Consumer Brands of the Top 100 Companies in the Muslim World (2007)

This report showcases a selection of the most prominent consumer facing brands of the 2007 Top 100 Companies in the Muslim World. (Please view the latest 2010 report here)

A variety of prominent global brand value rankings have repeatedly shown the tremendous sustainable income brands deliver. For example, InterBrand, which evaluates brands much like analysts would value any other asset(on the basis of how much they’re likely to earn in the future), estimated the worth of the #1 global brand on its 2007 list – Coca Cola – to be US $65 billion. This is in essence the income potential associated purely with the brand identity.

A strong indicator that companies on the DS100 list are realizing the value of brand based customer proposition is that seven companies on the 2007 DS100 list have gone through a major re-branding exercize in the last two years. These are Sime Darby (Malaysia), Etisalat (UAE), Zain (Kuwait), Agility (Kuwait), Al Rajhi Bank (Saudi Arabia) and CIMB Bank (Malaysia.).

From the 25 brands compiled below, the 12 Turkish brands are the most mature, sophisticated and vying for global recognition.

Arcelik, Vestel, Emirates, and Ulker are amongst the strongest of the brands on the list. However, none of these brands are still represented in the Business Week/ InterBrand ranking of Top 100 Global brands.

Below is a brief profile of some of the most exciting consumer brands of the DS100 companies seeking regional or global recognition.

Zain – Kuwait

Telecom, DS100 Rank # 56

Zain is one of the dynamic players in the mobile industry, providing voice and data services to approximately 32 million customers, spanning 22 markets of the Middle East and African countries.

7 of these markets are under the newly launched Zain brand while in its African countries the services are branded as Celtel.

Dr. Saad Al Barrak, Zain Group’s chief executive officer, said: “Zain will bring together all our operations under a single, strong and unique identity. We believe it is the optimal platform upon which we can build a global brand with the ultimate goal of better serving our customers. It will propel the Group towards becoming one of the top ten global mobile telecommunications companies in the next four years.”

Telecom, DS100 Rank # 47

Etisalat is an emerging regional telecommunications service provider 5.78 million customers on its GSM network, 1.3 million subscribers to the fixed line network and over 2 million Internet users.

It has been named as the most admired telecommunications company in the Gulf in a recent ‘Arabian Business’ review of the 50 most admired companies in the Gulf region. Its international presence includes Etisalat Egypt, Etisalat Nigeria, Etisalat Afghanistan. It also has investments in the Pakistan Telecom as well as Mobily in Saudi Arabia.

In 2006 it did a major rehaul of its brand and image and recently has commissioned a leading design firm to build ‘Apple’ like highly engaging store outlets.

Maxis – Malaysia

Telecom, DS100 Rank #86

Maxis is the leading mobile communications service provider in Malaysia with a subscriber base of 8.5 million. Maxis is an exciting, young brand from malaysia. The Asian Wall Street Journal awarded Maxis Malaysia’s Most Admired Company in 2006 and it was recently awarded Asian Mobile Operator of the Year at the Asian Mobile News Award 2007 in Singapore.

Samand – Iran

Automotive, DS100 Rank #25

Samand is the national car of Iran produced by Iran Khodro Corporation, the largest car manufacturer in the Middle East. The car is now being marketed in more than ten Arab and Central Asian countries.

Vestel – Turkey

Consumer Electronics, DS100 Rank #46

It is the first in the region to launch 100 Hz TVs, the first 87-screen TVs, Flat TVs with DVD, recordable Replay TVs, Digital TVs, Internet TVs, TFT TVs and Plasma TVs.

Arcelik – Turkey

Consumer Electronics, DS100 Rank #6 (Part of Koc Holding)

Arcelik is Europe’s fifth largest household appliance maker (refrigerators, washing machine, oven, dishwasher), with its brand repeatedly voted #1 in turkey for the last 11 years by a national survey. Arcelik’s extensive line of products are available in over a 100 countries. Its proclaims a vision to posess one of the top 10 brands in the world within 5 years. It is also one of the top four companies in the European durable consumer goods sector with the highest number of patents to its name.

Beko – Turkey

Consumer Electronics, DS100 Rank #6 (Part of Koc Holding)

Beko, with its own line of television sets, DVD’s, personal computers, and more is the first brand in Turkey ever to export its products under its own brand, with the objective to become a “World Brand”. Having achieved a great deal in the domestic market first, Beko has now managed to introduce its brand to millions of consumers in more than a 100 countries worldwide.

Ülker – Turkey

Food, DS100 Rank #27

Ülker was established sixty years ago with a belief that “everyone has the right to a happy childhood no matter where in the world they live.” Today its delivering upon this vision to the world with its well known line of chocolates and biscuits available and marketed in 95 countries.

Started off as a small bakery in Istanbul, today Ulker Group is the largest consumer goods company in the Turkish Food Industry, with an assortment of biscuits, cookies, chocolates, confectionery, beverages & dairies to offer. It exports internationally to 95 countries and is actively traded on the Turkish Stock Exchange.

It recently made headlines for the classic and economically strategic acquisition of Godiva, a premium Belgian chocolate firm for a record $ 850 million. Subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, Godiva will be an official entity of the Ulker Group.

