes.com.

The Ask Afrika Icon Brands survey provides marketers wishing to target the entire population with the requisite tools to track trends and to gain greater insight into the South African consumer mind-set and behaviour. Even though this is the primary focus, the survey also provides insights into a diversity of product categories that are targeted at only a portion of the South African demographic. Tailor-made reports can be ordered, providing insight and competitor analysis into specific industry sectors.

There are various brand awards in South Africa and each has its place and ranks brands according to different criteria. The Ask Afrika Icon Brands are unique in that they are brands that traverse the entire South African demographic and are used by all races, creeds or colours, irrespective of background or living standard. The Ask Afrika Icon Brands survey is the largest in the country with a sample of 15 690 consumers and is large enough to represent the entire South African population. Thousands of brands are included in the measurement across 19 industry sectors.

“Ask Afrika Icon Brands define a common experience, often on a daily basis to which South Africans are committed to in a real sense. They put their money where their mouths are to demonstrate this commitment. South Africans love these brands, are loyal to them and will even look for them when abroad,” says Maria Petousis, TGI director at Ask Afrika.

For the 2015/2016 awards, South Africans have voted with their wallets and hearts and in the process created 28 Ask Afrika Icon Brands.

Some brands even achieve international iconic status, which helps to define nationhood and nations. These brands sometimes become symbols of the nations that created them. Examples of some international icon brands include: Coca Cola and Big Mac in the USA, BMW and Mercedes in Germany, Fosters in Australia and Guinness in Ireland.

“From a South African perspective we have to ask ourselves which brands unite us as a nation, which brands are used most loyally by South Africans across the age, income, race and language spectrums? The Ask Afrika Icon Brands survey answers these questions,” says Petousis.

In addition to identifying these 28 Ask Afrika Icon Brands the survey also ranks and celebrates the top five brands, using the same methodology, in 164 product categories. Given the vast differences in socio-economic levels in South Africa, and the means to access certain products, not all of these product categories are used across the entire South African demographic, but each category has a winner that is the most used and loved South African brand amongst the demographic that uses the product.

A further 37 brands were awarded Platinum status, which means that their total Ask Africa Icon Brands score was at iconic levels, but not across all population groups.  Nonetheless, these category leaders often dominate their space and are iconic amongst those consumers that have access to them. These are brands that have a total Ask Afrika Icon Brands score above the required threshold, but not across the entire population.

The Ask Afrika Icon Brands is a robust survey and is sourced from Target Group Index (TGI), the largest survey of its kind in South African. An enumerated area sampling design was employed and the universe includes all communities with more than 8000 inhabitants, 15 years and up. These 15 690 consumers surveyed represent over 23.3 million adult South African consumers. The data was weighted using the Statistics South Africa’s population mid-year estimates.

For more information visit, www.askafrika.co.za. Alternatively connect with them on Facebook or on Twitter.