Brand satisfaction generally involves only the following five variables:
* Price.
* Quality.
* Features.
* Customer service.
* Technical support.
It should not be confused with brand recognition, which is the most basic form of knowledge customers have about brands, company name and logos or with brand awareness, which involves a deeper understanding of the products, services and quality that the company provides and the core principles which govern its corporate strategy.
Finally, while customers may be highly satisfied with the products from Company A, this does not guarantee that they will exhibit strong brand loyalty. This is readily apparent as companies seek to maximise profits by finding the best possible products at the cheapest possible prices.
In terms of results published in this HSS Top 10 Special Report, a distinction should be made between the results of A&S's methodology for its Top Trustworthy Security Brands and HSS's methodology for its Top 10 Security Brands Survey.
The A&S process was a more sophisticated one, based on a shortlist of global players which met the following broad criteria:
1. Broadly international, eg, from US to Europe.
2. Minimum three-year security brand.
3. Minimum annual marketing budget.
4. Minimum annual sales income.
Brands that qualified were then listed in the A&S Top Trustworthy Security Brands, You Determine online survey sent to system integrators, distributors, wholesalers, designers and agents from the A&S database together with buyers who attended SecuTech Expo in 2002, 2003 and 2004. A&S designed 12 questions regarding brand awareness, purchase experience and intent to buy, brand experience and media effect.
* Brand awareness indicated market position, and basic knowledge and recognition of the brand.
* Purchase experience and intent to buy indicated brand purchases in the past 12 months as well as intent to buy in the next six months.
* Brand experience thoroughly evaluated how satisfied customers were with brands following an assessment of media effect in promoting those brands.
HSS took the SAME shortlist of security brands, in the SAME categories, and then polled the visitor base to South Africa's biggest security expo, Securex 2005, as well as its own database of system integrators, distributors, wholesalers, designers and agents. However HSS's questions were limited to brand awareness (an indication of market position, and basic knowledge and recognition of the brand).
Even with this distinction in mind, it is astonishing how closely the A&S and HSS Brand Surveys relate to each other. The message is clear. Global brands are global brands for very simple reasons. They marry price, quality, features, customer service and technical support in a compelling package, and then commit R&D, procurement, marketing and promotional budgets in support of their sales and distributions networks ... and ... and ...
Simple hey.
Top 10 security services brands in South Africa 2005
1 Chubb
2 ADT (Sentry)
3 Coin Security (Rebhold)
4 Fidelity
5 Securicor Gray
6 Magnum Shield (Bidvest)
7 SBV
8 Group 4 Falck (Callguard, Federal)
9 Command
10 Enforce
Top 10 fire brands in South Africa 2005
1 Siemens
2 Honeywell
3 Aritech
4 Ziton
5 Fire Wolf
6 Apollo
7 Kentec
8 Notifier
9 Vision Systems
10 Kidde
In South Africa, end-user survey brands such as Hygood, Hochiki, KAC, Fulleon, Ansul and Ginge Kerr were just outside of the local Top 10.
Top 10 CCTV brands
ASMAG's 2005 rankings had CBC, Dallmeier, Kodicom and Videotec just outside of their Top 10 brands, whilst South Africa's ranking had Reditron, Advanced Digital Devices, Hitachi, Samsung Techwin, Betatech, and Grundig just outside of its Top 10. Reditron is noteworthy as it has become a brand itself, in the midst of the global brands that it distributes. A second tier of CCTV brands, in a heavily traded market included Mitsubishi, Tamron, Vidamax, Axis Communications, Dedicated Micros, Vista, Nice Vision, Vision Catcher, Vision Systems, CBC, GKB, Sensormatic and Videor Technical. Surprisingly, Pelco (which was more highly rated by distributors and system integrators) was not ranked highly in terms of end-users brand awareness.
Outside of the primary principals such as Panasonic, Bosch, Siemens, Sony, Honeywell, Sanyo and others, the major suppliers of the CCTV brands were listed as Reditron, Eagle Technology, Elvey Security Technologies, Frank Street, Pentagon, CMT, View-A-Vision, Regal, RGB Technologies, Modular Communications, SCS Distribution, Rainbow Communications, Vision Catcher, Multivid, Security and Fire Projects, and Provicom.
Top 10 access control brands
ASMAG's 2005 rankings had Lenel just outside of their Top 10 brands, whilst South Africa's Motorola Indala, Cardax, GE Security and GSC were just outside of the local Top 10. Sagem, Handkey, and Identix were the most recognised biometric brands with Sagem a clear leader.
Top 10 alarm and intercom brands
ASMAG's 2005 rankings had Tyco (ADT), Paradox and Pyronix just outside of their Top 10 brands, whilst South Africa's CADDX, SurGard, Pyronix, GE Security, Alarmcom, NAPCO, Optex, CROW and Rokonet were just outside of the local Top 10.
Next month: Hi-Tech Security Solutions covers the Top 10 Most Influential. Covering the top 10 most influential companies in key security sectors, this feature is a continuation of the Top 10 series celebrating Hi-Tech's 10th anniversary.
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