KARACHI: Lux, the Unilever soap brand, has been voted the top brand in Pakistan by consumers, followed by Sooper, a local biscuit, and Dawlance, the household appliance marque.
The Bulls Eye DDB agency polled 15,000 people across the country, asking them to rate brands in over 60 categories, including financial, household care, personal care, transportation, communication, durables, food, drinks, household and food-impulsive. The results appeared in a report, Brand Elections 2013.
Shoaib Qureshy, chief executive of Bulls Eye DDB, said the idea of getting consumers to appraise brands had emerged from the observation that brands were better at fulfilling promises than the country's political class.
"I can do nothing about politicians," he told The News International. "We are in business to seek the needs of consumers, and brands are doing a better job in serving the people than politicians," he added.
Separately, a recent global survey by Freedom House, an independent watchdog, reported in Tribune, was critical of internet freedoms in Pakistan, putting it in the bottom ten of 60 countries surveyed.
The report put internet penetration at around 10%, with only Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Peshawar having access to better quality broadband services.
Poor copper wire infrastructure and inadequate monitoring of service quality by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority were among the practical obstacles to broadband expansion.
But with the government having drafted a policy on the auction of the 3G spectrum, consumers will, as in many other developing countries, seek to access the internet via mobile. There are already around 120m mobile devices in Pakistan.
And research from mobile advertising network BuzzCity, reported in The Drum, suggested that Pakistan, along with India and Tanzania, was a mobile hotspot which would generate rapid and exponential growth in mobile advertising in the near future.
The Bulls Eye DDB agency polled 15,000 people across the country, asking them to rate brands in over 60 categories, including financial, household care, personal care, transportation, communication, durables, food, drinks, household and food-impulsive. The results appeared in a report, Brand Elections 2013.
Shoaib Qureshy, chief executive of Bulls Eye DDB, said the idea of getting consumers to appraise brands had emerged from the observation that brands were better at fulfilling promises than the country's political class.
"I can do nothing about politicians," he told The News International. "We are in business to seek the needs of consumers, and brands are doing a better job in serving the people than politicians," he added.
Separately, a recent global survey by Freedom House, an independent watchdog, reported in Tribune, was critical of internet freedoms in Pakistan, putting it in the bottom ten of 60 countries surveyed.
The report put internet penetration at around 10%, with only Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Peshawar having access to better quality broadband services.
Poor copper wire infrastructure and inadequate monitoring of service quality by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority were among the practical obstacles to broadband expansion.
But with the government having drafted a policy on the auction of the 3G spectrum, consumers will, as in many other developing countries, seek to access the internet via mobile. There are already around 120m mobile devices in Pakistan.
And research from mobile advertising network BuzzCity, reported in The Drum, suggested that Pakistan, along with India and Tanzania, was a mobile hotspot which would generate rapid and exponential growth in mobile advertising in the near future.
Data sourced from The News International, Tribune, The Drum, The News Tribe; additional content by Warc staff
