05 November, 2006

Al Jazeera - best known Arab Brand?

Forbes Arabia has just published a report on The Top 40 Arab Brands, which puts Al Jazeera at #1. The complete list also appears here.

This survey:
- Started off with 80 Arab brands from various industries
- Included brands which have been created and owned by an Arab company
- Was done thru an exclusive online survey of 1,200 consumers in 19 Arab countries of GCC, Levant and N.Africa, including Yemen
- Utilised the services of YouGov plc, which has been lately presenting some interesting insights with Gulf News

A few points that struck me are as follows:
1) Quite mysteriously, the first 7-star hotel in the world - Burj Al Arab - appears at #7.
2) Airlines are the best-represented category, led by Emirates (2nd). All the carriers except Saudia are present in the list.
3) Jarir Bookstore - a Saudi books / stationery retailer appeared among first 10 - before Emaar!
4) Quite expectedly, all the major TV stations are in the list.
5) There are 5 brands from Juices / Milk /Beverages category (I was expecting some others too!)
6) Strangely, Ajmal - a quite reputed and recognised name among Oriental perfumes - didn't even manage to stay within the first 20 positions.

However, CampaignME's Richard Abbot feels that long term vision helped these brands to reach top-of-mind among Arab consumers. The publication feels that "... the list is genuine. It hasn't been made up by an editorial team and it hasn't been paid for by sponsors" unlike Superbrands, whose last issue funnily did not include Emirates!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmm always thought Islam would be in the top 5. After all your life seems to be centered around it and its used as a justification / reason /excuse for everything that happens.

Anonymous said...

Anon @ 11:45 : Do you suffer from Islamophobia?

I don't know about your religion my friend, but Islam covers each and every aspect of our lives. Islam is not just a religion, its a lifestyle. So don't be surprised if our life centers around it :-)

Anonymous said...

Shansenta: Thanks for the informative post :-)

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