Rolex, Teva and Nike Are the Leading Quality Brands in Israel

Google brand which was related at the first place last year, declined to the fourth place this year. A survey of SuperBrands organization and MarketWatch Institute reveals: what do the Israeli consumers think about the active brands in Israel.

To the Israeli consumers, the three most quality brands in Israel are Rolex, Teva and Nike – according to a survey conducted by SuperBrands organization in cooperation with Avinoam Brogs MarketWatch Institute and TheMarker. The brand selected to be the most quality brand in Israel is Rolex, which received 64.3% of the participants' votes. The research rated the brands which are considered to be of the highest standards, the brands which will be missed the most if not available and the brands which the consumers opine to remain the leading brands five years from now.

670 brands were chosen of the 2,300 active brands in Israel according to grades they received from 76 advertising and marketing professionals. The survey included 800 Israeli consumers, which were requested to mark the brands they reckon to meet the definitions presented by the surveyors. The participants could mark an unlimited number of brands or no brand at all.

According to the Israeli Marketing Association, the elitist perception of Rolex watches fascinates the Israeli consumers, mainly since it is considered clearly to be a status sign. It is intriguing to see that the majority of the brands on the 20th most quality brands are those with the most publicity and marketing efforts, while the brand which made it to the top spot is the brand with the least publicity of all, states Talma Biro, CEO of Israeli Marketing Association.

According to Eyal Melis, CEO of Tnuva Dairy Corporation, while Rolex represents a desired brand, Teva made its way high in the list as a token of an appreciation for a brand which maintains to be successful for so long. The brand Nike expresses quality and professionalism at its best, and therefore has been working so well for many years. The sponsorship for A white night events provided a very positive effect as well.

The brand Magnum (ice cream) has been undergoing a consistent branding process for the last five years and failed to appear in last years quality brands rating list – made it to the fourth place as 61.3% of the participants selected it.

Ben & Jerrys are back to the public awareness

The brand Google, which was rated first last year, declined to the fourth place this year. Melis thinks this drop derives from the fact that apart from Google other brands emerged, i.e. Facebook and Twitter – which helps to weaken Google.

The brand Sony also manifests a decline in its quality perception, for similar reasons: Sonys decline results from Toshiba and Samsungs good efforts this year.

Both of them are very powerful in the LCD, LED and Plasma screens market.

Strauss came in eight this year, while Elite went from the second place on 2009 down to 12th place this year. Here we can see the expression of Strauss corporal strategy which proves to be a fruitful one – to advance the brand Strauss on the account of Elite, who became a sub-brand.

Coca-Colas rating wend down from the third place to the tenth this year. This decline may be attributed to the healthy food trend which grows ever more popular, and the crisis Coca Cola went through this year when it had to recall bottles due to aftertaste and afterscent in various products – without announcing it to the public until the media published the story.

The big surprise of the quality brands rating list is the entrance of Ben and Jerrys ice cream brand straight into the fifth place. Although this brand is highly popular among the Israeli consumers, the brands owners have not yet leveraged it completely in Israel. Other brands which made it into the list are: Lego, Advil, BMW, Jaguar, the Israeli cancer fight association. The brand Gillette is being supported by Procter and Gamble, which is reflected in the rating.

The brands which were on the list last year and did not make it this year are National Geographic, Osem, Yotvata, Levis and Arik Einstein (a singer), who made it to the SuperBrands rating list – but not into the quality brands rating list. Osems disappearance from the list is quite surprising, yet is can be the result of food marketing chains efforts in marketing a private brand on many categories similar to those offered by Osem. The perception of the brand might be damaged among the consumers who tried the private brand products of the chains and approved it.

A future without Para chocolate (Israeli chocolate brand)

Coca Cola, Elite and Teva continue to lead the list of brand which in the eyes of the Israeli consumers will continue to lead in five years. Strauss went up from the seventh place last year to the fourth place this year, with 68% of the consumers. Google went from the second place last year down to the seventh this year.

The most notable entrances into the list are Gillette, who made it straight into the eighth place followed by Strauss ice creams and the Habima theater. According to Melis, Procter and Gambles branding efforts on Gillette benefits with the brand. This brand that was challenged two years ago, yet the marketing support and the brands products innovation each year are very powerful.

The brand Aroma (Israeli coffee shops chain) made it into the list for the first time, and the consumers reckon this brand is here to stay. Mcdonalds, on the other hand, went down from the nineth place to the fourteenth.
The rating list are delimited with three brands who make their first appearance on the list: Tnuva (dairy products corporation), who renewed its branding and enlarged its publicity budget this year, Steimatzky (book stores chain) and SuperPharm – the only retail chain on the list.

Para chocolate did not make it to the list this year, probably because Strauss has been focusing recently its marketing efforts on its own chocolate fingers bar it had launched. Another brand whose absence from the list is quite surprising is Bamba (peanuts-based snack), which the consumers are no longer sure about its long term durability. It may be that the expansion of the brands products variety – the launch of Bamba Nougat and Bamba Halva - made an impression of instability among the consumers.

Other products which did not make it into the list this year are National Geographic, Carlsberg (beer), Wissotzky (tea), Tambour (painting materials), Colgate and El-Al. Clearly the public does not think brands like Apple and Facebook, which are very involved in our everyday lives, will remain here and therefore they did not made it into the list, states Eran Rols, Chairman of the Israeli Construction Cebter Group. These companies can reach as high as the skies on one hand, but on the other hand they might crush down as well.

According to Biro, the survey indicates the slow diminution of brands recognized with Israel: El-Al did not even made it into the list and the IDF – the brand which is recognized the most with Israeli security – went down as far as the twelfth place.

According to Avi Zeitan, a marketing and strategy consultant and a member of the marketing union management, The names of brands which came in and out of the SuperBrands list indicate ob three clear trends. The first is the entrance of more luxury-related brands like Harley Davidson and Louie Vitton, on the expense of low priced brands like Ace (retail) or Mega (retail). It seems that hard to get brands are considered sexier than daily brands, which create less interest. The second is the clear strengthening of internet brands. This is another proof for the immense power of the internet, but at the same time we witness the decline of Google which is considered to be an everyday routine brand. The third trend is a clear retro trend, with a renewed presence for many old brands like Barbie, Ray-Ban and Adidas, which radiate quality combined with retro.