People’s Awards returns to crown Sri Lanka’s most popular

Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM), the national body for marketing, and Nielsen Sri Lanka, the local arm of the largest information and research company in the world, have joined hands yet again to conduct SLIM-Nielsen People’s Awards 2017.

Now stepping in to its 11th edition and firmly established as one of the most awaited events in the corporate calendar, SLIM-Nielsen People’s Awards 2017 will be held on 10 March, rewarding brands which have made a powerful impression in the minds of the people.

Speaking ahead of the event, SLIM President Upul Adikari highlighted the uniqueness of the event which sets it apart from other awards ceremonies.

“There are various awards ceremonies where companies, personalities or brands submit an application, build a case and have themselves evaluated by a panel of judges. But the unique factor here is that the judging panel is the general public. We believe that winning a People’s Award is the ultimate recognition of your standing, as you are being recognised directly by your end consumer. In fact, while the award is certainly a matter of prestige, even a nomination is an indication of a strong emotional bond with the general public.”

Adikari went on to elaborate on the nature of this year’s competition. “People’s Awards provides a level playing field and an open competition. It exposes brands, ensuring that there is no place to hide. This year the competition has intensified as brands are racing to be at the top of their respective categories. Furthermore, the gap between local brands and international brands has reduced greatly. I would say that delivering the brand promise, building brand awareness and connecting with local consumers are the most important factors for success at People’s Awards.”

The winners of the competition are picked through a comprehensive nationwide research conducted by Nielsen Sri Lanka, under the leadership and direction of its Managing Director Sharang Pant and Chief Executive Officer.

Nielsen Sri Lanka MD Sharang Pant elaborated on the research carried out by the company for the People’s Awards.

“Every year, Nielsen conducts a large scale survey across all 25 districts of Sri Lanka, with people interviewed to record spontaneously recalled brands, personalities, media and programmes for various award categories. The random selection of individuals ensures we represent all socio-economic classes in Sri Lanka. The winners and nominees are those receiving the highest percentage of nominations. The survey for this year’s awards was conducted between September 2016 and December 2016.”

He further spoke about the quality control measures in place to ensure that the competition produces the most deserving winners.

“Nielsen uses tried and tested research techniques and processes to ensure unbiased data collection. The survey is conducted in a random manner and technology is used to aid the interviewers. The ‘Right Hand Rule’ is used by the interviewers to select households in each street to be interviewed. From all eligible members who can participate in the survey in the selected household, the member to be interviewed is again chosen randomly using a method called ‘Kish Grid’. This helps minimise any bias. While the selected respondent is interviewed for their favourite brand, personalities, media and programmes, the interviewer makes sure the respondent is not aided and that responses are truly spontaneous. As a standard Nielsen deploys stringent quality control measures which include accompaniments and back checks to ensure the validity of data.” 

SLIM-Nielsen People’s Awards was the brainchild of SLIM and was initiated in 2006 in association with Nielsen Sri Lanka. 

As the national body for marketing SLIM offers the most sought after proprietary postgraduate and diploma programmes in the fields of marketing and sales, and the SLIM calendar includes premier annual events such as SLIM Brand Excellence, Effie Awards, People’s Choice Awards and NASCO.

Nielsen Holdings PLC is a global performance management company that provides a comprehensive understanding of what consumers watch and buy. An S&P 500 company, it has operations in over 100 countries, covering more than 90% of the world’s population.