The Top 20 Brands in Singapore

What Are The Top Brands Operating In Singapore

It takes hard work and a great strategy to become one of the top brands in Singapore. Such businesses create easily accessible and friendly customer experiences. They  keep up with the demand of their consumer’s lifestyle, which is a key component of success in the Singaporean business environment.

Singapore is a global business hub in the Asia-Pacific region, and with the multinational brands setting up base, there are also local brands that are competing fiercely. Business analytics say that as long as the local brands keep on being proactive and progressive, their brands will continue to grow.

Statistics show that the average disposable income per household per person in Singapore is $28,867. Some of the brands getting a lion’s share of the sales are in the catering and hospitality business, transport, and more. However, there has been a decrease in expenditure on electronics.

Today, we will look at the top brands in Singapore, and we hope that will inspire you to grow and scale your businesses to the greatest heights possible.

Singapore Airlines

This is the flag carrier in Singapore and it is located at the Singapore Changi Airport. On top of being one of the top brands in Singapore, it is considered as the best airline in the world. Moreover, Singapore airlines have won several accolades including Best First class Airline Seat, Best First Class, and the Best Airline in Asia.

Singapore Airlines has a one of a kind approach to branding using Singapore Girls in their ads and the move has been wildly successful. The airline flies to 62 destinations in 32 countries on five continents. Moreover, Singapore Airlines has a strong presence in the Southeast Asia region mostly because of its direct flights to mainland USA.

As of 31st March 2019, Singapore Airlines had 124 passenger aeroplanes. Their in-flight services have been a big contributor to the success of the airline. They offer five classes of services right from suites, to first-class, business class, premium economy plus, and economy class.

The holding group under which Singapore Airlines is under registered an adjusted net profit of $596 million in the 20198/2019 financial year for nine months. This means that they are making timely and acceptable dividends to their shareholders. This is why it is one of the top brands in Singapore.

Samsung

Most people associate Samsung with smartphones, but you will be surprised as to the number of consumer electronic products that they produce. It has been a long road to become one of the top brands in Singapore and the world.

Samsung offers a wide range of products including smartphones, refrigerators, TVs, computers and laptops, radios, circuit board chips and microprocessors, and so much more.

The South-Korea based tech giant has spread its reach across the globe and given their customer support to ensure they give a seamless customer experience. On top of this, it is the 12th largest company in the world by revenue.

Samsung engineers have continued to produce products that make life easier in and around the home as well as the office. On top of this, their supremacy war with Apple Inc. has boosted its popularity especially when it comes to their Android-powered smartphones.

For over a decade, Samsung has made it to the list of the top brands in Singapore for its innovative approach to innovative product development. On top of this, its wide array of products for both domestic and commercial use has allowed it to cement its position as one of the most widely used brans in Singapore.

WhatsApp

The world of social media keeps on changing by the day. However, few communication apps can come close to WhatsApp. This instant messaging app has over 4 million users in Singapore. Statistics also show that it is ahead of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube in regards to popularity.

 More people are now communicating with each other via WhatsApp compared to how much time they spend watching videos, reading Facebook posts, or posting photos on Instagram or Snapchat. The reason could be the fact that users do not have to contend with ads and speaking to strangers who do not share anything.

The user base is not limited to personal use, but businesses in Singapore and the world are using it to create personalised customer experiences. For example, 35% of the businesses Rae using WhatsApp to raise awareness about their products and services co pared to a mere 5% using email.

Other than text messaging, WhatsApp gives the ability to send documents, media, voice notes, as well as make video calls. The introduction of the ‘Status’ page ensures more material for the users to interact with which creates a wholesome messaging experience.

Today, WhatsApp has become the number one app regarding daily and monthly active users as well as in downloads from the Android and iOS app stores.

Apple

Apple’s rise to be one of the top brands in Singapore started in 2004 when it was ranked in position 127. Since then, the brand has worked its way and from 2013, it has remained the second most popular brand in the country.

Apple revolutionised how we communicate with the introduction of the first comprehensive smartphone, the iPhone. Over 5 million are using a smartphone to access the internet and while iPhones are not as popular as the Android-powered smartphones, they have a significant market share.

For instance, Singapore had one of the longest waiting lists for the new iPhone X, which means that it is a beloved brand in the country. As of March 2019, 39.43% of the smartphone users had an iPhone, which is a huge portion of the population.

 With that said, what makes Apple’s iPhones so great? Here are the reasons why it is one of the top brands in Singapore

• iPhones are much faster
• They have better software and hardware integration compared to Android phones
• It is easy to use
• Regular OS updates
• Developers make apps for the iPhone first
• It does not have bloatware
• Easy integration with Macs
• Best customer support

Many more features of Apple and their products that make them popular especially with the millennial generation. While it is yet to make it to the number one brand in Singapore, it is definitely one of the top brands in Singapore for over a decade.

Google

There is no escaping the fact that Google is the leading search engine whole Yahoo, Bing, and the rest which are far from getting the hits Google gets. On top of this, Google has a suite of apps both for personal and commercial use.

Google rules the internet since websites get a majority of their traffic from their search engine.

