MUMBAI: In its efforts to give the Indian consumer a voice, Awaaz, the Hindi consumer channel, has announced the launch of consumer preference poll for India’s best brands called ‘Awaaz Consumer Vote 2005’.
Leading researcher AC Nielsen ORG MARG has conducted the research spanning 22 service categories across the country in 21 locations with about 7,000 people participating in the survey.
The locations adequately represent the heterogeneous nature of India in terms of geography (zones) and population size (town classes - metros, mini-metros and class I towns). Over 7,000 respondents covering all strata of society will decide on the brands available in the country, says a Press release.
The market scenario comprises the modern Indian customer who is a well-informed individual and has the freedom to choose from many brands available in the market.
The power to choose, to spend and the power to make or break a brand all rest with the consumer ultimately. In such a scenario, brand building has become much more vital and much harder than ever before.
Keeping in mind the Indian scenario, Awaaz has taken the route to arrive at a list of the 'most preferred brands' for the consumer for each of the product categories covered in this study. Banks, FMCG, consumer durables, telecom and automobiles are among the 22 service categories that the poll will cover.
“Preferred” brand rather than “favourite” brand was the parameter captured in this study, since preference is deemed to reflect experiential and thereby more realistic responses. To a great extent, preference also indicates future intentions of repeat purchases.
Spontaneous responses rather than prompted responses were taken in to bring out unbiased preferences with the intention of capturing “memorable” brands.
According to Awaaz marketing head Ajay Chacko, “The Indian market is becoming a buyer’s market where a multitude of brands give the customer the power to choose. Brand building and sustenance is even more vital now.
"Through this study, Awaaz stands by its proposition of being the ‘Voice of the Indian Consumer’. We would like to capture the attributes that make a brand popular. The survey will inform consumers of the most preferred brand while at the same time making the advertisers and manufacturers aware of parameters on which a particular brand is preferred by consumer over other brands.”
To arrive at the results, adults in the age group of 18-60 years comprising males and females belonging to SEC A, B and C households in different parts of the country. A large-scale quantitative research technique will be adopted to carry out the research among the target respondents.
The consumer vote survey will culminate in a Consumer Awards Ceremony in June 2005 that will voice the consumer’s opinion.
The results will be documented in a research handbook co-authored by Awaaz and AC Nielsen ORG MARG which will be published in June 2005.
