SLIM Brand Excellence Archives

February 25, 2022

SLIM Brand Excellence 2021 concluded in a grand gala event on 9th February at Monarch Imperial, seeing the participation of over 400 corporates in the marketing fraternity of Sri Lanka. The esteemed national-level awards ceremony was graced by Spa Ceylon Co-Founder Mr. Shalin Balasuriya as the Chief Guest and Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) Past President Mr. Dehan Seneviratne as the Guest of Honour.

Welcoming guests to SLIM Brand Excellence 2021, SLIM President Ms. Thilanka Abeywardena shared: “For two decades, SLIM Brand Excellence has taken the lead in recognizing visionary, progressive marketers of the future. Brands play a key role in the country’s economy. With the Covid-19 pandemic, in 2020 we launched ‘Restart Sri Lanka’ and in 2021 we launched the ‘Future-Ready Sri Lanka’ campaign to create smart, future-ready marketers in our country through upskilling, innovation, and education. As I always say, while it is a great achievement to win at SLIM Brand Excellence, I believe applying for this scientific process itself is a win for any brand.”

A total of 39 brands were awarded Gold, Silver, and Bronze under five main categories (Product Brand, Service Brand, Global Brand, Local Brand, and Export Brand of the Year) and eight special categories (Innovative Brand, Turnaround Brand, Best New Entrant, B2B Brand, CSR Brand, Online Brand, SME Local Brand, and SME Export Brand of the Year).

Munchee of Ceylon Biscuits Ltd. (CBL) emerged victorious as the “Brand of the Year”, chalking up the highest points among all winning brands under 05 main categories.

Brands this year were judged by an elite 22-member Panel of Jury headed by Imal Fonseka. Commenting on this year’s SLIM Brand Excellence, Fonseka noted: “I was pleasantly surprised as we looked at the cases and saw how company after company, brand after brand had taken on this challenge head-on. I’ve been involved in Brand Excellence since 2012, but I’ve never been in a jury where case after case, both the content and presentation, were of such exceptional value.”

Themed “Beyond the Next Frontier” to reflect the commendable resilience of brands and companies, the 20th edition of SLIM Brand Excellence marked the highest number of entries and brand participation in the history of the awards, recording 121 entries from 82 brands.

SLIM Brand Excellence 2021 Project Chairman Manthika Ranasinghe shared: “I feel honoured and privileged to have received the opportunity to lead the 20th edition of SLIM Brand Excellence project this year. We kick-started the 20^th edition nine months ago by changing the blueprint of this programme. This year, we encouraged a lot of brands to take part, and as a result, we were able to achieve the highest brand participation ever in the 20 years of SLIM Brand Excellence. I invite all brand custodians here today to join us for next year’s Brand Excellence.”

February 17, 2022

Premium Ceylon Tea brand Basilur Tea took home two prestigious awards at the recently held SLIM Brand Excellence 2021, with Basilur Tea winning the Gold award for the “Export Brand of the Year” and Tipson winning the Silver award for the “Turnaround Brand of the Year”.

Resonating well with this year’s theme of “Beyond the Next Frontier”, Basilur Tea took up the challenge to claim the title of “Export Brand of the Year”. The renowned tea brand attributes this achievement to its research & development efforts, consistent quality maintenance, wide variety of premium tea blends, sophisticated packaging designs, and most importantly, the passion and commitment of the Basilur team.

Tipson, the natural, organic herbal infusions brand of Basilur Tea Exports (Pvt) Ltd., within a very short time span turned around the challenges faced by the brand to win the Silver award for the “Turnaround Brand of the Year”. Having currently established its footprint in the US, Trinidad, Chile, Russia, the UK, and many other parts of the world – and looking to expand further into more untapped global markets – the youthful brand’s innovative, purpose-driven thinking to promote health and wellbeing across borders was brought to the spotlight at the 20^th edition of SLIM Brand Excellence.

Each year, an esteemed Jury Panel rigorously evaluates and awards Sri Lankan brands for their outstanding efforts across various industries. Since 2010, Basilur Tea has been recognized and awarded multiple times as a leading export brand in Sri Lanka at SLIM Brand Excellence.

Basilur Tea was founded in 2006 by Dr. Gamini Abeywickrama, a seasoned tea taster with decades of experience in tea producing and exporting Ceylon Tea under his belt, and supported by Andrey Mareev, its Creative Director, since inception. All Basilur Tea blends and Tipson herbal infusions are produced meeting stringent quality and hygiene standards while inculcating best industry practices that maximize production standards.

Today, Basilur Tea boasts a consumer base from over 85 countries, offering an array of unique products close to 1,000. The company strongly believes that the tea-drinking experience should be an everyday celebration that brings family and friends together.