Indomie – Indonesia

Food, DS Rank #85 (Part of Indofood)

Indofood is the largest instant noodles manufacturer and the largest flour miller in the world! It sells around nine billion packs of instant noodles globally to over 50 countries annually under the Indomie brand. Indomie is the most popular instant noodles brand of Indofood. Indofood recently broke a Guinness World Record for “The Largest Serving of Noodles.”

Tat – Turkey

Food, DS100 Rank #6 (Part of Koc Holding)

One of the largest tomato paste producer in Europe, Tat is a leading food and distribution company. Its an emerging brand of tomato and other food products such as tomato paste, ketchup, canned vegetables etc. Its products are marketed globally in over 70 countries.

Aafia – Saudi Arabia

Food, DS100 Rank #81

Aafia is the leading edible oil brand of the Middle East market with dominant presence in many of its 20 markets. It either ranks number one or two in most of these markets.

Ramstore – Turkey

Retail, DS100 Rank #6 (Part of Koc Holding)

Ramstore is the international brand of Migros Turk, the largest supermarket/hypermarket chain in Turkey. Ramstore’s are present in Russia, Kazakhstan, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, Macedonia and Kyrgyzstan. In 2006 there were 67 Ramstores with another 13 shopping malls and hypermarkets. Whereas in Turkey, under the Migros brand there were 798 stores.

Petronas – Malaysia

PETRONAS is the largest and State owned Malaysian business enterprise serving as an integrated international oil and gas company with business interests in 31 countries. It retails and markets its branded petroleum products and services in 6 countries.

Petrol Ofisi – Turkey

PO is active in sports sponsorships in car racing (GP2), rallying, offshore speedboat racing, karting and mountaineering. Since 2006, PO has also been the title sponsor of the Formula One “Petrol Ofisi Turkish Grand Prix”.

VitrA – Turkey

VitrA’s first collaboration with renowned British designer Ross Lovegrove, entitled “Istanbul”, draws its inspiration from Ottoman geometries and calligraphy and comprises 175 different bathroom components. Since its launch in 2005, this collection has garnered four leading international design awards – the 2006 “Best Bathroom of the Year” award of Wallpaper magazine, the 2006 Red Dot design award, the 2006 Good Design Award of the Chicago Museum of Architecture and Art and the 2007 Elle Decor International Design Award – and opened the door to the world’s most prestigious showrooms.
Istikbal – Turkey

Istikbal A.S. exports 20% of its manufactured goods to over 50 countries, and has over 800 sales points in Germany alone.

Emaar – UAE

Sime Darby Property – Malaysia

(Part of Sime Darby)Part of a Malaysia-based successful multinational, Sime Darby Property (SDP) is considered the largest property player by virtue of profits and revenues in Malaysia. It is an integrated property player involved in property development, asset management, hospitality and leisure. Currently, it has significant presence in the Asia-Pacific region with projects in Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Indonesia, Vietnam and China.

Hürriyet – Turkey

(Part of Dogan Holding)Hürriyet is one of the most popular newspapers in Turkey. It is published by the Dogan Group and is claimed to be liberal with a a strong nationalist leaning.

Hürriyet’s reputation extends beyond Turkey it has one of the highest circulations among non-European newspapers in Europe. It has European and North American editions. Its online edition includes a small English edition. Its website in 2006 was recieving 6 million visitors a month.

Goldas – Turkey

Goldas brand remains an indisputable part of the outstanding and contemporary concept of Goldas Jewelry retail stores in Turkey, Russia and China. In line with its strategy of attaining worldwide recognition, Goldas has representatives in the USA, UK, UAE, Russia, Germany, China, Thailand, South Africa, Hong Kong and Ukraine.

As a front-runner exporter, Goldas exports to more than 45 countries across five continents. Goldas also serves its customers through its website. It’s vision is to create precious goods of added value that globally help us spread joy & quality of life, to make people feel good.

Isbank – Turkey

It operates its network through 891 branches domestically and 11 branches overseas as of 31st December 2006.

In the “Top 1000 World Banks” survey of The Banker magazine, July 2007, Isbank ranked 102nd in the world, as the biggest bank in the region as well as in Turkey. The Forbes magazine, announced its 2006 list of annual “Global 2000” survey in April 2007 and Isbank ranked 375th.
Al Rajhi Bank – Saudi Arabia

It hit headlines in 2007, when Abdullah Sulaiman Al Rajhi, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Al Rajhi Bank won the Islamic Banker Prize for 2007 during an international banking prize distribution ceremony.

It was awarded to him in light of his distinguished and significant contribution to the Islamic finance Industry in 2007.

Arab Bank – Jordan

Emirates – UAE

Emirates is one of the fastest growing brands in the world and has received more than 250 international awards for excellence since its launch in 1985. One of the most notable of these accolades is the Skytrax Airline of the Year award. The airline flies to 55 countries and has growing sports sponsorship visibility. In 2004 it signed the biggest deal in English football history with the legendary Arsenal Football Club worth some £100 million.

Malaysia Airlines – Malaysia