‘SLIM-Nielsen People’s Awards 2017’ for 11th consecutive year

The eagerly-awaited ‘SLIM-Nielsen People’s Awards’ will be held for the 11th consecutive year today (10 March) at Waters Edge Battaramulla, to recognise the brands and personalities that have left a lasting impression on the people of Sri Lanka.

This unique event is organised by the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) – the national body for marketing which also organises premier annual events such as SLIM Brand Excellence, Effie Awards and NASCO, in association with Nielsen Sri Lanka, the local arm of the largest information and research company in the world.

The ‘SLIM-Nielsen People’s Awards’ is unique as it puts the general public in the driver’s seat, allowing everyday people to name their favourite brands, personalities, advertisements, films, teledramas, etc. No individual or company can apply for recognition themselves, and therefore must be nominated by consumers, which provides a true reflection of the views of people based on what is close to their hearts and minds. 

The survey spanned a period of one year with randomly selected males and females between the ages of 18 to 50 years being interviewed in all 25 districts. The data was captured through face-to-face interviews using a structured questionnaire by Nielsen field research officers, who were specially trained to conduct interviews of this nature. 

Commenting ahead of the awards show, SLIM Nielsen People’s Awards 2017 Project Chairman Ranga Perera described the awards night as an excellent opportunity for marketers in Sri Lanka to understand consumers. 

“The research findings based on the national sample is a reflection of which brands are strongly positioned in consumers’ minds. Shifts in preferences when comparing results from previous years would also indicate changing consumer trends which are important for marketers in decision making.”

He added that further insights can be obtained through the purchase of research findings at a disaggregated level (by age, gender, region), where specific demographic segment preferences can also be looked at.

A brainchild of SLIM, the SLIM-Nielsen People’s Awards saw its inception in 2006 and has been held annually ever since. With Sri Lanka’s economy showing strong growth and consumer spending habits evolving, it would be of interest to see if traditional brands and personalities have retained their inherent strengths or whether new brands and personalities are emerging as people’s favourites, setting the stage for marketers to re-evaluate their marketing and branding strategies.          

As the national body for marketing SLIM offers the most sought after proprietary postgraduate and diploma programmes in the fields of marketing and sales. Nielsen Holdings PLC is a global performance management company which has operations in over 100 countries, covering more than 90% of the world’s population.