The strongest brands of the year were recognized at the 17^th annual Best Brands Awards during a festive gala in Munich this evening; Adidas was crowned "Best Corporate Brand in Europe"; WMF received the award as "Best Product Brand"; and grill manufacturer Char-Broil was chosen as "Best Growth Brand". In this year's Special Categories, the award for "Best Sustainability Organization" went to the WWF, and Dyson was honoured as "Best Future Tech Brand". The prominent guests at the gala, hosted by Klaas Heufer-Umlauf, included renowned ethologist and anthropologist Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE, Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and UN Messenger of Peace, and indie rock band Mando Diao.

Munich, 19 February 2020 — Best Brands – the event that has developed into the industry event of the year since its inauguration in 2004 – celebrated its 17th edition on 19 February. Best Brands is the only marketing award based on extensive representative studies by GfK to measure the strength of a brand according to two criteria: actual economic market success and the attractiveness of the brand in consumer perception.

More than 650 invited guests from business, retail and the media, as well as numerous celebrity guests, attended the gala evening at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof in Munich to celebrate the winners in the categories "Best Corporate Brand in Europe", "Best Product Brand", "Best Growth Brand", and in this year's special categories "Best Sustainability Organization" and "Best Future Tech Brand".

The renowned ethologist and anthropologist and UN Messenger of Peace Dr. Jane Goodall opened the event with a keynote speech on the topic of "Reason for Hope".

This year's gala was again hosted by Klaas Heufer-Umlauf. Besides the prize winners, the Swedish indie rock stars Mandio Diao were also celebrated on stage during their performance.   

Adidas won for the first time this year in the category "Best Corporate Brand in Europe", with Ikea and Porsche taking second and third place. The sporting goods manufacturer Adidas has been represented in the top 10 ranking of this category for many years. The prize for "Best Corporate Brand in Europe" is awarded annually, alternating with the category "Best German Corporate Brand International" – in 2019, Adidas took first place in this section for the first time.

WMF is this year’s "Best Product Brand" and also a first-time winner. Samsung follows in second place followed by last year's category winner LEGO in third place.

The "Best Growth Brand" award went to grill manufacturer Char-Broil. This category marks changes in market share in terms of value of a brand, combined with change in the attractiveness of the respective brand compared to the previous year. The winner Char-Broil is followed by the fashion brand Bugatti and Dyson in second and third place.

In the special category "Best Sustainability Organization", the winner is the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Organizations / Seals that are advocating for sustainability were honored here. The award is based on media presence and awareness, as well as reputation and willingness to support among the population. Greenpeace and the German Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU) follow in second and third place.

In the second special category "Best Future Tech Brand", Dyson took the number one spot, ahead of Siemens and JBL, the speaker and headphone brand.

About Best Brands

Best Brands is the only marketing award that measures the strength of a brand based on two criteria: the actual economic market success – the so-called "share of market" – and “share of soul”, the attractiveness of the brand in the perception of consumers. Since 2004, the award has been presented in the categories "Best Product Brand", "Best Growth Brand", "Best Corporate Brand" as well as annually changing special categories – in 2020 the "Best Future Tech Brand" and the "Best Sustainability Organization" were awarded.

Further information on Best Brands can be found at https://www.bestbrands.de/en.html.