Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
Valicon has once again measured the strength of brands in the region, which includes Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Macedonia. Valicon has been monitoring the strength of brands in this way for 13 consecutive years. The leading three brands in the region are Milka, Coca-Cola and Vegeta, followed by Cedevita, Smoki and Argeta, brands of the Atlantic Group, as well as Orbit, Cockta and Nivea. Among the most interesting news two stand out. First is the continued growth of Serbian brands, notably Smoki and Plazma, and this trend was first observed in 2013. The second is growth of Jana water brand, which entered the top 10.
It’s possible to recognize a certain “rule” by which a brand can find its place in Valicon’s Top 25 regional list of brands. These are the brands present in the five largest markets in the region. In this way, it’s difficult to find some of the local brands in the ranking of the strongest ones, even in those categories that are dominated by national brands, such as categories of beer, coffee, mineral water, dairy products, ice cream … Moreover, it’s difficult to find on the list brands that belong to categories that don’t have wide distribution, such as cigarettes, strictly female and male products or brands from the premium segment. Reasons for the “movement” on the list can also be sought in the increase or decrease of a category. Some categories have less and some more pronounced leaders. The most difficult task has always been on the brands in oligopolistic categories, for example in beers. Active presence in the largest regional market, Serbian, is a prerequisite for entry into the Valicon Top 25 regional list. Due to the size of the Serbia’s national market, Serbian brands have some advantages over the others. The advantage is even twofold – on the one hand it’s the impact of the size of the market, on the other hand the lack of discount retailers and poor development of private trademarks, in comparison to Croatia or Slovenia for example.
There are six major factors that influence the creation of the position of individual brands.
1. First is the market that we look at in terms of the development of trade, private trademarks, and the development of the category itself. The strength of a brand is most affected by changes in the domestic market and in Serbia as the biggest market.
2. Activities of the competitors should also be borne in mind.
3. With all this, it’s important to keep track of trends affecting the penetration and frequency of consumption in the category and its subcategories. For example, the health trend, the trend of savings, a trend of (not) going outside, the trend of the importance of values …
4. Of course there are manufacturer’s own activities, or rather activities of the observed brand.
5. There is also the decision related to the portfolio of brands. In the process of consolidation of categories, manufacturers have many different brands with different strength in different countries. The strategic decision for the development of a strong regional brand is a requirement to appear on Valicon Top 25 rankings.
6. In recent years the relationship toward the so-called b-brands is very important. These are less strategic brands that, due to lower purchasing power, are offered at lower prices, but still with the investment in their marketing and sales on the owner’s part. Examples of this are plentiful: first were the brewers – Löwenbräu and Holsten in the region, C. Coffee and Bonito in Serbia, Rex in detergents…
When a company opts for a portfolio including the b-brands it always adversely affects the strength of the main brand. Cannibalization always happens. If we look at all the factors, the entry of a single brand to Valicon Top 25 charts is a great recognition for the courageous decision of putting the focus on a single brand, especially at this time when all these brands, in a way, are the main source of growth of all the other players in the categories. Power of brands is calculated based on the recognition, experience and their use. A brand is defined as a consumer brand, together with the extensions that are used for the product within the individual categories. Furthermore, if the same brand is used in the different categories, for example Milka in the category of chocolate and Milka in the biscuits category, the strength of the brand Milka is not calculated jointly for all the categories in which it appears, but separately for each of the categories.
The survey was conducted in September and October 2015 on a sample of n=1000 to 1500 per country. Results are presented in a way that guarantees the representativeness for the entire ex-Yugoslavia without Montenegro and Kosovo. Thus, the strength of a brand in Slovenia contributes to the strength of a brand across the region only half as much as the strength of the same brand in Croatia, which is twice larger as a market. The methodological approach is a “mix-mode” computer-assisted interviewing, which includes a representative online survey, and additional field surveys of the population without Internet.
For more info contact josip.tvrtkovic@valicon.net or visit www.valicon.net/top25