Vodacom comes out tops in the Sunday Times Top Brands Awards

Vodacom made several trips to the podium at the Sunday Times Top Brands Awards, held in Johannesburg recently.

The mobile network operator received the Grand Prix prize as the country’s overall favourite business brand and the first prize as consumers’ most loved telecommunications brand.

Vodacom’s work in its community - especially through its Vodacom Foundation – also received top honours as the top brand in the Community development category. The mobile network operator was also recognised as South Africa’s environmental champion with the Sunday Times Top Brands Green Award.

All these awards were made after in-depth market research of consumer and business sentiment by the Sunday Times and TNS an independent research group.

“While we consider any award as a positive milestone for Vodacom, we are particularly proud of our Sunday Times Top Brands-awards. These Awards evaluate the feedback from thousands of consumers and hundreds of businesses, making it an accurate barometer of consumer sentiment,” says Nyimpini Mabunda, Chief Officer of Vodacom’s Consumer Business Unit.

With its new set of trophies, Vodacom becomes one of the most awarded brands in the nearly two decades of the Sunday Times Top Brands Awards. In recent years, the company has won both awards for top telecommunications provider every year, while it also took home the Grand Prix prize as South Africa’s favourite brand at the 2016 Awards.

Rather than take a snapshot of consumer sentiment, the Sunday Times Top Brands Awards is based on 12 months of research into market sentiment. This methodology gives preference to brands who consistently exceed expectations and who engender a sense of loyalty amongst its customers.

“With over 39 million active subscribers in South Africa, keeping consumers and business users happy is no mean feat. I dedicate this award to every Vodacom team member that has worked tirelessly over the last year to make Vodacom the most trusted, and loved, telecommunications provider in the country,” says Mabunda.

The recent accolades echo a similar award received in May this year, when Vodacom was named South Africa’s Coolest Telecoms Provider in the Sunday Times Generation Next Awards. While using a similar methodology to the Top Brands Awards, these awards consider young peoples’ sentiment towards a brand and it found Vodacom to be the clear favourite among South African youth.

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