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Funny Hudzerema Herald Correspondent—
The Herald has reaffirmed its position as Zimbabwe’s number one daily newspaper after it won the prestigious Super Brand of the Year 2015 Award in the print media category for the sixth year running.Star FM radio, also from the Zimpapers stable, held its own, winning the first prize in the electronic media category at the awards ceremony held last Friday. The Super Brand awards are organised by the Marketers Association of Zimbabwe.

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The Herald, Zimbabwe’s biggest daily, has come out tops in the print media category since the Super Brand awards were launched six years ago. First runner-up in the same category was Daily News, while NewsDay was the second runner-up.

Watch video here as Herald Editor Mr Zvayi speaks after receiving the 2014 Super Brand Print Media award…

In the electronic media category, DSTV was the first runner-up to Star FM, while ZIFM Stereo was the second runner-up. The triumph by The Herald came barely a few weeks after it was named the widest-read daily publication in urban centres by the latest independent survey done by the Zimbabwe Advertising Research Foundation.

The survey found that the newspaper was being read by 41 percent of the adult population in urban centres, up from 39 percent last year, well ahead of its competitors like Daily News and NewsDay.

Star FM was also named the most listened to radio station by the Zimbabwe Advertising Research Foundation at 36 percent of listenership in adult urban Zimbabweans, overtaking Radio Zimbabwe and Power FM which dominated the survey in previous years.

Apart from The Herald and Star FM, Zimpapers publishes a host of other titles namely: The Sunday Mail, The Manica Post, Chronicle, The Sunday News, H-Metro, B-Metro, Kwayedza and Southern Times, a joint venture with Namibian publishing house, New Era.

Speaking at the Super Brand awards ceremony, adjudication committee chairperson Mr Lance Jena said such type of awards was not unique to Zimbabwe. “Super brand awards aim to identify and pay tribute to exceptional brands by recognising, rewarding and reinforcing leading brands in Zimbabwe as rated by consumers,” he said.

“The awards are not unique to Zimbabwe alone, but this is an internationally adopted concept that is held annually in over 80 countries including all key global markets spread over Europe, Asia and Africa.

“One critical element that makes the super brands awards ‘The Awards’ in Zimbabwe is that it is a consumer-driven process where the participating brands are chosen and rated by the consumers through a nationwide consumer survey.”

Mr Jena said the brands were shortlisted in consultation with the researcher and auditor. He said the research covered all provinces of Zimbabwe, which included both urban and rural areas.

“A sample of 3 000 consumers was scientifically selected and was spread throughout Zimbabwe to ensure that it was a true reflective of the whole population,” said Mr Jena. “After these processes, the research was results were presented to the adjudicating committee for final adoption. The major role of the adjudicating committee was to give an independent oversight into the process.”

In his remarks, guest of honour and Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment Minister Patrick Zhuwao called on local companies to use new technologies to develop indigenous brands, which assist in economic development and job creation.

“There is need to go back to our rural areas and promote local brands which exist there and use local resources in those areas to come up with indigenous brands, which can be recognised internationally,” he said. “We must not shun our own locally-made products, but it is our duty to market them.”

In some of the categories, Chicken Inn was adjudged the winner in the fast foods category, followed by Chicken Slice in second place and Nandos in third. CBZ Bank was adjudged the Super Brand of the Year in the banking category, while SeedCo scooped the best award in agricultural inputs category.

Delta Corporation was voted best in the beverages category on the strength of its top brands Chibuku Super and Coca-Cola, which came out tops in the alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages categories, respectively. In the bakery and confectionary category, Lobels bread was the winner, followed by Baker’s Inn bread in second place and Proton bread in third.