Ask Afrika today revealed the winners of their annual Kasi Star Brands Awards 2018/2019, recognising those brands that are most loyally used by South Africa’s township consumers and highlighting key trends emerging in what is rapidly becoming an ever more prominent market for South African brands.
This year, Kiwi has come out as the overall winner. Coming in after Kiwi were, in order of rank: Coca Cola, Sunlight, Koo, Dettol, Lucky Star, KFC, Mageu, Moir’s and Shoprite.
Brand loyalty
“Through our Kasi Star Brands benchmark, we consistently re-evaluate the township market to really delve into what makes them tick, what loyalty means to them and, very importantly, what is impacting their buying decisions. This year was no different with the emergence of key trends and – of course – identifying those brands that have again taken this market by storm,” says Andrea Gevers (Rademeyer), CEO at Ask Afrika.
Kasi Star Brands focuses particularly on solus usage – brands that consumers will not choose an alternative for. To put this in perspective, The Kasi Star Brands evaluated 145 categories and 720 brands within the township sector, across the country. This year, only 32 leading Kasi Star Brands met the criteria to qualify as a truly township brand – ones that have a loyal consumer following and have a sound commitment from consumers to buy only these brands within each category.
This year’s Kasi Star Brands research showed that the average Kasi citizen will support brands that are able to go the extra mile for them by meeting the following:
- Acting ethically
- Fitting into their lifestyles
- Never disappointing them
- Innovating
- Taking the time to understand them
- Creating an emotional affinity to their brand
- Demonstrating that they can be trusted
- Giving back to their communities
What this means for brands
According to Ask Africa, for brands, the township market presents numerous opportunities but it is important to note that their expectations are no longer based on product quality, value for money or pricing but rather on their emotional experience with the brand – it is about integrated expectations, holding brands accountable.
Therefore, this year’s research indicates that a one size fits all strategy won’t work anymore – brands will need to tailor-make strategies per category, brand and even per township. Consumers have very different expectations and experiences, defining what they expect from the brands they are prepared to commit to.
