The crowning of the strongest brands in Italy is expected on March 7th, during the traditional gala event that returns to be entirely in-person, based on 16,000 evaluations collected by GfK and compared with sales data.

Milan, January 10, 2023 - The Best Brands ranking is back, considered by professionals and industry insiders to be the most comprehensive and objective due to its ability to offer direct consumer insights compared with economic performance data. In its eighth edition in Italy, the project - first launched by GfK and Serviceplan Group in Germany in 2004 and supported in Italy by founding partners RAI Pubblicità, 24ORE System, IGP Decaux, ADC Group, and patronage of UPA, and this year with a contribution from Teads, a global leader in the outstream video advertising market - has become a reference over the years and a highly anticipated event for the industry in our country as well.

Best Brands has always been able to capture market stimuli to guide brands in their evolution, which is why "Best Friends" is the theme of the 2023 edition. Brands, actors increasingly present in consumers' daily lives and called to play a responsible role within the community, accompany people towards a future characterized by the centrality of the individual as an end, never as a means, according to the principles of society 5.0, which aims to be prosperous and focuses on human well-being. Trust, authority, and credibility are the characteristics that brands must convey in their new role as "Best Friends," the best way to be "Best Brands."

In the opening of the press conference, Lorenzo Sassoli de Bianchi, President of UPA, stated: "The title of this eighth edition perfectly captures the reciprocal relationship of interest and attention that brands have towards their users/consumers and the people who choose them, in a reciprocity that every brand works towards. Today, more than ever, brands confront the unpredictability of the future. The only stable thing is instability: even consecrated by a neologism, 'permacrisis.' But we firmly believe that effective and continuous advertising communication builds, supports, and consolidates brands, in both the short and long term."

Immediately after, Giovanni Ghelardi, CEO of Serviceplan Group Italy, and Enzo Frasio, President of GfK Italy, summarized the main characteristics and themes of the study, which aims to create an accurate and reliable mapping of the strongest brands in the market.

"There are brands and Best Brands. As emerged from discussions in the Best Brands Club, the latter, unlike the former, always strive to become Best Friends. This involves a commitment to making sustainability a concrete advantage for everyone, the ability to reconcile an increasingly global vision with the cultural needs of the territory, and the choice not to compromise to please anyone and anywhere, but rather to remain true to oneself in contexts where the brand believes it can truly be useful," says Ghelardi.

The research is based on 6,000 interviews (5,000 for the historical rankings and 1,000 for a new ranking) for a total of 16,000 evaluations. Best Brands' exclusive methodology combines qualitative and quantitative elements through an algorithm developed almost twenty years ago by GfK and Serviceplan Group. The historical results obtained in the countries where the research is conducted (currently Belgium, France, Germany, Poland, and Italy) confirm the validity of the method, which contributes to the study's authority.

"Our cross-sectional study always compares economic data with people's perspectives, ensuring the objectivity of the results. Therefore, I believe that the trends emerging from the research are even more significant in anticipating market scenarios, with a focus on the future to offer insights and stimuli to the industry," says Frasio.

The rankings for the 2023 edition integrate the four historical categories, Best Product Brand, Best Growth Brand, Best Sustainability Brand, and Best Phygital Brand, with the brand-new Best of the Best, which will reward the brand that performed the best according to consumers in all four value areas.

During Best Brands 2023, the Book Two of Best Brands will also be presented, the result of the work sessions of the Best Brands Club, the exclusive forum animated by the brands that ranked at the top of the 2022 rankings (Amazon, ASdoMAR, Elmex, Intesa San Paolo, Müller, Mulino Bianco, Nutella, PayPal, Samsung, and UnipolSai), with the intention of defining what it means to be Best Brands today.

The second edition of the book will be presented, along with the research results, during the grand gala event scheduled in Milan on March 7th. The invitation-only event, which will reach its peak during the announcement of the brands that ranked first in the four Best Brands categories, will be held, as tradition, at the RAI studios in Via Mecenate. After the hybrid formats experimented with in recent years to address the pandemic emergency, the event that brings together the top Italian brands will return to be exclusively in-person.

For more information, visit the website: www.best-brands.it