A nationwide research with about 7000 consumers spanning 21 cities and 21 product and service categories was collated to arrive at the most preferred brands in the country for the year 2004 –2005.

Though the awards function, held on a day that saw a steady drizzle cool the capital’s temperatures, was supposed to be presided over by civil aviation minister Praful Patel, he couldn’t grace the occasion on account of a Cabinet meet called on short notice. However, the presence of noted film actress and social activist Shabana Azmi, film-maker and daughter of former home minister LK Advani, Pratibha, and top honchos from the corporate world more than made up for Patel’s absence. Jaaved Jafferi was the emcee for the evening.

Speaking about the unique survey to identify the most popular brands, Ajay Chacko, Head - Marketing CNBC
TV18 said, “India is increasingly metamorphosing into a buyer’s market where a multitude of brands give the
customer the power to choose. Brand building and sustenance is even more vital, today given the current
competitive market scenario.”

He further added, “The survey was conducted with an aim to inform consumers about the most preferred brand; the attributes that they preferred over a multitude of brands in various categories, in unison with creating an awareness among advertisers and manufacturers about the parameters on which a particular brand is preferred by
consumers over other brands.”

Commenting at the awards ceremony, Sarang Panchal, ED, ACNielsen ORG-MARG said, "The Awaaz Consumer Vote research conducted by AC Nielsen ORG MARG is one of the largest of its kind and covers what marketers are looking at very keenly - the emerging aspirations of key geographies and consumer segments and its implications for leading brands."

The results of the ‘Awaaz Consumer Vote Awards 2005’ will be documented in the Awaaz – AC Nielsen ORG-MARG Research Handbook. The following were the winners at ‘Awaaz Consumer Vote Awards 2005’:

Category Preferred brand
Banks SBI
Insurance LIC
Non-Life Insurance National Insurance & New India
Assurance
Mutual Funds UTI Mutual Fund
Credit Cards ICICI Bank
Housing Loan ICICI
Auto Loan ICICI
Television LG Electronics India Ltd
Refrigerator Godrej
Washing Machine Videocon & LG Electronics India Ltd
Wrist Watches Titan
Cell phone Nokia
Cellular service Airtel
Detergents Rin
Toothpastes Colgate
Toilet soaps Lux
Readymade garments LEE
Investment advisors Sharekhan
Employers Tata Group
Two wheelers Hero Honda
Cars Maruti Udyog Limited

Selection Criteria

• Respondents belonging to the age group of 18-60 years comprising of males and females belonging to SEC A, B & C households from different parts of the country were selected. A large-scale quantitative research
technique was adopted to carry out the research among the target respondents.
• ‘Preferred’ brand rather than ‘favourite’ brand was the parameter captured, in this study as preference was deemed to reflect experiential and thereby more realistic responses. Preference also indicated future
intentions of repeat purchases.
• Spontaneous responses rather than prompted responses were taken in to bring out unbiased preferences with the intention to capture ‘memorable’ brands.
• Opinions were garnered from owners rather than non-owners of the said categories with the view to elicit ‘experiential’responses, likely to be more realistic/grounded in nature.
• Among youth, preferred career options rather than specific brands were captured as this is likely to provide more meaningful insights into future proclivity while opinions on brands (institutes) were likely to be undecided.

Awaaz is TV18 Group’s Hindi channel and the only consumer channel in India.