A new concept in branding, Superbrands, dubbed the independent arbiter of branding, was unveiled before the local media last week during a breakfast meeting at Le Méridien St Julian’s Hotel & Spa.

Maurizio Comollo, Italy Country Head, who is responsible for Italy, Malta and Monaco, sees huge potential for the successful implementation of this branding concept locally after having successfully laid the initial groundwork.

“Superbrands gives local brand owners the opportunity to stand out, with a Seal of Quality & Value, which brings the islands’ top brands together and enables them to build a significant advantage over their competition, while building synergies with similar high value brands,” he said.

Stressing the importance of branding to companies the world over, Mr Comollo said brands are increasingly being seen as valuable business assets. Superbrands was launched in the UK in 1994 and is now present in 83 countries. It was launched in Italy in 2002 and has so far led to the production of three editions of the Superbrands brand bible, apart from three other ‘bibles’ on Business to Business brands, Luxury & Lifestyle brands and CoolBrands.

Mr Comollo announced that the first step in compiling a Malta and Gozo Superbrands brand bible, to be launched in October, had been accomplished with the appointment of a 10-member Superbrands Council Malta & Gozo 2009-10, chaired by former tourism and culture minister Francis Zammit Dimech.

The council was given a shortlist of 1,200 brands from an initial list of 2,500 that were considered by Superbrands. Each brand was scored and has since been whittled down to 350 brands that are being invited to join the programme for Malta and Gozo of Superbrands. The highest scoring brands will earn themselves Business Superbrands status and will receive an award at a Tribute event to be held in late October.

Mr Comollo defined a Superbrand as “(one that) has established the finest reputation in its field. It offers customers significant emotional and/or tangible advantages over competitors which (consciously or subconsciously) customers want, recognise, and are confident about investing in.”

The Superbrands organisation assists in:

• enhancing the perception of the brand;

• conducts research through highly reputable polling organisations and provides independent comment about the brands;

• works at featuring the brand in the media; and

• produces a brand bible of which 5,000 copies will be printed, apart from being available on the Superbrands website, which contains all the case studies across its different programmes.