Best Brands Germany 2021: Winning brands convince consumers in the “New Normal”

For the 18th time, the strongest brands of the year were honored with the Best Brand Award yesterday evening which is the only study-based brand award in Germany. In a new, revised award structure, Bosch Power Tools won “Best Brand Overall,” Alnatura was honored as “Best Brand Health & Wellbeing,” and Samsung as “Best Brand Consumer Electronics. Amazon received the award for “Best Brand Customer Centricity”. The winners in the four award categories as well as the rankings from second to tenth place can be found in the attached chart.   

Virtual award ceremony with interactive elements

The award ceremony, hosted by well-known German presenter Katrin Bauerfeind, was implemented as a virtual gala with interactive elements and was filmed in the TV studios of the Seven.One Entertainment Group. Lidewij Edelkoort, one of the world’s best-known trend forecasters, spoke in an inspiring keynote on the topic of “A blank page for a new beginning”. The gala was concluded with an exclusive live performance by soul singer Joy Denalane. Over 800 guests from the worlds of business, commerce and the media registered and had the chance to watch the gala virtually and to make use of the interactive offerings, such as the moderated chat, for exchanges, discussions and questions for the speakers. The Best Brands College also took place on the virtual stage during the day of 24 February. Top-class speakers discussed the topic “The Best Brand Factor: Customer Centricity as the Core of Brand DNA”. (More information about the college here).

About the winners

Part of the new structure of the Best Brand Awards is the annually recurring “Best Brand Overall” category, which replaces the previous “Best Product Brand” category. Here, Bosch Power Tools won first place and impresses with, among other things, a high level of customer satisfaction: 72 percent of those surveyed said that they trust Bosch as a brand for electrical appliances – an absolute top position across all brands. LEGO and WMF follow in second and third place in the “Best Brands Overall” category.

The aim of the new award structure is to provide a flexible platform for both current social issues and marketing trends. In the categories “Best Brand Health & Wellbeing” and “Best Brand Consumer Electronics,” brands from areas of life that were of particular importance to consumers in the past year were analyzed.

Alnatura, market leader in the fast-growing organic food sector, was named “Best Brand Health & Wellbeing” ahead of Braun with its health technology products and Weleda natural cosmetics.

In the “Best Brand Consumer Electronics” category, focussing on the “Entertain & Work @ Home” sector, Samsung came out on top with its TV division and achieved the highest awareness values as a strong umbrella brand. Sony Playstation came in second place, ahead of GoPro in the action cam segment.

The category “Best Brand Customer Centricity” focused on a highly relevant brand management topic in disruptive times. Here, Amazon came in first, followed by Samsung Smartphones and DHL from the logistics services sector.

The winners were not decided by the subjective judgment of a jury, but exclusively by the consumers. Best Brands is the only marketing award to measure the strength of a brand on the basis of an extensive representative study by GfK using two criteria: actual commercial market success and the attractiveness of the brand as perceived by consumers.

Statements by the partners

Best Brands is jointly organized as a partner event by GfK, Seven.One Entertainment Group, Markenverband, WirtschaftsWoche, ZEIT Verlagsgruppe, RMS Radio Marketing Service, Media Impact and the Serviceplan Group.

Florian Haller, CEO Serviceplan Group: “In this extraordinary year, all of our lifestyles have changed fundamentally from one day to the next, and existing trends, such as growing digitalization, have once again accelerated at a very fast speed. Even though we unfortunately could not do it in the usual way, we are honored to celebrate the brands that have found successful answers to these challenges. To stand out and be honored in these challenging times in the eyes of consumers deserves the highest esteem.”

Michael Müller, President Northern, Central and Eastern Europe, GfK: “Best Brands is very special this year, not only because we honoured Germany’s best brands virtually for the first time. Especially in these uncertain times, strong brands provide support – if they also manage to consistently align their brand management to the changing needs of consumers. Today’s winning brands have excellently understood how to make life @home easier for people despite all the challenges of the pandemic, create positive experiences by addressing them individually, and thus strengthen the quality of relationships. We offer our warmest congratulations!”

Thomas Wagner, Managing Director and Chief Sales Officer Seven.One Entertainment Group: “The current COVID-19 situation naturally also has an impact on Best Brands: In 2020, the major brands had to react in an agile and specific way to the challenges of a pandemic and adapt communication measures accordingly in order to optimally reach consumers even during the lockdown phase. I’m all the more excited about the top-class winners this year, and I’m delighted that we can celebrate them in an innovative way as part of a virtual live event from the TV studios of Seven.One Entertainment Group!”

Franz-Peter Falke, President Markenverband e.V.: “For 18 years, Best Brands has honoured Germany’s best brands year after year. The fact that this selection of excellent brands depends solely on their economic market success and, at the same time, on the strength of their perception among consumers makes this German brand ranking authentic and attractive to this day. This year’s selection confirms that even in times of maximum uncertainty, brands provide reliable guidance with their brand quality and the communication of brand values, and enjoy unique brand trust among consumers.”

Andrea Wasmuth, Managing Director Handelsblatt Media Group: “In the exceptional year 2020, distance was required, but the longing for closeness and security was all the greater. Strong brands thus have a very special role to play; they offer security and orientation in uncertain times. They provide support and a sense of continuity in a world in which many things are constantly changing – and at the same time they themselves take the path of change. How to be successful in the midst of crisis is impressively demonstrated by the great brands honored this year with the Best Brands Award.”

Rainer Esser, Managing Director ZEIT Publishing Group: “The relationship between the most successful brands and their customers is based on trust: in a high-quality product and excellent service. Especially in times of crisis, people turn to brands they can rely on. This is reflected in the new award categories as well as in the Best Brands honored this year.” 

Marianne Bullwinkel, Spokesperson of the Management RMS Radio Marketing Service: “In recent months, it has become clearer than ever that trust is what makes the relationship between brands and their customers valuable and resilient. It has also been shown that innovations pay off in times of crisis. This year’s Best Brands again impressively highlighted and honoured both of these aspects.”

Carsten Schwecke, Chairman of the Management Board Media Impact: “No communication is no solution either – that’s why all those brands will emerge as winners from the COVID crisis that kept in touch with their customers last year instead of sending their brands into communication lockdown. This year’s Best Brands are shining examples in this regard as well.”

Source: Serviceplan

  Andrea Wasmuth, Best Brands Germany 2021, Franz-Peter Falke, Michael Müller, Thomas Wagner