More so, Gmail is the most popular email platform not only in Singapore but also in the world. It is secure and easy to navigate, and this elevates its status as one of the top brands in Singapore. Other than this, Google for Business suite, which includes tools such as Google Analytics, Google Ads, and more, have become useful in the digital sphere.

Google has its Asia-Pacific office in Singapore, and with the technologically advanced staff among them Singaporeans, Google is able to effect change that will affect the lives of billions of people for the better.

Other than this, being a global company, Google has been able to grow and nurture talent on a global scale. For this and more reasons, it is one of the top beans in Singapore.

The Straits Times

This English daily broadsheet newspaper is currently owned by Singapore Press Holdings. It is published in both print and online and in total, it has an average circulation of 383,600. It was established on July 15, 1845, and it was known as The Straits Times and Singapore Journal of commerce.

It is circulated in Brunei and Myanmar, where it commands 2,500 and 5,000 copies on average every day. It is among the top brands in Singapore with active CSR programs that help in transforming society.

For example, The Straits Times offers community programs such as The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund, and The Straits times Media Club. However, there are rumours of government interference and this is why it is called the mouthpiece of the ruling party.

 Despite these rumours, The Straits Times remains one of the top brands in Singapore. It is the source of news for millions of Singapore and other countries in the Southeast Asia region every day.

DBS Bank

This is the leading financial services corporation in Singapore with headquarters at the Marina Bay Financial Centre Tower 3 Marina Bay. Originally, it was known as the Development Bank of Singapore Limited, before they settled for DBS Bank in July 2003.

The name change was in line with its plans to move from a regional bank and financial services brand into a global financial services provider. The bank that was established by the Singaporean government is the biggest in Southeast Asia, and as of December 2017, it had over $500 billion worth of assets.

DBS Bank became the first bank in the region to offer safe and easy banking transactions on their digital platform. The platform uses the latest payWave technology in their VISA enabled debit cards. However, their claim to fame is the 10% cash back it gives to its customers who shop from particular online merchants.

The bank also has other features that ensured its place as one of the top brands in Singapore. They include free ATM withdrawals and no minimum balance requirement among others. One of its notable acquisitions is POSB Bank, formally known as the Post Office Savings Bank that was established in January 1877. POSB Bank is also another of the top brands in Singapore.

Uniqlo

This is a Japanese casual wear designer, manufacturer, and retailer and a subsidiary of Fast Retailing Company Ltd. The company opened its first store in Singapore in April 2009 at Tamopines, today; Uniqlo has 25 stores in Singapore.

The YouGov BrandIndex ranked Uniqlo as the fourth most popular brand in Singapore with a 45.9 index, which grew by 3.1 from 2017. The brand is involved with the designing, manufacturing, and retailing of men’s, women’s, children, kids, clothing, and accessories. They are different from their competitors in that they are focused on integrating technology to drive innovation and drive real value for their customers.

Uniqlo Singapore offers free shipping for orders $60 and above with a 30-day return policy. With the advent of e-commerce in Singapore, Uniqlo has enjoyed a massive increase in the number of people shopping on the platform.

They have gone a step further and they have created a smartphone app that makes it easy to shop for your wardrobe. Better yet, they have a variety of sizes for all their stock, and this has endeared it to Singaporeans and in the other markets, it operates.

The brand also offers periodical sales and promotions and when users sign up for the Uniqlo newsletter, they get SGD 5 off. For this reason, it has become a huge hit with millennials and older generations alike.

Facebook

This is not only a top brand in Singapore, but it is the biggest social networking site in the world today. Since 2009, Mark Zuckerberg has slowly grown the platform to be one of the leading advertising platforms today.

Individuals and businesses rely on Facebook to share information about their lives, products, and services. It has become a digital marketer’s haven for targeting and retargeting their audiences. YouGov BrandIndex ranked Facebook as the 6th top brand in Singapore with an index of 42.6.

Despite the [platform going out of touch with the younger generation, Facebook has recorded an increase in the number of users aged 50 and above. With that said, there was a time when users were frustrated with the direction Facebook was taking as a marketing and advertising platform.

Today, armed with a new algorithm, Facebook is endearing itself to a wide range of people. This new algorithm filters ads and promotional posts from businesses and gives preference to posts from individual members.

This return to normalcy has won the hearts of people who were giving up on the platform. Over the years, Facebook has acquired several companies some that have become a huge hit with the consumers, while others have flopped, for example, Facebook owns LiveRail, WhatsApp, Instagram, Oculus VR, and more.

Redmart

Online shopping is improving by the day and there is a guarantee that you will not lack anything online. Redmart is one of the premier online supermarkets that allow Singaporeans to shop for the freshest groceries, mom and baby accessories, specialty products, and more at ridiculous prices.

One of the greatest aspects of Redmart is that it offers home delivery 7 days a week all year round. There are over 100,000 different products on sale and Singaporeans have the option of getting the items delivered in 2-hours.

For the delivery, Redmart offers two categories, LiveUp members get free delivery for items worth SGD 40 and above while non-LiveUp members get free delivery after shopping for goods worth SGD 100 and above, but this only available for Redmart items.

