If anything, Reader's Digest 2002 SuperBrands poll, a rating on quantitative and qualitative scores, had more brands achieving Platinum ranking - "brand domination of their category - compared with last year.
Against last year's 12 Platinum SuperBrands from 38 categories, this year, there were 18 in all. "In a slowdown, the strong brands just get stronger, says Peter Jeffery, associate publisher of Reader's Digest.
"Asia's appetite for brands has been as strong as ever throughout the slump. In a downturn, consumers are much more conscious of what they are purchasing."
The recession and consumers remaining with "brands they trust aside, the magazine did add another criteria which appears to have helped more brands achieve Platinum rank.
Now in its fourth year, the six-market survey previously only awarded Platinum rank to brands achieving a total score which was three times that of its nearest competitor.
This has been expanded this year to include brands achieving a total score twice that of its nearest rival so long as they also garnered an average rating of four plus across the five qualitative scores - quality, value, trustworthiness, strong image and understanding of consumer needs.
New entrants in the Platinum circle are Shangri-La, Singapore Airlines, Canon for home office equipment, Rolex, National for washing machines, Johnny Walker, Pantene for shampoo/conditioner and Avon for cosmetics.
Nestle (milk/milk products) lost its Platinum rank this year. Ditto for Visa only because Reader's Digest dropped the credit card category as it is compiling a separate brand poll for this segment.
READER'S DIGEST SUPERBRANDS WINNERS - 2002
Platinum Gold
Car BMW, Honda, Mercedes Benz,
Toyota
Hotel Shangri-La Hyatt
Airline Singapore Airlines Cathay Pacific
Gas station Shell Caltex
Computer Acer, Compaq, IBM
Home office equipment Canon Hewlett Packard, Panasonic
Mobile/Cellular phone Nokia Ericsson, Motorola
Television Sony Panasonic
CD/MD player Sony Panasonic
DVD player Sony Panasonic, Pioneer
Camera Canon, Nikon,Olympus
Digital camera Canon, Sony
Video camera Sony Canon, Panasonic
Watch Rolex Seiko
Quality pen Cross, Mont Blanc, Parker
Washing machine National Whirlpool
Refrigerator General Electric, National,
Sharp
Air conditioner Carrier, Hitachi, National
Water/mineral water Evian
Soft drink Coca-Cola Pepsi
Tea Lipton
Coffee (Instant) Nescafe Maxwell House
Milk/milk product Nestle
Cereal Kellogg's, Nestle, Quaker
Oats
Soup (Canned of packet) Campbell's, Knorr, Maggi
Cooking oil Knife
Seasoning products Ajinomoto, Knorr, Lee Kum
Kee, Maggi
Instant noodles Maggi, Nissin
Beer Carlsberg, Heineken
Whisky Johnnie Walker Chivas Regal
Brandy/Cognac Hennessy, Martell, Remy
Martin
Shampoo/Conditioner Pantene
Toothpaste Colgate, Darlie
Skin care Johnson & Johnson, Nivea
Cosmetics Avon Estee Lauder, Shiseido
Baby food Gerber, Heinz, Nestle
Baby care Johnson & Johnson Pampers
Source: Reader's Digest
"Most middle class homes in Asia have more air-conditioners than television sets or refrigerators, notes Jeffery. "We can see from the responses that it was the right thing to do. National, Carrier and Hitachi have achieved the inaugural Gold rank in air-conditioners. In Malaysia, National achieved Platinum rank as did Hitachi in Taiwan and Mitsubishi Electric in Thailand.
As expected, Sony again emerged as the leading brand region-wide, repeating last year's achievement with Platinum awards in the television, CD/MD player, DVD player and video camera categories.
Interestingly, when it comes to flying, consumer preferences appear to be decidedly patriotic. In all markets, it was the flag carrier that achieved top status, including Platinum honours for Cathay Pacific in Hong Kong, Philippine Airlines in the Philippines, Singapore Airlines in Singapore and Thai Airways in Thailand.
Only respondents in Malaysia and Taiwan were unwilling to go as far as to award Platinum rank to their national carriers.
In the fast-moving consumer goods category, Jeffery said multinationals again performed strongly in most markets bar Taiwan. Taiwanese food conglomerate Uni-President was the clear leader for cooking oil and instant noodles, achieving Platinum rank in both categories, and coming in second to Knorr in the soup segment.
A total of 3,000 respondents participated in the postal survey - in line with targets - although it coincided with last year's anthrax scare, according to Jeffery.
