In order to place high on the Valicon TOP25 regional list of brand strength, constant work, innovation and a strong story are required – we have been emphasizing this for a while and it won’t hurt if we say it again. A brand needs to be very consistent with its story if it wants to be desirable among consumers. Once again, Valicon conducted another FMCG brand strength measurement in larger part of former Yugoslavia – in Slovenia, Croatia, BiH, Serbia and Macedonia. Valicon has been conducting FMCG brand strength measurements in this territory for twelve years.
VALICON TOP25 FMCG brands for 2014
1 Milka chocolates
2 Coca Cola
3 Vegeta
4 Cedevita
5 Argeta
6 Orbit
7 Smoki
8 Cockta
9 Nivea
10 Pepsi
11 Nescaffe
12 Jaffa cakes
13 Fanta
14 Jana
15 Lenor
16 Paloma toilet paper
17 Gillette
18 Plazma
19 Kiki
20 Ariel
21 Airwaves
22 Nutella
23 Podravka sups
24 Dukat yogurts
25 Medeno srce
Milka chocolates is dominating the top of the list as they have been showing innovation for years in combining classic marketing, the product itself and price positioning expanding to all products category relevant to Milka. Their constant direction towards tenderness with aggressive product advertising and their work at the sale point itself are a good guideline for all other FMCG brands.
Coca Cola took advantage of its anniversary in 2011 with great results. In 2013, they showed all other brands how to manage an emotionally strong campaign. Even though this kind of creativity was not enough to retain the leading position due to the general decline of carbonated non-alcoholic beverages and strong competition (i.e. Cocta or Pepsi) it reached the second place on Valicon TOP25 regional list.
The leading two positions on the list have a significant advantage before others, while brands, placed from third to eight place are fairly close to each other. They all show certain “opportunities” where they can succeed and certain “problems” which need to be remedied in order to attain a better position on the list. With higher positions, we can talk about retaining the position or moving toward the top. When taking into consideration brands placed between the third and eight place, we must keep in mind that minor factors decide when we talk about a “drop” or a “climb” of a specific brand in regard to the previous year. The relation between two brands can be completely reversed next year.
An analysis of the list shows a certain “rule”, which determines where a brand is placed on Valicon TOP25 FMCG brands list. This means that it is difficult to find a local brand on the list, even in those categories, where local brands are prevalent – such as beer, coffee, water, dairy products, ice-cream…
Nevertheless, palpable success can be observed in some of the mentioned categories. The Jana brand in the category of water brands is a clear example. In 2013, this brand was several positions below the 25th place, while in 2014 it climbed to the fourteenth place. This proves that continuous work on regionalization, as well as introducing a story and emotions into a brand reflects on the brand strength and its position on the list. Of course, we have to consider a factor, which helped the water brands and other beverages in 2014, namely, seasonalization.
Also, it is hard to find brands from less popular categories on the list, such as cigarettes, female and male products or premium brands. The reason that specific brands “move” can also be found in the growth or drop of a whole category. In some categories, the leading brands are more present, while in some they are not as prevalent. Brands in oligopoly category, i.e. the beer category, have the hardest task. Active presence on the Serbian market is the pre-condition for entering the Valicon TOP25 regional list. Due to the size of the market itself, the Serbian brands have a slight advantage. The advantage in this case is double, meaning the advantage of a large market and the absence of discount stores and private brands, such as is the case in Slovenia or Croatia.
Brand strength is calculated on the basis of visibility, experience and brand use. A brand is defined as a fast-moving consumer brand, when a product is used inside a specific category. If the same brand is used in different categories, for example Milka in the category of chocolates and Milka in the category of biscuits, the strength of the Milka brand is not calculated as a whole but separately for all categories where this brand is present.
The research was conducted a little bit later than usual, in September and October 2014 due to the floods, which affected the majority of the countries of former Yugoslavia, the sample being at least n=1000 per country. As always, the results are presented in a manner ensuring representativeness for Slovenia, Croatia, BiH, Serbia and Macedonia. Therefore, brand strength in Slovenia has only half as much influence on the regional brand strength as brand strength in Croatia, which is twice as large as Slovenia.
We must also consider the fact that the modified interviewing period affects the strength of some brands, especially in beverages. Due to the seasonal influence the results are not entirely comparable to last year’s list.
Research data
Contractor: VALICON
Interviewing period: September – October 2014
Sample size n=1000/1500 per country
Population 15 – 65 years of age
“Mixed-mode” method, which includes representative online interviewing and
supplementary field interviewing of population without access to the Internet
Representative gender, age, education, region
More information:
Valicon
Kopitarjeva 2, Ljubljana
T. 01/ 420 49 00, 01/ 420 49 53 (Andraž Zorko, partner)
E. [email protected]
W. www.valicon.net