Redmart has several tricks up its sleeve to make Singaporeans coming back for more. Price Match Guarantee is one of the attempts to make the brand used by most people. In their philosophy, if you buy an item from Redmart, and you find that their price is higher than compared to another shop selling an identical product, Redmart promises to pay double the difference in vouchers.

The Price Match Guarantee is only applicable within seven days after the purchase. For this and more reasons, Redmart has become one of the top brands in Singapore, thanks to its innovative approach to e-commerce.

Instagram

As of October 2018, there were over 2.2 million Instagram users in Singapore, and this makes it one of the top brands in Singapore. A majority of these users were women and as much as 830,000 users were between the ages of 25 and 34.

Much like Facebook, Instagram’s parent company, the platforms is visual and digital marketers, as well as businesses, are using it to entice potential and existing customers. Instagram has over the years started to attract a much older generation aged between 55 and 65 who make up more than 33% of the users in Singapore.

48.8% of the brands have an Instagram business account and at least 68% of the brands engage with their audiences naturally thanks to the sponsored posts that appear on the timeline. However, fake accounts and bots harboured its progress. There were also instances of buying followers and this led to a decrease in trust from its users.

In early 2019, Instagram embarked on a project to close all fake accounts, which meant that users saw their following diminish. This is in an attempt to make the user experience as humanly as possible. Since then, individuals have now started appreciating the platform more, and brands have a real shot at getting value for their paid ads.

McDonald’s

This has to be one of the greatest American exports to the world, and Singaporeans do love the food from McDonald’s. The Franchise offers a wide range of meals right from breakfast to lunch, dinners, and more.

McDonald’s had a YouGov BrandIndex score of 28.8 in 2018, which is up 2.4 points from the 2017 ranking. There are currently over 120 McDonald’s outlets in Singapore today serving more than 1.2 million customers per week. These outlets have over 9,000 employees that allow the restaurant to keep running.

The Alireza family under their Reza Investment Company wholly-owns McDonalds in Singapore. However, McDonald’s is slowly moving away from the wholly owned business model into a franchise model in Asia.

McDonald’s is one of the top brands in Singapore and best of all; it has a Halal certification from The Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS). The restaurant received the regulatory body’s approval in 1992.

A while back, the restaurant got into trouble when they advertised that their fires were cooked with vegetable oil. However, they left out the part that they flavoured the fries with beef tallow. This resulted in several lawsuits against the restaurant from Hindus, vegetarians, and other people who do not consume meat for personal or religious reasons.

With that said, McDonald’s stamped its authority as one of the top brands in Singapore with its moving Ramadan ad in 2018. The ad displayed the need to share, and it became one of the most widely seen ads on YouTube.

Huawei

Huawei is a Chinese multinational telecommunications company that also doubles into consumer electronics with headquarters in Shenzhen, China. The cobrand started in manufacturing phone switches, but it has expanded into producing telecommunications networks, consulting services, as well as providing operational and equipment to organisations all over the world.

In the past five years, Huawei has started churning high-quality smartphones that would rival some of the best smartphones today. Despite having a wide range of products, most Singaporeans interact with the brand with smartphones.

Huawei creates a seamless user experience on their website, which displays all their latest gadgets. they have over 20 Huawei Concept Stores spread out across the island. With their upgraded in engineering and innovation, Huawei is set to take the world by storm.

The YouGov BrandIndex ranked the brand as the fourth best-improved brand jumping 3.7 points form a -0.3 ranking in 2017. In February 2019, it introduced the Huawei Cloud, which came in to provide solutions to the increasing need for cloud storage solutions.

The Singaporean Huawei Cloud is the first one outside China and the plan is to expand its full-stack cloud-platform as well as Artificial Intelligence across the entire Asia Pacific region.

YouTube

YouTube has bypassed Facebook, as the second most visited website in the world and with the advent of smartphone apps, there is an even larger number of people watching videos on YouTube. Statistics show that there are close to 2 billion YouTube users every month.

On top of this, there are billions of hours of videos watched every day. Singapore has one of the biggest smartphone penetrations in the world and this has contributed to the number of people visiting the video sharing platform every day.

Oddbods – Official Channel is the most popular Singaporean YouTube channel with over 3.7 million subscribers and over 2.5 billion views on their videos. New and upcoming content creators are pushing the envelope, developing content, and sharing it on other social media platforms.

With that said, over 90% of the users between 25 and 34 rely on YouTube to catch up on the news, lifestyle, home improvement, studying, and so much more. For this reason, YouTube is one of the top brands in Singapore and across the world, it only comes second to Google as the most visited website in the world.

In Singapore and the world over, YouTube is more than a video sharing site. It has become more of a search engine. With over 300 hours of video uploaded to YouTube, every minute and Singaporeans are part of the people watching over 5 billion videos every day.

TaoBao

TaoBao is one of the e-commerce platforms under the Alibaba Group, which is arguably one of the largest B2B market places on the internet today. This market is driven by smartphone penetration, which allows Singaporeans to shop for items in wholesale price.

TaoBao is like the oriental version of eBay, except that it has fixed-price sellers and fewer auctions. TaoBao is already a huge brand in China, but the Southeast version is kicking up a storm in Singapore. It is a premier customer-2-customer digital market place and it attracts over 300,000 shoppers every day.

