UAE e& and Saudi Arabia’s STC retain top spots as ‘most valuable’ brands

UAE e& and Saudi Arabia’s STC retain top spots as ‘most valuable’ brands

Dubai: Saudi Telecom and e& (formerly Etisalat) have reinforced their credentials as the most valuable brands in the latest Kantar BrandZ rankings, while banking and real estate companies were the others to see major gains. The e& brand value is pegged at $11.8 billion, while for STC it is $16 billion as top UAE and Saudi brands saw their labels gaining some serious valuations in these annual rankings. Of the Top 10 UAE brands, there were four banks – FAB ($7.7 billion), ADCB ($1.04 billion), Emirates NBD ($904 million) and DIB ($619 million) – while ADNOC came in third ($3.2 billion) and Emirates at fourth ($3.2 billion). “The risers in our current ranking have invested in growing their equity by strengthening their meaningful difference, and then ensuring this is amplified by becoming more salient,” said Amol Ghate, regional Managing Director at the Insights Division at Kantar. “Meaningful differentiation comes from creating new categories, expanding footprint or providing greater value for customers.” It’s interesting that e& - which went in for a top-to-bottom rebranding in February last - and STC made headway well beyond its core services. The former is one of the backers of Wio, the neobank, while in Saudi