Basilur Tea currently has 14 boutique shops in four countries. All Basilur Tea products are available for purchase at three exclusive shops at Liberty Plaza, Colombo City Centre, and Riff Hikkaduwa Hotel and alsovia www.basilurtea.com/tipsontea.com.

October 14, 2021

With the call for submissions for the 21^st SLIM Brand Excellence announced, the important process of formulating the application begins. As the pioneer brand awards in Sri Lanka, hundreds of brands have competed at SLIM Brand Excellence over the years, vying for the glory of being the best brand in the respective industry.

As such, there are several key areas that should be highlighted, which would encourage the entry submission for brand custodians.

The foremost query is about the judging process. Speaking on behalf of the panel of jury, Head of Jury for SLIM Brand Excellence, Mr. Imal Fonseka emphasized that utmost care is taken to recruit well-experienced and practical practitioners among peers in order to ensure that the cases are evaluated with accuracy and appropriately. “Jury bias is a mere perception, and not a reality,” he clarified.

SLIM Brand Excellence has been conducted for over two decades, and the number of applications have been increasing tremendously each year. Many brands are regular applicants, as they understand the importance of an annual brand check that they can conduct through the application process. The point of data protection and confidentiality emerges when any brand considers entering a competition. However, the success of SLIM Brand Excellence and competitiveness among brands, portray the trust placed by corporate entities in the awards as well as SLIM.

Mr. Sanath Senanayake, CEO of SLIM explained that SLIM takes every measure required to ensure that the applications and data are kept under utmost care and maintain their confidentiality. “The documents are stored in the respective division, with access given only to two persons. That too is recorded, if they happen to retrieve them. Therefore, brand custodians need not fear, as data cannot be proliferated,” he said.

In response to what additional recognition or benefits brands receive by applying for SLIM Brand Excellence, Mr. Senanayake added, “The objective of SLIM Brand Excellence is not only to award the best brands, but to develop them to compete in the global market. To be elevated to such a level, a brand needs a solid strategy, which would be compelling enough to compete in the fierce market out there”. Accordingly, the process of applying for SLIM Brand Excellence takes the brand custodians through an understanding of their own brand, as well as where they stand in relation to their competition. This will educate them on how to further craft their brand.

The application and supplying of information for SLIM Brand Excellence alone is a learning curve. In addition, brand custodians are required to present it before an eminent panel of judges, where they face questions and receive feedback, which is impetus to the development of any brand.

Winning an accolade at SLIM Brand Excellence is considered a great achievement. However, it is never hinged on the capacity of the organization, the annual revenue nor its people. What will give an edge to an entry is the accurate completion of the application and the presentation of exceptional results, which are validated by an independent research organization. The case presented before the panel of jury has to be compelling; illustrating how well the brand has done, as opposed to the competition. In sum, what will give a winning edge is not the stability of the organization but the stature of the brand.

Presenting validated market research is a key component in the entry of SLIM Brand Excellence submission. Independently verified data, together with published information from other sources will ensure that entries would not be rejected. “As brand custodians, simply ask yourselves as to how you would compare yourself with the competition? How do you know that you have done well? These measurements and data are with you. So present them,” encourages Mr. Fonseka.

The SLIM Brands Excellence entry form follows the process of a substantial marketing plan. To brands that already have one, the application process will not be tedious. However, those who require further clarification, especially the first time applicants, can reach out to SLIM and attend the training programme conducted specifically for the entry submission of SLIM Brand Excellence.

January 29, 2021

Colombo, 29^th January 2021:

Daraz, with a value proposition of ‘Any product you need, under one digital roof’, was awarded Silver under the Online Brand of the Year category, at the SLIM Brand Excellence awards held recently. There was no Gold award granted for the category this year. With more than 3 million orders delivered as of 2020, it comes as no surprise that Daraz is the go to for many online shoppers across the island.

Ranked as the #1 app on PlayStore and Apple store in the shopping category, Daraz is also in the Top Three e-commerce brands in Sri Lanka according to LMD Brands Annual 2020, and the third most popular website in the country according to Sri Lanka Digital Outlook 2020. The largest online marketplace in the country was also named the Most Visible Brand on Social Media in Sri Lanka by Asia Pacific Institute of Digital Marketing, and placed among the top 20 most popular apps in Sri Lanka according to Sri Lanka Digital Outlook 2020.

Daraz entered the Sri Lankan market when online purchases were primarily limited to electronics. However, Daraz continued to build a fully functional market place, creating a platform where buyers and sellers from across the country are connected on Daraz, and offering products from a large variety of categories. Having identified this as the key space to occupy in the market and accounting for the fact that online purchases only accounted for 1% of the Rs. 300bn retail market, Daraz proceeded to dominate the online market.