Singaporeans and the rest of the southeast Asia residents have been waiting for Amazon to start providing their services in the region. TaoBao has moved into the market and they are one of the most popular e-commerce platforms today.

However, the Southeast Asia division seems to have taken off and it is now one of the top brands in Singapore. The best thing is that the platform allows user stress- and hassle-free payment options via credit card, Alipay, and more.

SingTel

It is the biggest telecommunications operator in Singapore and it has over 4.1 million subscribers. Moreover, through its subsidiaries, its mobile subscription extends to more than 640 million subscribers.

The company provides IPTV (SingTel TV), ISP (SingNet), mobile phone networks (Signet Mobile) as well as fixed telephony services. SingTel has some of the most competitively priced mobile post-paid plans and they are a huge hit with millennials who are all about data over voice, especially with the Youth Combo Plans.

Users have the option of getting all the Signet services on the internet, which eliminates ques while offering more flexibility.

KFC

Everybody loves chicken and KFC is one of the top brands in Singapore offering the best chicken in the world. The fast-food restaurant has an easy to use website that makes ordering an easy step. You can get popcorn chicken under SGD 3.

KFC has been in the Singaporean market in 1977 at Somerset road. Today, KFC has over 80 stores in the country and it serves more than a million people every month. KFC is an environmentally conscious brand that aims to cut back on its carbon footprint.

It has become a hit with a wide variety of customers and a large number of Singaporeans is on the lookout for rewards and promo codes that gives them a discount on their total bill. Like McDonald’s, KFC is Halal, and it uses fresh chicken and ingredients every day.

Carousell

This is a web-based and smartphone C2C e-commerce platform allows users to buy and sell new as well as second-hand goods. It operates in Malaysia, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Indonesia. The smartphone app is available for both Android and iOS devices.

Carousell has its headquarters in Singapore and the first item sold on the platform was an Amazon Kindle shortly after its launch on May 14, 2012. Since then it has collaborated with several other brands including ST Classifieds, Singapore Press Holdings Magazines. 

Later on, in 2018, Carousell entered into a partnership with DBS Holdings, VISA, Stripe_ (Company) to create CarouPay, which is a mobile payment service. With that said, Carousell has been involved in a series of fraud cases involving fake sellers.

Despite this, Carousell continues to attract a high number of users and it is one of the top brands in Singapore today.

AsiaOne

AsiaOne is a lifestyle, news, and entertainment aggregator that curates content from the Southeast Asia region and Hong Kong. Singapore Press Holdings owns and operates the platform and since 1998, it has become the leading news portal in the country and region.

AsiaOne attracts a diverse number of users right from people looking for entertainment, news, lifestyle tips, food, design, and style. It carries headlines from several Singapore Press Holdings such as The New Paper, The Business Times, The Straits Times, and the Hardware Zone.

According to ComScore, AsiaOne is the third most-read news website in Singapore. With that said, the brand has moved to provide more content by carrying headlines from Reuters, South China Morning Post, Agence France-Presse.

On 5th June 2000 AsiaOne entered the Singapore Exchange, but it was later delisted on 24th January 2002. However, this has not affected its reach, and it is one of the most reliable news and content sources for thousands of Singaporeans.

AMEX

This is an abbreviated form of American Express, a multinational financial services firm with headquarters in New York. The company is known for its variety of services, but its credit and charge cards as well as the traveller’s cheque businesses.

American Express cards have become quite popular in Singapore mainly because it offers cash rebates without dictating a minimum spending figure. It also provides exclusive promotions and dining privileges.

With the rewards gained from using AMEX cards, users can spend them shopping on selected online retailers such as Chanel, Apple, Bose, Dior, Dyson, and more. It is one of the top brands in Singapore seeing that major retailers including chain supermarkets, restaurants, hotels, department stores accept it for payment.

With that said, small businesses might not accept AMEX cards since they have a higher transaction fee than other card issuers. However, AMEX cards have been at the forefront of helping Singaporeans find alternatives to carrying around hard cash.

What The Other Top Singapore (Local) Brands

TWG

You’d be branded a liar if you promise anyone the best tea in the country, and take them elsewhere.

Talk about quality tea, and TWG has to feature as the reference point. It’s an internationally known tea brand that’s deeply rooted in Singapore. 

The company has even employed tea tasters that travel the world to sample different types of tea and bring their discovery home, at TWG headquarters in Singapore.

Raoul

You’ve probably heard of the atas sounding Raoul brand.

The brand was first established in 2002 as an upmarket fashion brand for menswear. Before that, Singaporeans looked at local brands in disdain.

The company would focus on quality and offering bang for value. It didn’t take long before the company started to pick up, and the rest is all history.

Charles & Keith

Charles & Keith is the perfect example of a brand that understands their lady customers to the bone. They know about their bag and shoe fetishes. Give any of these to a girl – or better yet, both – and you’re guaranteed to see their face brighten with excitement.

The two would team up to set up their first store in 1996. They were to capitalise on women’s unmatched desires for accessories, more specifically shoes. And as we speak, the company has grown to open more than 350 daughter stores worldwide.

