SONY cemented their reputation as Asia’s No. 1 company brand in the recently announced Asia Pacific Brand Channel Reader’s Choice Award 2006. SONY takes top spot for the 4th year in a row, and they have also won it 5 times in the last 6 years. The only brand that previously outclassed SONY was LG, which was way back in 2001.
Malaysia homegrown airline operator, Air Asia came 6th, overshadowing 40++ year old airlines, Singapore Airlines. Air Asia has just passed its 5th year of operation. In the recent interview with the press, Tony Fernandes told that Air Asia is now bigger than Singapore Airlines, even though it is only 5 years old. I am not sure if he takes account Singapore Airlines’ 49% stake in Virgin Airlines in making the statement. However, reputation-wise, looks like Air Asia is better now. Malaysia national carrier, Malaysia Airlines ranks 52nd.
By the way, in the recent TV program, Captains that was aired again on NTV7, Tony admitted he is not a fan of Manchester United FC. In fact, he hates them. Go Tony!
You would probably be surprised to see Proton taking the 11th spot (Proton engineers, time to re-think that offer from Perodua?), outperforming Perodua at 53. Other Malaysian companies that make entry in the list include Jobstreet.com (29) and Petronas (56). Jobstreet.com is most likely the only company in the job industry which made it to the list. JobsDb, claimed as the largest job portal in Asia Pacific, is not anywhere in the list.
Here is the top 10 list of the Asia Pacific Category Award.
1. SONY
From the Sony Walkman era, to Sony VIAO, to Sony Play Station, digital cameras and many other consumer products, Sony’s inventions and products continues to impress the world, even though recently plagued by the issue of its withdrawal of Sony batteries. It was Sony who made me spent as much as 15 hours per day during my college heir day playing the Play Station’s Winning Eleven soccer game. Their release of Play Station 3 recently created bigger frenzy than ever.
