CNBC AWAAZ honors India's most preferred brands'

CNBC AWAAZ, India's No. 1 business channel, honoured "India's Most Preferred Brands' at the sixth edition of "Consumer Awards 2010' held at the Taj Lands End, Mumbai yesterday. Honourable Finance Minister of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee presented the awards to the winners. The theme of this year's awards was aptly titled "Made for India, Made by India and Made in India', celebrating not only the popularity of India's winning brands but also honoring the people who have dedicated themselves to make these brands admirable in the minds of the consumer.

Speaking on the occasion, Hon. Finance Minister, Shri Pranab Mukherjee said, "I am very happy to be here today in Mumbai for the presentation of the CNBC Consumer Awards. I am told that these awards are based on an exhaustive consumer survey done by M/S Nielsen across 21 cities spanning 12 states. The awardees deserve the accolades due as they achieved this in the face of an economic downturn in 2008 ' 2009 which was a difficult year for most companies and sectors. As the saying goes, when the going gets tough, the tough gets going."

The Finance Minister also said, "The awardees must be given their share of credit for the fast paced and robust economic recovery that Indian economy exhibited in 2009 ' 10. By recognizing and awarding those who have excelled in adverse conditions, we not only acknowledge their exemplary accomplishments, but also inspire the younger generation to follow suit. This is one of the effective ways of cultivating and perpetuating excellence. And with such a spirit of excellence, we may be able to realize the dream of a developed India sooner. I once again congratulate the award winners."

Further, Mr. Sanjay Pugalia, Editor in Chief, CNBC AWAAZ said, "CNBC AWAAZ was launched 5 years ago with the aim of democratization of wealth and investor protection, investor education and consumer empowerment. These are the four pillars that our channel stands on. In the past four years the business channel viewership has quadrupled and CNBC AWAAZ has been a catalyst in that."

He also added, "CNBC AWAAZ felicitated advertisers, creative agencies, media agencies and marketers. Our findings are based on a democratic process by a third agency, The Nielsen Company. This is a real recognition of those who have done good work and honoured the consumer."

Apart from the Finance Minister, the event was attended by some of the biggest names in the Indian Business and Marketing Communications Industry namely, Nitin Paranje, CEO, Hindustan Unilever Ltd.; Kishore Biyani, Founder & Group CEO, Future Group; Sanjay Kapoor, CEO, Bharti Airtel Ltd.; Alok Gupta, Director, Café Coffee Day; Anil Dua, Senior Vice-President (Marketing and Sales), Hero Honda Motors; Mayank Pareekh, Executive Officer (Marketing & Sales), Maruti Suzuki; Ajit Varghese, MD, Maxus; Chanda Kochar, MD & CEO, ICICI Bank Ltd.; O P Bhatt, Chairman, State Bank of India; TS Vijayan, Chairman, LIC; V. Vaidyanathan, CEO & MD, ICICI-Prudential (India); Kuldeep Goyal, Chairman & MD, BSNL; Bhargav Dasgupta, MD & CEO, ICICI Lombard; PRP Nair, Senior Advisor, RK Swamy BBDO; Marcelo Villagran, MD, Bata India Ltd; Colvyn Harris, CEO, JWT; Sam Balsara, CMD, Madison Communications; R Gowthaman, MD, Mindshare India, Ambi M G Parameswaran, ED & CEO, Draftfcb Ulka Advertising, Mumbai; Arvind Sharma, Chairman & CEO, Leo Burnett; R Balki, Chairman & CCO, Lowe Lintas India; Prasoon Joshi, Executive Chairman, McCann Erickson India; Piyush Pandey, Executive Chairman & Creative Director, South Asia, Ogilvy & Mather, Harindra Singh, MD, Percept Holdings; Harshad Hardikar, VP, OgilvyOne Worldwide, Prasad Subramaniam, Director, Capital Advertising; Vikram Sakhuja, CEO, South Asia, GroupM Media India Pvt. Ltd.; Lynn D'Souza, Director, Lintas Media Group and Genelia D'Souza, Actor.

CNBC AWAAZ, in association with India's leading research organisation The Nielsen Company conducted a comprehensive research to arrive at a list of "India's Most Preferred Brands' perceived by the end consumer for each of the sub-categories covered in the study. The key objectives of the research were to arrive at a list of the "Most Preferred Brands' as perceived by the end consumer for each of the sub-categories covered in the study and also identify the drivers that influence the selection of a particular brand in each sub-category. The research was conducted amongst 4000 respondents across 20 major cities and markets within the age-group of 18 ' 45 years, both males and females belonging to SEC A, B & C households. A Random Sampling technique combined with an interview methodology (face-to-face interviews & questionnaire format) was adopted to conduct this research. Selected after such an exhaustive survey, the winners of these awards are thus the true and most credible reflection of the Indian consumers' today.