Banyan Tree

The name Banyan Tree is synonymous with kicking back in Singapore. First established in Phuket, the founders of Banyan Tree had to go to a great length to salvage the then polluted expanse of the coastal land.

They’ll then modify it bit by bit, and now it’s one of the most idyllic retreats in the country. The first thing that comes to mind when someone mentions Banyan Tree is ‘relaxation sanctuary.’ 

OSIM

Remember the OSIM massage chair? That’s where they started. How they decided to incorporate household items in their product pipeline is something you wouldn’t understand.

But truth be told, they’re still making a killing with these new products. Air humidifiers and reflexology chairs are still a staple with them. But they have since expanded and successfully managed to brand the other items, as well.

Tiger Balm

One thing we learned from our grandparents is that Tiger Balm could cure all ailments. The image of this product was common with the SIA Duty-free magazine.

Over the years, the product has evolved into a timeless trademark living through generations. It’s also a relic souvenir.

And now, the brand has evolved into a long list of formulations — back pain patches, medicated plasters, mosquito repellents, and sprays.

Hyflux

Hyflux started as a water start-up, more than 22 years ago. Today, it’s grown into a publicly listed multi-national corporation.

Her big break came when she decided to venture into manufacturing, setting up water plants different clients’ factories, and the rest is history.

Spa Espirit Group

Spa Espirit is a spa and wellness giant in Singapore. Founded by Cynthia Chua, the spa first opened its outlet in Holland (in 1996).

Back then, Spas weren’t that common. They also foddered all kinds of stereotypes. Chua had to introduce quirky beauty treatments and eclectic interiors, laced with innovative marketing campaigns to grow the brand to where it is now.

Thai Express

Thai Express has so many outlets doled all over Singapore. They offer convenience, at a time when time means everything to people.

Their food is also decent, not the best in the country, but you certainly won’t regret buying it.

Tung Lok Group

Tung Lok is recognised as one of the leading restaurant chains in the country. It’s well known for its one-of-a-kind, multi-sensory dining concepts.

The restaurant was established in 1984, and now manages an upward of 30 restaurant outlets in Singapore.

Bread Talk Group

Bread Talk first set camp in Singapore 14 years ago. And now they’ve grown to be one of the leading fast-food joints in the country.

You probably know the company for their famous Flosss (sic) buns, which comes in two variations – spicy and non-spicy. They’re soft and sweet, and the whole world knows about that. Call it the power of branding.

Jumbo Seafood

Back in 1956, the home-grown Roland’s Restaurants remained adamant that they were the sole pioneers or inventors of the Singaporean cuisine, the Chili Crab. While that can be argued, it’s safe to say that Jumbo Seafood took the dish to a whole new level.

Their black-pepper and chili crab, crispy fried squid, and golden salted prawn on eggs are among the most iconic dishes in the country that the restaurant is associated with.

Bakerzin

Bakerzin is the home of chocolate cakes, fruit cakes, cheesecakes, mooncakes, and macaron.

It’s a French patisserie that first rose into the scene in 1998. Today, the site has a web portal where you can order your favourite piece of cake online and have it delivered right at your doorstep.

Browhaus

Eyes say a lot about a person. They’re like the windows to your soul.

Browhaus offers brow grooming and eye framing services, and they’re widely known for being the best at what they do. People visit them when they want to frame their eyes and face, or when they want to put some emphasis on the delicate features on their face.

Tiger Beer

Tiger Beer was launched in 1932 as part of Heineken’s push into getting local in Asia Pacific. It has won Gold Quality in international beer tasting competitions and was even considered the beer of choice for US and Australian troops fighting the Vietnam war.

Tiger beer is now available in 60 countries around the world.

Creative Technology

You’ve probably heard of this brand. For those who haven’t, it’s the company behind the Creative computer soundcards. They’re the reason it’s even possible to listen to music from your computer.

Before them, the best that computers could do is produce a beeping sound. And now they have a long-range of digital products in their pipeline – speakers, earphones, portable media devices, woofers, and so on.

Razer

Razer may be head-quartered in San Francisco. But its roots are in Singapore, where it all started.

Now the company is valued at $1 billion, besides accounting for more than 30% of global game mouse and keyboards.

Pedro

Pedro are as upmarket as it can get, even more than Charles and Keith.

They’re known for stocking timeless footwear for both men and women. Although the company started as a Spin-off of the famous Charles & Keith, they managed to carve their own niche along the way.

They’re 100% Singaporean, with 75 sales offices in different parts of the world.

Skinny Pizza

You’ll agree: one thing you loathe about pizza is a thick crust. Well, Skinny Pizza understands this, and they’re re-assuring you through their name that their pizzas don’t pack excessive amounts of carbs.

That’s one of the reasons customers order pizza from Skinny Pizza and not anywhere else. Their famous biscuit-thin crust was inspired by the paper Prata, a well-known local delicacy.

Akira

You’re forgiven for thinking Akira sells the Japanese breed of dogs called Akira.

Well, let’s begin here – Akira isn’t even a Japanese brand, but our very own (Singaporean).

