These are the top 10 brands SA's been buzzing about

KLA, the exclusive sub-Saharan partner of global public opinion and data company YouGov, has released the results of its second Quarterly Buzz. (The first Quarterly Buzz was published in January 2023.)

The Quarterly Buzz is an evaluation of SA's top brands according to public perception, measured daily over a three-month period. It's based on research powered by YouGov’s BrandIndex tool, which continuously monitors more than 190 local brands across seven sectors.

The BrandIndex tool works across 16 metrics that cover the marketing funnel. One of these metrics is the Buzz metric, hence the name Quarterly Buzz.

The Buzz metric specifically measures consumer perception: whether consumers have heard anything positive or negative about a brand in the past two weeks. The performance score achieved can range from +100 to -100, with a net score indicative of a brand’s overall performance relative to other brands.

These Buzz scores are tallied up over a three-month period for the Quarterly Buzz results. The top 10 performing brands across all sectors, and the top five brands within each sector, are declared that quarter's "brand winners". 

“This insight, along with greater depth of the other metrics tracked, aims to support marketers in making informed decisions about their brands that feed into marketing strategies and brand positioning,” says Rakhee Naik, managing consultant of Insights at KLA.

Brand winners in the first quarter of 2023

KLA’s Quarterly Buzz brand winners present an overview of the current market landscape in terms of the Buzz metric.

Grocery retailers continued to feature prominently this quarter with four brands — Woolworths, Checkers, Pick n Pay and Shoprite — in the list of the top 10 performing brands across all sectors. While telecommunications and fuel brands made an appearance on this list of brand winners for the first time.

Vodacom moved into the top 10 — it placed at 16 in the last quarter — with a significant growth in "value for money" perceptions. Engen climbed five rank positions from last quarter to make its top 10 debut with a significant improvement in "customers purchase intent".

Woolworths Food and Takealot (specifically the automotive department, which includes the sale of car accessories) continued to dominate the top 10 list. However, both brands experienced a gradual softening on Buzz performance compared to last quarter.

Takealot declined on "reputation and consideration", with a slide across all 16 metrics, while Woolworths Food was down on "ad awareness and quality" perceptions, but up on "purchase intent".

Notably, out of the top 10 brands, six declined on Buzz performance compared to last quarter.

“These results are reflective of the tough economic environment that South African consumers are faced with, like fuel price hikes, aggravated load-shedding, and the subsequent impact on the pricing of necessity items,” says Naik.

For more information about the Quarterly Buzz, visit the KLA website or email enquiries@kla.co.za  

This article was sponsored by KLA.