Speaking of the recognition at SLIM Brand Excellence Heshan Perera, Head of Marketing at Daraz stated, “Daraz has always aimed to ensure ease, accessibility and overall customer satisfaction and convenience. By closely studying global market trends across categories, observing consumer behavior, trialing new categories and active engagement with both our merchant and customers, we are confident that we’ll motivate more Sri Lankans to adopt a digital commerce lifestyle. Being awarded the Silver Award as the Online Brand of the Year is an honor and one that we will continue to better in the future.”

One of the key differentiators of Daraz is that it provides the opportunity for any merchant to sell products via their platform, resulting in the availability of over 3 million products for their consumers to choose from. Daraz caters to the masses through their plethora of payment options, some of the lowest prices and the ease of access online and offline through Daraz stores.

The digital infrastructure of commerce in Sri Lanka faced significant hurdles centered around consumer distrust of online spending. By understanding these concerns Daraz aimed at finding solutions so as to motivate consumers to move to online purchasing. By ensuring the fast fulfillment of orders through their own logistics company with 23 centers around Sri Lanka and partnering with the Sri Lanka Post Office so customers can return products with ease.

In addition, Daraz aims to create a sustainable marketplace, ensure security to all parties engaged in the transaction and abide by viable business practices that will grow the economy. Daraz has taken steps to facilitate this by reducing the carbon impact and environmental damage of traditional business by moving engagement to an online platform, providing a secure online marketplace, curating a range of options for the consumers benefit; through which vendors of different sizes can partake in an inclusive economic environment and enabling businesses to capitalize on the opportunity of broadening their customer base through a digital platform.

Daraz online shopping, has a clear and objectivized brand recall plan. For consumers, it is strategic and beneficial as a true marketplace with endless possibilities and options, and eliminating border limitations. To businesses it is a digital partner who is invested in developing their own business through innovative revenue channels, and lastly to the state, a catalyst in the propulsion of economic digitization

July 27, 2020

The 19^th SLIM Brand Excellence Awards, the only awards ceremony that recognizes brands for their performance, will be held in November this year, under the theme ‘Survive the Odds’. This year’s awards are a clarion call for brands and brand custodians to come forward and present their stories of progress and resilience in times of adversity.

Sri Lanka has experienced one of the toughest financial years in its recent history with one catastrophe following another. The COVID-19 pandemic badly impacted on the economy that was just beginning to rise like a phoenix from the ashes of the terrorist attacks in early 2019. Brands have undergone the tests of strength, perseverance, and sustainability as never before, while experiencing hardships of the negative aspects that adversely impacted several global markets simultaneously. Taking the current situation into consideration, SLIM has themed this year’s Brand Excellence Awards to recognize brands that have thrived during times of adversity, which is the true test of a brand promise. It will be the ideal platform to bring forward brands of all categories that have upheld their values despite the unfavourable times, and ensured that consumer confidence was preserved.

SLIM Brand Excellence Awards 2020 will be presented under a total of 13 categories; inclusive of 6 Main Awards and 7 Special Awards. The main award categories are the Product Brand of the Year, Service Brand of the Year, Innovative Brand of the Year, International Brand of the Year, Local Brand of the Year and Export Brand of the Year. The special awards include Turnaround Brand of the Year, Best New Entrant of the Year, B2B Brand of the Year, CSR Brand of the Year, Online Brand of the Year, SME Local Brand of the Year and SME Export Brand of the Year. The brands that score highest in the six main categories will be considered for the ultimate Brand of the Year Award.

Entries for SLIM Brand Excellence Awards can be submitted until 31st August 2020 by online submission via www.be.slim.lk. The SLIM Brand Excellence Awards ceremony will be held on 4 November 2020 at the Shangri La, Colombo.

Speaking of the event, President of SLIM, Roshan Fernando stated, “SLIM Brand Excellence has continued to be the only awards ceremony that recognizes brands and brand custodians for the remarkable efforts they create in the marketing industry. As, the national body for marketing in the country, we are proud that we have been able to continue the event for the 19th consecutive year, despite the current situation in the country as well as around the world. As the thought leader of Restart Sri Lanka, the national initiative to reinvigorate the economy of the country, we are ready to highlight the brands that have continued to maintain their caliber throughout these hard times, as they deserve the utmost recognition”.

Vice President of SLIM, Thilanka Abeywardena added, “The SLIM team and the Brand Excellence project committee have taken on a bigger challenge this year. Together we have taken a decision to continue with all our national events, since we understand the need to continuously encourage and reward our brands and enterprises, if we are to overcome adverse situations”.

Gayan Perera, the Project Chairperson of SLIM Brand Excellence 2020 and Hon. Assistant Secretary at SLIM emphasized that the objective of this year’s event was to draw out the stories of resilience that brands have to share. “We want to reward those brands and their custodians for the immense effort they have put in to safeguard their brand performances, as we all know it has not been ‘business-as-usual’ in any industry across the island and the globe. We also want to make this a platform of inspiration for many other brands out there, to learn and progress from these success stories”.