They’re the manufacturers behind the Akira electronic products, which are relatively cheaper than the likes of Toshiba and Mitsubishi.

The other thing you wouldn’t have guessed right is that this homegrown brand has been around since 1990.

Bibi&Baba

Bibi&Baba is a household brand in matters of attire and uniform. It has excelled over the last four decades as a manufacturer and retail giant.

Bibi &Baba creates uniforms for government institutions, schools, hospitals and corporation. As a leading garment manufacturer, the company specialises in the production of woven, knit and customised garments.

Bibi and Baba have an extensive uniform distribution and design network. It’s one of Singapore’s most respected garment production and quality control entities. The brand has been feted as a Heritage Brand by the Singapore Prestige Brand Award and has ISO 9001-2008.

Ong Shunmugam

Ong Shunmugam has grown to be a successful brand in Singapore ever since it rolled out its first collection in 2010. It’s ranked as one of the youngest labels to have exhibited in the 2014 Audi Fashion Festival.

Ong Shunmugam specialises in women wear, and it draws inspiration from a blend of Singaporean and western couture. It designs attire with a mixture of Asian and contemporary touch.

Sabrina Goh

Sabrina Goh is a self-styled store that goes after the name of its founder drawing inspiration from the likes of Victoria Beckham and von Furstenberg, Sabrina has been rising from accolade to the next. The Singaporean line has been involved in designing a Star Wars collection. Her specialty treads free, minimalist’s styles and designs that strut the style of everyday sartorial splendour.

Old Chang Kee

There’s no denying the fame that goes with the Old Change Kee franchise in Singapore. Right from their curry puff or Curry-o if you like. The classic foods brand has been part of the country’s culture for more than five decades. Though it’s no longer about those flour-coated potato snacks, Old Change Kee branched out with finger delicacies, but you cannot forget the curry puffs.

Khong Guan Biscuits

Khong Guan Biscuits still have a following in Singapore. The undeniable fact is that at one time, in the early 70s, the factory saw a surge in demand where it moved from producing 17 tons a day to 75 tons in two years.

Axe Brand Oil

The Feung Kai Fook Medical Company is the rightful owner of the Axe Brand Oil brand. These oils are reminiscent of potency and health in every Singaporean household. It used to be every mom’s cure for every childhood ailment. Forget the Chinese labelling; the Axe Brand Oil are resident to Singapore. Today, the brand has expanded the market to the rest of Asia, parts of Europe and Africa.

Trek 2000 International

Surprisingly, not many people acknowledge the Trek 2000 International brand. However, this is the firm that gave us the thumb drive. Although the marketing was done with help from IBM, the thumb drive is a Singaporean invention.

Mediacorp

Did you know that Singapore feeds on mega volumes of entertainment and information from Mediacorp? Its Singapore’s largest content company that runs over six TV channels, ten radio stations and an array of digital platforms and news app. Can is its news app while meWATCH is Mediacorp’s digital video platform. This is the brand that’s attributed to the proliferation of Singapore’s broadcast arena.

Shopee

Shopee is the largest online shopping platform. The ecommerce giant serves Taiwan too. Shopee is tailored to meet the needs of online shoppers in South East Asia. Launched in 2015, it has spread its tentacles to countries like Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines. Shopee is listed in the NYSE.

Get this right – when Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion, they weren’t buying the app or its users. They were buying the brand.

That’s where the value of your business is, in the brand – not the tangible sum of all your assets and product attributes.

So, what exactly is a Brand?

A brand is an experience found where a business promise and customer expectations converge. Brand occurs at the intersection of the two – business promise and customer expectations.

It refers to the story that consumers tell themselves. Ultimately, it’s what your business makes them feel.

Why is Branding Important?

Branding is important because it’s human nature to associate with what’s familiar. It all started when we were young. We latched onto our parents and families.

While some people like the thrill of being free-spirited or seeking the unfamiliar, in the end, everyone enjoys the concept of home.

It’s the same thing with a brand. A brand drives the feeling of home or familiarity.

Here are a few ways a brand is important to businesses:

• It’s through a brand that you establish a strong emotional relationship with your customers.
• A brand inspires customer loyalty. That translates to repeat purchases on this side of the street.
• When a brand is associated with top quality, it can command premium rates. Customers won’t mind forking out more cash for your product.
• Branding breeds recognition. It’s how customers remember your business or how it’s generally known to them.
• Branding increases your business value.
• Branding attracts new customers
• Branding supports advertising. Since your customers’ emotions are already fired up, it’s relatively easier to market a brand.

What’s in a Brand: What makes a Brand Great?

In your estimation, what are the qualities of a great brand?

This has nothing to do with the size of your business or how profitable it is or how well known your business is. A few might argue that you need to hit these three flashpoints for your brand to be considered great. But that’s not the case here.

Apple qualifies as a great brand. But that has got nothing to do with its size. So, what makes one brand “great” and the other one, “not great at all?”

A Great Brand Understands the Feeling of its Consumers

A great brand focuses on its target customers and how they feel about them. They have invested a great deal of their time and resources into understanding their customers. They understand their feelings, what resonates with them, and how to best talk to them.

