Türk Telekom tops Turkey’s leading brand list

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

A leading British consultancy named Türk Telekom on June 14 as Turkey’s most valuable brand for 2017.        
According to the London-based Brand Finance valuation consultancy’s list of top 100 Turkish brands for the year, the integrated telecommunications service provider topped the list with a brand value worth more than $2.6 billion.        

The leading communication company’s value was up 11 percent in 2017 compared to last year, the survey read.        

Türk Telekom was followed by another Turkish communications company, Turkcell, with a brand value of $1.96 billion, representing a rise of 37 percent during the same period.        

The brand value of Turkish Airlines, which topped last year’s survey, slipped 22 percent to $1.92 billion, putting the flagship Turkish carrier third.        

Akbank ($1.58 billion), a Turkish lender owned by the Sabancı Group, and Garanti Bank ($1.55 billion), one of the leading lenders in the Turkish market which is partly owned by Spanish lender BBVA, placed fourth and fifth, respectively.        

The top 10 also included durable consumer goods producer Arçelik with a brand value of $1.2 billion.        
State lenders Ziraat Bank ($1.3 billion) and Halkbank ($806 million), as well as private lenders İş Bank ($1.25 billion) and Yapı Kredi ($951 million) were also on the list.      
  
Turkey’s banking sector performed well on the list with six brands in the top 10, with a combined value of $7.5 billion.        

Brand Finance also revealed that the total worth of Turkey’s 100 most valuable brands decreased by 6 percent year-on-year to stand at $27.4 billion in 2017.      
 
Muhterem İlgüner, managing director of Brand Finance Turkey, noted there was a downward trend in the brand value of the hundred companies listed in 2017 and 2016.        

“Foreign exchange rate differences affected this adversely. However, the result of 2017, which was prepared by financial data of 2016, reflects the impact of an extraordinary year.        

“Turkey is a country that knows how to produce. It needs to gain ground in the path of adding value to what it produces,” he told Anadolu Agency.        

İlgüner underlined the difference between brands and valuable brands, adding that valuable brands endeavored to identify and understand consumers while brands expect to benefit from intensive communication efforts.        

Brands should strive for permanent and sustainable success in order to be valuable, İlgüner said.  
     
He also said the total value of the most valuable Turkish brands had hovered at around $25 billion to 35 billion over the last decade.