“We as the jury are actually excited to see what the brands have to present to us and look forward to some amazing stories of perseverance. The awards are categorized in such a way that it enables many brands to enter the Brand Excellence awards, and we expect a higher number of entries this year,” commented Dileep Mudandeniya, Head of Jury for SLIM Brand Excellence 2020.

As the national body of marketing in the country, the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) serves to generate initiatives in order to encourage strategic and result-oriented thinking in the fields of brand development, sales, advertising and research through national level events such as, the SLIM Brand Excellence Awards, NASCO, the Effies and the People’s Awards.

December 11, 2017

Wins Merit Award for Innovative Brand of the Year

Waves, Sri Lanka’s only natural flip-flops, won the Merit Award for The Innovative Brand of the Year, for its novel concept Make your own Waves, at the recently concluded 16^th SLIM Brand Excellence Awards.

Nominated from among 12 contestants in a highly competitive category the campaign was a first in Sri Lanka. Echoing the brand’s unique and innovative identity, it was launched in October 2016.

Make your own Waves was a concept which focused on the ever strong ideology of ‘Identity’ and highlighted the values that drive youth to create their own space; uniqueness, customization, choices and personality. The campaign encouraged customers to build and showcase their personal creativity and taste by allowing them to forge their own flip-flop. A wide range of soles and straps were available to choose from and you could mix and match to suit your taste. The mobile workshop enabled you to literally produce the flip-flop of your choice.

The execution of the campaign was made more exciting with the mobile store and workshop which came in the guise of a colourful modified VW Kombi. The brightly painted van stood out wherever it went, yet again emphasizing the creation of distinct identity, just like Waves. Transferring the simplicity of a flip-flop into a trendy identity marker, Waves has continued to be innovative in all aspect of its product as well as in its distinct branding.

Created especially for the youth and settling perfectly with the carefree island culture, Waves was a breakthrough in the footwear industry from its very inception. The brand set a fashion trend by making flip-flops a ‘cool’ fashion accessory.

November 29, 2017

Huawei, the number one growing smartphone brand in Sri Lanka, won the bronze award in the International Brand of the Year category, at the recently concluded SLIM Brand Excellence gala awards ceremony held at BMICH Colombo. Themed “‘Exhibit Your Masterpiece’” the awards ceremony recognised best brands and rewarded brand custodians in Sri Lanka. Huawei was also the only smartphone company to win an award at this year’s ceremony.

Nominations were judged based on the criteria which leveraged on aspects of brand performance, content, process and financial performance among other things.

Within the short span of 5 years, Huawei Consumer Business Group has connected with the hearts of local customers and as a result has achieved the number one fastest growing smartphone status in Sri Lanka. Furthermore, Huawei’s dynamic partnership with its Exclusive National Distributor Singer Sri Lanka has positioned it as the number one quality smartphone in the country.

Shunli Wang CEO Huawei Sri Lanka said, “Huawei has built a reputation as an innovative smartphone brand while focusing on delivering value to the market together with our local partners. Our national distributor Singer which has the widest network in Sri Lanka helps Huawei penetrate all parts of the island, while offering the consumer a delightful experience in the process”. He further added, “This achievement is a result of hard work and commitment to drive business growth, together with an exceptional team at Huawei and our ever growing customer base who are the ultimate ambassadors of our brand”.

In Q1 2017, HUAWEI’s market share rose to 9.8 percent of the global smartphone market, according to industry analysts IDC. This growth was driven by a significant increase in sales of mid-range and high-end smartphones in key geographies. Sales revenue for the first six months of 2017 increased by 36.2% year-on-year to Chinese Yuan 105.4 billion. Early in September Huawei surpassed Apple to become the number two smartphone brand in the world. This is a phenomenal achievement for the brand.

In 2017, HUAWEI was ranked 83 in the Top 100 of the Latest Fortune 500 List and number 88 in Forbes World’s Most Valuable Brands list recently. The brand was ranked number 49 on BrandZ’s Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands and number 40 on the Brand Finance Global 500 Most Valuable Brands lists. Huawei has also achieved the No. 70 status on Interbrand’s Best Global Brands list in 2017. In Sri Lanka, Huawei is edging closer to become the number one smartphone brand with a strong market share of over 30% according to GfK report.

SLIM Brand Excellence 2021 concludes on a grand note

Basilur Tea and Tipson win two prestigious titles at SLIM Brand Excellence 2021

Applicants’ guide to SLIM Brand Excellence

Daraz awarded Online Brand of the Year – Silver at SLIM Brand Excellence

The Restart of SLIM Brand Excellence Invites Brands to share their stories of perseverance.

Waves flip-flops ‘make waves’ at SLIM Brand Excellence

Huawei wins at SLIM Brand Excellence