A Great Brand Will Have a well-defined Mission Statement

A great brand has its mission statement at their fingertips. They can state it in a matter of seconds. The same applies to your staff. If they can’t state your mission statement in seconds, then it’s time you went back to the drawing board and redrafted everything.

A Great Brand knows Its Competition Inside-out

It’s a smart move to study your competitors and find out what moves them. That does not necessarily mean you’re trying to copy them. Rather, it’s what you use to find out what works and what doesn’t or to avoid making the same mistake everyone is making.

A Great Brand Identifies its Value and Benefits

The largest hurdle of branding is convincing your audience that you’re high value. That means your products or services must be top-quality and unique at the same time.

A Great Brand Understand the Values of Visual Images and a Great Moto

You need a professional graphic designer to assist you with your site’s visuals. It starts with your business logo, all the way to your business cards, web design, packaging, advertisement, and all the visuals out there representing your brand.

You want to make sure your brand is well represented, and it starts by hiring a professional graphic designer to help you out with visuals.

How to Calculate the Value of Your Brand

Brand valuation is the process of evaluating your brand and determining how much it’s worth as perceived by a third-party.

It encapsulates two core aspects: social aspect and economic value. When businesses are sitting at the negotiating table, they’ll be looking to leverage intangible aspect

What’s Included in Brand Valuation

Before you proceed to evaluate how much your brand is worth, first try to determine what’s included in the brand.

Look at everything that consumers associate with your brand and run them down into a list. Examples include your brand name, trademark, visual assets (including your logo and colours), digital assets, licenses, unique marketing strategy, and customer loyalty.

There are several approaches to brand valuation.

Different Approaches to Brand Valuation

Cost-based Brand Valuation

This approach looks at the cost you’ve used to grow a brand to its current status, right from the beginning. Items to consider while evaluating the incurred cost include promotion expenditures, historical advertising, registration cost, campaign cost, trade market cost, and the cost of tangible assets. Cost-based evaluation is useful when you’re launching your brand or when you’re in the process of redeveloping it.

Market-based Valuation

Market-based valuation evaluates your brand by comparing it to other brands within your industry. How much are similar brands selling? It also looks at the stock market quotations and the company transactions. Brands use it to determine their selling price or how much they’re worth in the market.

Income-based Valuation

Income-based valuation calculates the value of a brand based on its potential future earnings. How much are you likely to make in the future when you buy this brand?

Brands that use this approach base their value in their cash flow, income, or cost-saving – hypothetically based on the recognition and reputation of their brand.

Why is Brand Valuation Important?

The value of giant brands such as Google and Apple run into billions of dollars (even trillions). However, that’s not to say that the value of a small brand is negligible.

A small business can have a strong brand value within its local market or industry.

Brand equity can provide you with a sustainable competitive edge. However, the different brand valuation methods mean businesses can manipulate their brand equity and tip it to their favour. 

This is especially the case when a brand is considering a merge, sale, or attempting to secure a loan from the bank or outside investors.

So, how do you demonstrate that your brand valuation approach is both reliable and accurate?

You look at the objectives and make sure that it aligns with the evaluation method and assumptions.

How to Successfully Implement Branding to Your Business

Before you take the first step, you need to underline the fact that branding isn’t just about logos and company colours.

Define your brand

For starters, you already know your product or service offering. You’ll need to assess its market appeal, and compare those to the logical and emotional needs of your customers. Your brand should connect with the audience and offer better brand differentiation. If done right, your brand will foster customer loyalty even when the competition decides to lower their prices.

Consider business’s driving force

Always assess what your brand proposes and its potential brand ambassadors. These will anchor your brand’s emotional connect and form the nature of communication that can evoke customer feelings.

Build long-term customers relationships

Your customers will stay if you create trust and employ honest branding. If you make promises, you can’t keep, customers, are likely to doubt you and your value proposition.

Use a consistent voice

When interacting with new and existing customers, ensure that there is a consistent voice that clarifies what your brand is all about. Customers love to anticipate product quality. Remember to avoid monotony with your messages.

Don’t copy the big brands

If you think copying the feel and look of big box brands will boost your efforts, think again. Today, customers tend to gravitate towards independent and home-grown brands. Always carve your own identity and align it towards an authentic and independent status.

Components for a Comprehensive Branding Strategy

You probably know that businesses have unique needs and characteristics from a branding perspective. There’s no set formula that you can use to create the perfect branding strategy. However, you can leverage the components below to craft a killer branding strategy.

Define your purpose

Brands, including yours, do make promises. If the market is experiencing low consumer confidence and budget austerity, having a defined purpose is what makes you noticeable and differentiates your brand from the competition. If you’re asking yourself why customers prefer you over the others, the answer should help you craft a good branding plan.

Use consistent brand message

Branding requires the use of diverse messaging channels. Successful branding requires consistency on every channel you elect to use. This helps your targeted audience to perceive your brand better. Remember, consistent use of brand messages helps to build brand recall. If you consolidate your branding strategy elements, it’s easy to transform the smallest business into a formidable brand.

Connect with the audience emotionally

Customer emotions are critical for branding purposes. Not many brands have succeeded without conjuring the emotions of a targeted audience. You need to be creative when it comes to building the emotional connect with a potential customer cluster/demographic.

