The 19th SLIM Brand Excellence Awards, the only awards ceremony that recognizes brands for their performance, will be held in November this year, under the theme ‘Survive the Odds’. This year’s awards are a clarion call for brands and brand custodians to come forward and present their stories of progress and resilience in times of adversity.
Sri Lanka has experienced one of the toughest financial years in its recent history with one catastrophe following another. The COVID-19 pandemic badly impacted on the economy that was just beginning to rise like a phoenix from the ashes of the terrorist attacks in early 2019. Brands have undergone the tests of strength, perseverance, and sustainability as never before, while experiencing hardships of the negative aspects that adversely impacted several global markets simultaneously. Taking the current situation into consideration, SLIM has themed this year’s Brand Excellence Awards to recognize brands that have thrived during times of adversity, which is the true test of a brand promise. It will be the ideal platform to bring forward brands of all categories that have upheld their values despite the unfavourable times, and ensured that consumer confidence was preserved.
SLIM Brand Excellence Awards 2020 will be presented under a total of 13 categories; inclusive of 6 Main Awards and 7 Special Awards. The main award categories are the Product Brand of the Year, Service Brand of the Year, Innovative Brand of the Year, International Brand of the Year, Local Brand of the Year and Export Brand of the Year. The special awards include Turnaround Brand of the Year, Best New Entrant of the Year, B2B Brand of the Year, CSR Brand of the Year, Online Brand of the Year, SME Local Brand of the Year and SME Export Brand of the Year. The brands that score highest in the six main categories will be considered for the ultimate Brand of the Year Award.
Entries for SLIM Brand Excellence Awards can be submitted until 31st August 2020 by online submission via www.be.slim.lk. The SLIM Brand Excellence Awards ceremony will be held on 4 November 2020 at the Shangri La, Colombo.
Speaking of the event, President of SLIM, Roshan Fernando stated, “SLIM Brand Excellence has continued to be the only awards ceremony that recognizes brands and brand custodians for the remarkable efforts they create in the marketing industry. As, the national body for marketing in the country, we are proud that we have been able to continue the event for the 19th consecutive year, despite the current situation in the country as well as around the world. As the thought leader of Restart Sri Lanka, the national initiative to reinvigorate the economy of the country, we are ready to highlight the brands that have continued to maintain their caliber throughout these hard times, as they deserve the utmost recognition”.
Vice President of SLIM, Thilanka Abeywardena added, “The SLIM team and the Brand Excellence project committee have taken on a bigger challenge this year. Together we have taken a decision to continue with all our national events, since we understand the need to continuously encourage and reward our brands and enterprises, if we are to overcome adverse situations”.
Gayan Perera, the Project Chairperson of SLIM Brand Excellence 2020 and Hon. Assistant Secretary at SLIM emphasized that the objective of this year’s event was to draw out the stories of resilience that brands have to share. “We want to reward those brands and their custodians for the immense effort they have put in to safeguard their brand performances, as we all know it has not been ‘business-as-usual’ in any industry across the island and the globe. We also want to make this a platform of inspiration for many other brands out there, to learn and progress from these success stories”.
“We as the jury are actually excited to see what the brands have to present to us and look forward to some amazing stories of perseverance. The awards are categorized in such a way that it enables many brands to enter the Brand Excellence awards, and we expect a higher number of entries this year,” commented Dileep Mudandeniya, Head of Jury for SLIM Brand Excellence 2020.
As the national body of marketing in the country, the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) serves to generate initiatives in order to encourage strategic and result-oriented thinking in the fields of brand development, sales, advertising and research through national level events such as, the SLIM Brand Excellence Awards, NASCO, the Effies and the People’s Awards.