Toyota is Car Brand of Choice for SA Business
Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) has clinched top spot in the Sunday Times Top Brands 2017 awards as the best regarded car brand in the Business category. In the past two years TSAM had won consecutive awards as the best car brand in the Consumer category. The 2017 survey results were announced at a glittering gathering in Parktown (Johannesburg) on Wednesday, identifying top brands in the business and consumer spheres based on thousands of interviews.
The survey, conducted by Kantar TNS, has for nearly 20 years been one of South Africa’s leading barometers of consumer brand sentiment. The nineteenth instalment saw a total of 44 awards being announced at this year’s event.
“As TSAM we are both proud and humbled to be winners of the Sunday Times Top Brand award in the Car category for Business. This is, indeed, a significant accomplishment for the Toyota brand. The ability to achieve a strong position and forge ahead in a rather challenging economic climate is what distinguishes Toyota from other brands. We are eternally grateful to the South African market for their unwavering support, and it remains our philosophy and mission to create smiles whenever we interact with our customers,” says Calvyn Hamman, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at TSAM.
The winning brands are voted for by consumers and business decision-makers who rank them as being the best in their categories in a nationwide survey. According to Tiso Blackstar Group – parent company of the Sunday Times – to be a top brand, your company must be one that lives within the minds and hearts of both existing and potential clients.
The 2017 survey polled no less than 3 500 individuals – aged 18 years and older – in both metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas of South Africa to establish a ranking of Top Brands in 32 consumer categories. Similarly, 468 business leaders and decision-makers were interviewed to establish the Top Brands across 12 Business categories. The sample also consisted of C-level business decision-makers – including CEOs, CFOs and COOs – from organisations of all sizes across the country
Reardon Sanderson, General Manager of Sales and Marketing at Tiso Blackstar Group, says, “Consumers and businesses are under increasing pressure to manage their budgets. The Top Brands survey provides valuable consumer insights to equip marketers in planning their campaigns more effectively and with far greater knowledge of the factors that influence consumer spending and brand loyalty. The survey intelligence is essential for advertisers.”
Hamman adds that while TSAM’s sales and marketing teams find the recognition most rewarding, none of the organisation’s achievements would have been possible without everyone rallying behind the Toyota brand. “We all acknowledge the huge role played by all the traditional custodians and ambassadors of our brand – including Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan, all the departments at the head office, colleagues at the Prospecton plant and our dealer network across Southern Africa. This award is also proof of what can be achieved when we work together as a team,” he says.
ViaL Toyota South Africa