Be open to flexibility

A successful company branding strategy needs to embrace flexibility. Market trends and needs can change at any time. You need to adapt it to the needs of your audience now and in the future. If you’re shifting your branding vision, flexibility is what you need to reinforce or tweak the current brand perception.

Introduce loyalty programs

Successful brands have hordes of loyal customers. Building such loyalty is time-consuming. If you have dedicated brans ambassadors, take time to reward them. They’re the reason why your brand is growing on a day-by-day basis.

Involve your employees in the branding campaign

Your business branding effort will succeed if it’s not exclusive to the marketing team. With a sense of belonging, your workers are in a better position to represent and speak on behalf of the business. Make sure they’re always in their best form when handling customers.

How to Succeed With Internal Branding

Have you spent long hours crafting your branding message and determining suitable brand colours? Then, you’re not alone. A majority of businesses do the same. But they forget that branding starts in going out. Success comes when you realise that your staff plays an integral role.

Begin internal branding with your staff

Your branding efforts are bound to succeed if your staff believe in your efforts and products. A workforce that is 100% supportive of your brand mission enhance your journey towards achieving your branding goals. You need to take steps that motivate your employees to become your biggest supporters.

Harmonise brand personality, business culture and values

Are you wondering how you can launch branding form the inside out? It’s easy. Always make sure that you’re HR, and marketing departments are working in tandem. It’s not about their attitude towards the target audience but how they sync with each other in the process.

Rally employees behind your brand

Have you been hiring the wrong talent set? Has it affected your branding efforts negatively? The solution is easy. When hiring, go for qualified hires whose skillset are aligned with your branding proposition. Shortlist experts who’ll facilitate the brand promise. Let your workers sample and experience the products or services first-hand. They will become automatic bran ambassadors.

Emphasise brand values and behaviour

It’s possible to train your workers such that they understand and reinforce your brand’s promise. Do it consistently until it becomes second nature. Do it in a way that your staff embrace it instead of cold-shouldering your idea.

Strategies for Building a Successful Brand in a Competitive Market

Are you a business owner facing the challenges of a disrupted market, a complex target audience or and business inexperience? Then the truth is that these challenges affect your chances to succeed as a brand. But there are core elements and strategies you leverage.

Leverage testimonials

In the testimonial economy, customers don’t listen to what businesses harp about themselves. Instead, they rely on what other people say about a company’s offering. These testimonials influence customers and the action they’re likely to take. When you build an army of ambassadors who impact your brand by sharing positive stories, your brand will succeed.

Create emotive appeal

Does your brand know how to invoke emotions to build a lasting consumer and product connection? Always capitalise on the pain points in the target market. It’s the wisest thing you’ll do. You’ll need to create a brand persona that explains how your product can solve a problem or help a given audience to be in the desired state. Those emotions will keep them coming back.

Generate user value

People will recall you for how you made them feel and not what you did. Today, customers bank on the trust they can build in your brand. Try handling customers genuinely and let them experience your competency while at it. Don’t rush to ask for anything in return. If your service is unique and ingenious, it solidifies you as a brand.

Use your clients language

Instead of using your marketing terminologies to define your brand, use your client’s language. Don’t go for marketing jargon. Replace it with the conversation that a potential client uses when looking for products that can solve their problems.

Use brand assets to stand out as a thought leader

You’ve probably been blogging to market your brand. However, you can leave that to brand resources such as LinkedIn. When such resources amplify your posts, it’s easy to promote your brand without making it look like your blowing your own trumpet.

Proven Social Media Branding Strategies You Need To Use

Re-Share blog posts severally

It’s not written in stone that you can only share a blog post on social media once. Your posts will generate more engagement only if you share them more than once. It’s okay to share them on different social media platforms. As long as you know how to modify the posts, your strategy should work.

Inspire your audiences to curate content

Content has changed. It’s no longer the one-way street kind of approach. Your brand produces content for your audience to consume. But it shouldn’t end here. Always motivate your followers to post content, and you can tag your brand along. Also, use custom hashtags and encourage followers to share it in their content. The more you leverage user-generated content, the more brand advertising you get-free.

Get influencers on board

Social media influencers are the new wave of social media marketing. Niche relevant influencers will boost your branding efforts significantly. Whether you go for macro or micro-influencers, your brand will enjoy phenomenal popularity and stamp your brand as an authority.

How We Choose the Top Brands in Singapore

Thousands of brands that are transforming the lives of Singaporeans and the challenge was to a selecting the top 20 brands. However, we looked at the index scores of the brands, which took into account the average quality, satisfaction, value, impression, reputation, which gave us the measure of overall brand health.

We also got information from index trackers including BrandIndex, which tracks brands in Singapore for at least 12 months for them to appear in their mover’s table.

Conclusion

These are the top brands in Singapore. However, with the volatility in the modern business era, we might see new entrants into this list. With that said, these brands have worked hard to extend excellent customer support, quality products, and services, as well as out of the box marketing and advertising ideas to get here.

Contact us today for professional digital marketing services in Singapore. We have a record of getting brands in front of your target audience and helping potential customers move down the sales funnel.