By Utitofon Idara
On the 13th day of November 2022, the Most Trusted Brand Award (MTBA), sponsored by a research firm Brandhealth Nig. Limited, resurfaced with much more vigour.
In 2001, Mr Emmauel Udowoima, a brand research expert who specialises in conducting research studies founded Brandhealth. The idea was borne out of his passion for connecting brands with their end users (consumers).
To further push brands harder, he came up with what he called (MTBA) in 2010. What does (MTBA) really mean? Simply put, brands that are mostly associated with. That is to say, a brand mostly accepted and has become a household name. Hence, the name Most Trusted Brand. This has been a yearly event up till 2015. Thankfully, MTB is back.
Speaking during relaunch of the great initiative, the CEO who started by quoting Christian Sarkar said, “Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.
“In line with Sarkar’s thoughts, we in Brand Health Limited took a decision that we will not be silent over important matters, especially as it concerns brands. We then offered ourselves to liaise as arbitrators between consumers and brands.
“And so, we started the Most Trusted Brands Awards in 2010 as a voice for the consumers and a bridge for the brands. Since then, MTB Awards has become a brand activist that is celebrated both by consumers and brands. And when we couldn’t continue with the awards after 2015, our hearts became sick. We are most grateful to God that we are back on our feet. MTB is our Calling.
“On behalf of Brand Health Limited, Metro media and everyone involved in the organisation of this event, I welcome you very sincerely for finding time to attend today’s occasion despite your peculiar schedule. I appreciate your being here with us.
“In the face of extreme Trust deficit in Nigeria, The CEO asked? Would you trust a particular brand as against its counterparts? But why trust deficit everywhere? The ready answer to it is that, we the people have refused to put in place a mechanism for accountability by the brands. As long as we live our lives this way, we the people will continue to receive empty promises from our brands.
“The Most Trusted Brands Award is one mechanism to make brands accountable to consumers. This is our contribution to making brands behave well. The Awards provide an opportunity to tell the brands those things the consumers expect and want from them, which are to Take the Brand by its Word; rest on the Brand’s Promise; prove the Brand over and over.
“Let me take you through how we arrived at the winners for each Award Category. We started the data collection process in mid-July and ended fieldwork in mid-October 2022. Data was collected via a quantitative approach and the interviewers used the Computer Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) method for the interviews.
“We used structured questions to obtain responses from the Consumers. Elements of Trust in the survey included: The brand that you feel most confident in; the Brand that offers you what you want; the Brand that offers the highest quality; the Brand that is distinctive; and the Brand you would recommend to your friends and relatives.
The sample size was 13,000 spread across 11 states and the FCT, making 12 locations. The States were: Lagos, Oyo, Enugu, Abia, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Plateau, Adamawa, Borno, Kaduna, and Kano. Federal Capital Territory was part of the study. Respondents were drawn from both urban and rural communities.
The Respondents’ demographics were as follows: Gender – Male 50%, Female 50%, Social Class – AB 15%, C1C2 40%, DE 45%, Age brackets – 18-25 30%, 26-35 30%, 36-50 25%, 51+ 15%.” It is important to mention that this research and the Awards are 100% funded by Brand Health Limited.”
The year’s theme: “Building Trusted Brands in Trust Deficit Society”, was delivered by the guest speaker, a seasoned marketing professional, and The President, of the National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria (NIMN) Mr Idoreyen Enang.
In his speech, he said, “We are all ambassadors of a particular family and families bring out the best of brands, so in our world as manufacturers, every single product can be traced to someone, everybody seated here represents a family.
What that tells you is that we all grew up with certain values and those values will give an idea of what type of background that you had, if truly you went through that background, that is a process of parenting, and before you can get another person to invest in that relationship with you, that person needs to trust you” So coming to where a research company has decided to go to the market to find out from consumers the Most Trusted Brands, should be a place to give them a round of applause. So what makes a brand is a trust, trust is huge and that is what makes every relationship stand.
He concluded by defining trust as “a firm belief in reliability” He encouraged Brandhealth Limited to keep the good work going.
The occasion was graced by personalities including representatives from the winning brands among who were MTN, Air Peace, LG, Dangote, etc.
This year’s edition also recognizes and honours four human brands. The first person honored was Gen Buba Marwa the Chairman of NDLEA through his representative Mr Segun Oke, for his contribution towards making Nigeria a drug-free society, then the Chairman of the Ibom Airline, the Managing Director Seven-Up Bottling Company Chief Ziad Maalouf was on the ground with his team to receive his award for coming up with the most effective and cheapest hand sanitiser -2 Sure to help curb COVID-19 during its era.
Lastly for the human category, was Lanre Adisa who is known in the brand and marketing communication Industry for his innovative ways of handling brands and ensuring that they keep to their promises.
Brand health promises to be up and doing by closing the gap between brands and their consumers. Added to this, is their publication called The Most Trusted Brand magazine which will soon be up and running on all social media platforms to help project brands and keep them in the know of what the consumers truly want to see and derive for their satisfaction.
