Citizen TV wins prestigious global award in London

Kenya’s leading television station, Citizen TV, was on Wednesday night feted at the fourth edition of the World Branding Awards held at Kensington Palace in London.

Citizen TV, the premier station in Kenya and the region, took home the Best Brand Award in the Broadcasting – Television category.

Other Kenyan brands that received the global commendation at the grand event were Safaricom under telecommunication firms and Tuskys Supermarket in the retail category.

Citizen TV was the only brand in the Broadcasting – Television category from Kenya to be selected for the 2017-2018 awards.

Royal Media Services Managing Director Wachira Waruru received the award presented by the World Branding Forum Chairman, Richard Rowles, at the colourful ceremony held at the main entrance and Orangery at Kensington Palace.

“It’s a great honour for the Citizen TV brand to be recognised at a global level. I would like to thank the board and employees of Citizen TV for this great achievement and to all our viewers whose continued support has made this possible,” the RMS Managing Director said.

The World Branding Awards is recognised as the ultimate global brand recognition accolade.

“The awards celebrate the achievements of some of the greatest brands around the planet. All 245 winners have shown that they are at the very top of their branding game. With so many in competition, it is difficult for brands to win in their respective categories,” said the Chairman of the World Branding Forum.

This year, the awards saw an increase in participation with over 135,000 consumers from around the world voting for more than 3,000 brands from 35 countries. Ultimately, 245 brands from 32 countries were named “Brand of the Year”.

All the winners, selected from over 2,800 nominated brands, are judged through three streams: brand valuation, consumer market research and an open public online voting. Seventy percent of the scoring process comes from consumer votes.

Global tier winners in this year’s awards included Apple, Beijing Tong Ren Tang, BMW, Cartier, Club Med, Coca-Cola, Facebook, Google, Lego, L’Oréal, Louis Vuitton, McDonald’s, Nescafé, Nike, Oral-B, Pampers, Rolex, Samsung, Schwarzkopf, Starbucks, Umbro, VISA and Yakult.

Regional winners included the likes of Ajinomoto, Giordano, Indomie, Isetan, Kikkoman, MTN, RAK Ceramics, Sa Sa, Shangri-La, Uniqlo and Zara.

National tier winners included Haier (China), Pandora (Denmark), Hermès (France), Adidas (Germany), Chow Tai Fook (Hong Kong), Airtel (India), Telkomsel (Indonesia), Ferrari (Italy), Pocari Sweat (Japan), Citizen TV (Kenya), Maybank (Malaysia), Campina (Netherlands), SPAR Park ‘n’ Shop (Nigeria), Omantel (Oman), Gourmet (Pakistan), BENCH/ (Philippines), Sagres (Portugal), Qatar Airways (Qatar), Kaspersky Lab (Russia), Al Rajhi Bank (Saudi Arabia), BreadTalk (Singapore), Amarula (South Africa), Samsung (South Korea), Santander (Spain), UBS (Switzerland), Taiwan Beer (Taiwan), M-150 (Thailand), Efes Pilsen (Turkey), Etihad (United Arab Emirates), and British Airways (United Kingdom), among others.