IN one song Tracy Chapman sang “talking about a revolution, sounds like a whisper”. Talk of the town is the recent approved Standards Bill guiding the development of voluntary standards.
The Bill will create the Standards Institute of Zimbabwe, whose main mandate will be to develop, publish and promote voluntary standards and quality assurance in industry and commerce.
Voluntary standards are revolutionary. A brand with an approved standard is quality assured. National and provincial standards will bring about brand association with territories.
There are brands associated with Masvingo, Bulawayo, Mutare and Chinhoyi, among other provinces.
Collectively, Zimbabwean businesses will have a brand association with Zimbabwe. Brands in Zimbabwe are expected to meet Zimbabwean standards.
Regional associations promote trade in respective geographical locations. Approved standards must ensure the brand association with core values set as a benchmark. Benchmarking encourages best practices to be followed within industry and commerce.
European Brands Association
The European Brands Association (AIM) represents manufacturers of branded consumer goods in Europe on key issues, which affect their ability to design, distribute and market their brands.
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The represented brands invest in research and development. There are at least 20 national associations in the European Brands Association. AIM represents 2 500 businesses ranging from small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to multinationals, directly or indirectly, through its corporate and national association members.
Their members have unity of purpose to build strong evocative brands, placing the consumer at the heart of everything they do.
National associations include British Brands Group - United Kingdom; Promarca – Spain; Centromarca – Italy; Ilec – France; and Markenverbrand – Germany.
Meanwhile in Africa, our goal is to advocate from the ground up Africa Brand Association as a trade promotion mission for the Africa Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA)’s 54 member states, starting with Zimbabwe Brand Association, representing brands in Zimbabwe and Africa.
British Brands Group: UK
It is a membership organisation dedicated to championing brands in the UK. Their objective is to ensure that the UK is a great place to create, build and sustain brands and that brands’ positive contribution to consumers, the economy and society is better understood by policymakers and others.
Their members include leading brand manufacturers of all sizes, and they provide a forum for them to discuss issues affecting brands in the UK.
They are the UK arm of AIM (European Brands Association) and part of an integral network of similar national organisations around the world.
The nature of Zimbabwean brands is a focus on distribution. We help to build trust with the suppliers and consumers for small business owners; and SMEs involved in buying and selling, as a retail business brands association.
Promarca: Spain
The objective of Promarca is to communicate the values of the brands and highlight the work carried out by manufacturers of leading brands of food, beverages, drugstore and perfumery in Spain.
The small business owners in Zimbabwe are focused on fresh farm produce and clothing. Zimbabwe Brand Association promotes Zimbabwean products, people, places, agrobusiness, industry and commerce.
Centromarca: Italy
The Italian Association of Brand Industry; promotes the culture, values of the brand in the market and in society. It was founded in 1965. It associates companies in the consumer sector, such as food, beverages, home and personal care.
In Italy, the market share of the large brands, that is the quantity sold compared to the total sales of consumer products, is equal to 55%. It is the highest in Europe and testifies to the consumer’s trust, his/her desire to reward himself/herself with products that improve and simplify his/her life, always guaranteeing the best results.
The project of Zimbabwe Brand Association is to associate Zimbabwean brands with our people’s culture and value of trust.
Suppliers and customers prefer brands they know are trusted.
Ilec: France
Ilec is a key player in the relationship management. It brings together more than 80 companies that manufacture and market consumer products of national and international renown, present in many department stores, food and non-food: drugstore, packaging, groceries, hygiene-beauty and perfumery etc.
These companies store a duty of excellence and responsibility invested in the brand, a contract of trust with consumers. Since 1959, Ilec has been their spokesperson in the industry-trade relationship and with the public authorities.
Locally, Zimbabwe Brand Association is representing retail brands by growing a distribution website for small business owners and SMEs in buying and selling so as to have a contract of trust with the suppliers and customers.
Markenverbrand: Germany
Since 1903, the Makernverbrand, an industry independent association, has been campaigning for a stable set of values in our society that companies and brands can rely on. The brand economy in Germany stands for brand sales of just under 1,1 trillion euros and 5,2 million jobs. The brand association, founded in Berlin in 1903, is the central organisation of the German branding industry. With around 400 members, it is the largest association of its kind in Europe.
Badge and benchmark
Brands Association Zimbabwe is a Zimbabwe Brand Association badge used by industry and commerce co-branding promotional material. This badge represents a benchmark in approved standards for brands promoting safety, health and the environment. Benchmarking with the Brands Association Badge certify trusted sources for products and services that are ecofriendly.
- Chikwenhere is an author of Affirmative 21 Laws How to Confess. He is a brand strategist, image consultant and founder of Zimbabwe Brand Association.
