Eros Group named best brand in the UAE

Electronics retailer and distributor comes top out of 12,000 in Superbrands event.

DJ Babani, the Eros Group chief executive, centre, celebrates with other officials after being named the Brand of the Year by Superbrands. Picture courtesy Sharon Divan

Eros Group was voted the best brand in the UAE last night after being whittled down from over 12,000 brands to a shortlist of 1,368.

Independent arbiter Superbrands asked the chief executives and marketing directors of the shortlist to vote on the brands with Eros Group, the electronics retailer and distributor, coming out on top.

The company has 33 outlets in the UAE.

“Ten years ago our turnover was Dh600 million, today it is Dh5 billion,” said Niranjan Gidwani, deputy chief executive of Eros Group.

“We have been retailing for 48 years but realised we were understated and by using advertising and other media channels we have become a destination for electronics customers. We never say what we cannot do, we only offer what we can achieve, we are open and honest with our customers and I think that has been shown this evening.

“Yes we have spent on promoting ourselves but we have raised our turnover more than seven times.”

While branding can be helped by advertising, the message from the evening suggested that it is merely a tool that can help raise a profile but not build a brand.

“Advertising raises awareness, it does not create a brand,” said Mike English, director of Superbrands. “Branding is about an emotional connection with your customer. A brand has to deliver three things to its user: comfort – they have to be comfortable buying the product, there should be no black marks against it; trust – it has to be trusted through family or friends, word of mouth is very important; delivery on its promise – it has to do what it claims or a brand will die, like fashion.”

Adnoc Distribution picked up one of the other 55 awards handed out.

“This just puts more pressure on us,” said Abdulla Al Dhaheri, chief executive of Adnoc Distribution. “We constantly evaluate our position by benchmarking our brand. We may not have a lot of competition in the country but we want to be the best regardless.”

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