South African brands are continuing to transcend the currently challenging market conditions.

The combined value of South Africa’s top 30 most valuable brands now stands at $29.7 billion. Against a challenging economic landscape, Banking, Telecoms and Alcohol brands dominate with their ability to deliver on the key drivers for growth.

Highlights from this study, which includes the opinions of more than 45,000 people, about 858 brands across 56 categories reveal:

  First National Bank is the most valuable South African brand, worth over $3.1 billion
  Standard Bank is in second position, increasing its brand value by 2%
  Vodacom ($2.46bn), MTN ($2.39bn) and Castle ($1.99bn) complete the Top 5
  Banking and wealth management brand Investec (No.10; $926m) is the Fastest Riser, up 33% 
  Newcomers include cider giants Savanna (No.18; $547m) and Hunter’s (No.28; $313m)
  A solid majority of the country’s most valuable brands (60%) now qualify as Meaningfully Different. Clicks (No.21; $471m) is the most Meaningfully Different brand in its category.

 
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Infographic

This infographic showcases top-level findings from the ranking: the Top 10 South African brands, category breakdown, brand success stories and more. The Top 30 come from a wide range of categories, but Financial Services accounts for 45% of the total value of the ranking and includes 11 brands. Two categories, Fast Food and Alcohol, gained since last year.

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Video

Watch now to discover which names made it into our annual Top 30 Most Valuable South African Brands Ranking. Kantar’s Blueprint for Brand Growth, designed to guide brands on engineering growth by building Meaningful Difference, shows there are three key catalysts for brand value development. These are: predisposing more people to choose your brand, being more present where consumers make purchase decisions, and finding new space into which they can grow.

Methodology

To  be eligible for inclusion in this ranking, the brand must have been created in the market and be owned by an enterprise listed on a recognised stock exchange. For those owned by private companies, financial statements must be available in the public domain. Unicorn brands must have their most recent valuation publicly available. Watch the video to learn more about the methodology behind Kantar BrandZ brand valuation rankings, which is based on a three-step process, combining financial value and brand contribution to determine a brand’s value.  
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South Africa is home to the continent’s most advanced, diversified, and productive economy, and the third largest after Egypt and Nigeria.
Combined, the top 30 most valuable brands in South Africa have a total brand value of $31.6bn. Highlights from this latest report, which is based on the opinions of more than 42,000 consumers about 844 brands across 56 categories, reveals: 

First National Bank is the most valuable South African brand, worth $3.4bn
Standard Bank ($3.0bn) is the second most valuable brand, with telecoms brands, MTN (No.3; $2.8bn), Vodacom (No.4; $2.7bn) and alcohol brand Castle (No.5; $2.0bn) completing the top 5 
The Financial Services category is the largest in the ranking with 11 brands and a total value of $13.6bn
The fastest risers demonstrate that growth is never the prerogative of a single category and include healthcare provider, Mediclinic (+13%), banking brand, Absa (+12%) and alcohol brand, Brutal Fruit (+5%)
Brands that have improved their Pricing Power have seen the least brand value decline, including Woolworths (No.8; $1.2bn), one of the fastest risers in this year’s ranking 

Discover how South Africa’s most valuable brands have faced the challenges of the past year and charted a path to add value through differentiation, pricing, sustainability and more in the latest report. 


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Despite the challenges of the economy, the Top 30 South African brands have held their own and grown their value by 21% to $34.9 billion over the last year.


Telecoms provider MTN is crowned the new number in 2022’s South African ranking, with a brand value of $3.7 billion. Leaping up four places, MTN is also the fastest riser having grown its brand value by 85%, achieved by a combination of overseas expansion and sound strategic positioning.

First National Bank ranks second place this year, with a brand value of $3.5 billion, and Vodacom is number three with a brand value of $3.1 billion.

Investec is the second fastest-rising brand, growing its value by 74% to $700 million, followed by retail brand, Checkers, which grew its value by 59% to $531 million.

Find out more about the brands riding the waves of resilience, resourcefulness, and recovery in the full report. Explore a new framework for understanding what drives value for brands, with additional insights on the role of sustainability, global expansion, technological approaches and more.

Download the Kantar BrandZ Most Valuable South African Brands 2022 Report

Download the Kantar BrandZ Most Valuable South African Brands 2022 Infographic

First National Bank leads as the most valuable brand in 2021’s South African ranking, with a brand value of $2.7 billion.

Its investment in banking-from-home solutions, cashless transactions, and programmes that cut basic banking costs and enabled its customers to put off payments during the pandemic have contributed to its high performance across all brand equity metrics.

Vodacom moves up the ranking to second place this year, with a brand value of $2.57 billion, with beer brand Castle holding steady at number three with a brand value of $2.52 billion.

Emerging ecommerce retailer Takealot enters the brand ranking at number 23 as the only newcomer, with a brand value of $446 million. Consumers are finding the brand fulfils their needs in a way that increases both trust and relevance.

At number 7, Discovery is the fastest-rising brand, growing its value by 27% to $1.4 billion. It was one of the fastest-thinking brands in its response to the pandemic, introducing a digital healthcare consultation service, not only for its customers, but for all who needed it.

Find out more about the brands making significant gains in value in the full report, and the signals of recovery. Explore a new framework for understanding what creates value for brands, with additional insights on the role of sustainability, creativity, digital-first approaches and more.

Download the Kantar BrandZ Most Valuable South African Brands 2021 report

Download the Kantar BrandZ Most Valuable South African Brands 2021 infographic