South Africa’s Top 50 Most Valuable Brands have been revealed and the competitiveness of the business sphere highlights a key component of a strong nation brand.
Ray Maota
After a year of indepth analysis and tough calculations, South Africa’s Top 50 Most Valuable Brands have been announced. Together they are the leading brands that make the nation proud.
The announcement was made at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Houghton in Johannesburg on 15 September 2016, through a partnership between Brand South Africa and Brand Finance, a leading brand valuation and strategy consultancy.
The total value of the Top 50 brands increased 3% from R373-billion to R384-billion compared with 2015. Excluding MTN’s drop in brand value of R17-billion, the remaining 49 brands had a total value of R347-billion in 2016, growing 9% from R319-billion in 2015.
“South African commercial brands are a key component of a strong nation brand and how this is experienced by both domestic and international audiences,” said Kingsley Makhubela, CEO of Brand South Africa. “As such commercial brands are key messengers in positioning the country competitively.
“At the same time, we express our appreciation to all other corporate brands in the country for your contribution to the growth and development of South Africa. We thank you for playing your part and look forward to honouring you among the Top 50 in years to come.”
Cellphone service provider MTN retains its number one spot this year, remaining the most valuable brand despite losing 32% of its brand value as a result of some of its reputational challenges. Woolworths holds the strongest brand position with an increase of 21% in brand value.
Telkom posted the greatest increase in brand value following the integration of Business Connexion and improved performance on its retail side, with good ratings on value for money and customer satisfaction, according to the South African Customer Satisfaction Index. The increase in brand value caused Telkom to move from 23rd position in 2015 to 17th in 2016.
“The more competitive the market, the more important it is to have a strong brand, leverage it to its full potential and measured and monitored at all times,” said Jeremy Sampson, newly appointed director of Brand Finance. “Brands are increasingly the major assets of companies, yet does anyone have an idea of their true value? Marketing is no longer a nice-to-have, it can be the difference between success and failure.”
The Top 50
The story of the Top 50 corporate brands was a good story for the South Africa nation brand as well as the continental story, said Thebe Ikalafeng, chairman of Brand Finance. “Many of these brands have footprints on the continent and this bodes well for perceptions about business on the continent, their ethics, governance and commitment to social upliftment.
“Brand Finance salutes the Top 50 corporate brands for their excellence in flying the South Africa and African flags.”
Many of the Top 10 brands from 2015 retained their positions in 2016. Exceptions were retailer Woolworths, which moved to fifth place, and bank Absa, which moved to seventh place.
The top 10 brands, from one to 10, are: MTN, Vodacom, Sasol, Standard Bank, Woolworths, FNB, Absa, Nedbank, Investec and Mediclinic.
Brands with a significant increase in value include Investec (27%) and WesBank (27%). Two new brands entered the Top 50. Clothing label Country Road, now owned by Woolworths, entered at 31st place with a value of R4.64-billion, and listed real estate investment trustGrowthpoint Properties entered at 50 with a value of R1.47-billion.
SABMiller holds the most valuable portfolio, amounting to R29.67-billion, with four of its brands standing among the country’s top 50: Castle, Carling Black Label, Hansa Pilsner and SABMiller.
SABMiller is followed by FirstRand, with its three brands – FNB, WesBank and Rand Merchant Bank – collectively valued at R23.12-billion.
The rest of the brands in the Top 50, from 11 to 50 are: Multichoice, Shoprite; Castle, Mondi, Spar, Carling Black Label, Telkom, Old Mutual, Pick n Pay, Netcare, Sanlam, Discovery, Hansa Pilsner, MrP, Sappi, WesBank, Media 24, Liberty Holdings, Truworths, Bidvest, Country Road, Capitec, SABMiller, Steinhoff, Clicks, Huletts, Momentum, Makro, Checkers, Rainbow; Rand Merchant Bank, Santam, SAA, Life Healthcare, Imperial, Foschini, Cell C, Game, Nampak, and Growthpoint Properties.
Methodology
Brand Finance calculates the values of the brands in its league tables using the Royalty Relief approach. This approach involves estimating the likely future sales that are attributable to a brand and calculating a royalty rate that would be charged for the use of the brand, i.e. what the owner would have to pay for the use of the brand – assuming it was not already owned.
The steps in this process are:
• Calculate brand strength on a scale of 0 to 100 based on a number of attributes, such as emotional connection, financial performance and sustainability, among others. This score is known as the Brand Strength Index.
• Determine the royalty rate range for the respective brand sectors. This is done by reviewing comparable licensing agreements sourced from Brand Finance’s extensive database of licence agreements and other online databases.
• Calculate royalty rate. The brand strength score is applied to the royalty rate range to arrive at a royalty rate. For example, if the royalty rate range in a brand’s sector is 0-5% and a brand has a brand strength score of 80 out of 100, then an appropriate royalty rate for the use of this brand in the given sector will be 4%.
• Determine brand specific revenues estimating a proportion of parent company revenues attributable to a specific brand.
• Determine forecast brand specific revenues using a function of historic revenues, equity analyst forecasts and economic growth rates.
• Apply the royalty rate to the forecast revenues to derive brand revenues.
• Brand revenues are discounted after tax to a net present value that equals the brand value.
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