Miele has seen off challenges by Audi, Daimler, Adidas, BMW and, most importantly, arch rival Bosch, to be named Germany’s Best Corporate Brand for 2015. This honour was bestowed by an organisation named ‘best brands’ (styled in lower case), based off research conducted by data guru GfK.
The announcement was made at a gala ceremony in Munich featuring a keynote address by 6-time Grand Slam Singles Title winner Boris Becker and a musical performance by 1-time Eurovision winner Lena.
The criteria for winning the award for Best Corporate Brand includes an assessment of the various companies’ Emotional and Rational Appreciation. The Emotional element comprises Sympathy, Identification and Uniqueness; while the Rational half is made up of Reputation, Internationality and Productivity/Performance Capacity.
In order to make the shortlist for assessment, companies had to achieve minimum standards in sales volume, awareness and market capitalisation. A spokesperson for best brands told me that this methodology was superior to rival brand measurement systems.
“In the past, brand rankings have either assessed the success of a brand solely on the basis of how consumers value the brand image or only on the basis of its commercial success on the market,” the spokesperson told me. “best brands is the first German brand ranking that combines these two components to create transparency: the emotional aspect of the brand on the one hand and profitability on the other.
“What’s more, it is not the subjective opinion of a jury that decides the winners of the best brands awards; instead, the winner is determined exclusively by the consumer.”
In coming first for this award, Miele beat out a strong field of German consumer brands. Here is the full Top 10:
- Miele
- Audi
- Daimler
- Bosch
- Adidas
- BMW
- Volkswagen
- Porsche
- Siemens
- Henkel
The award was accepted by Miele co-proprietor Doctor Reinhard Zinkann. He told me that this award was testament to Miele’s longstanding heritage for the best technology and reliability.
“The evaluation by consumers as the best corporate brand 2015 will undoubtedly have been influenced by the biggest product and innovation offensive in Miele’s history as well as by the fact that Miele is clearly at the vanguard of the industry-wide trend in our approach to smart home technology.
“Possibly the German Sustainability Award 2014, which Miele won only a few months ago, also had an impact on the outcome.”
Joining Miele in the winners’ circle was audio brand Bose, which was named the Best Product Brand for 2015. Bose has been delighting fans and critics with its most recent releases, including the overall winner for Best Digital Product at the 2015 Editor’s Picks Awards for the QuietComfort 25 Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headphones.
Unlike the Corporate Brand award, Bose’s category was open to all brands, not just German ones. Here is the Top 10 for Best Product Brand:
- Bose
- Nivea
- Lindt
- LEGO
- Miele
- Coca-Cola
- Apple
- Samsung
- Persil
- Bosch
Other awards presented on the night included Nike being named Best Growth Brand, Hugo Boss winning Best Fashion Brand and Ferrero winning Best Italian Brand.