The flagship event of the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing held for the ninth consecutive year, the much awaited awards were held at the Waters Edge last week and proved to be a whirl of glitz and glamour, with the Chief Guest of the event being the Minister of Media Keheliya Rambukwella.
 

With a total of 11 categories, over 20 companies and brands won awards with Product Brand of the Year going to Munchee, Panadol and Ritzbury and Dimo Batta respectively. Innovative Brand of the year was picked up by Dialog with Ada Derana and Hammedias sweeping up Silver and Bronze.  Mobitel M3 was crowned the Best New Entrant of the Year, Seylan Bank the Turnabout Brand of the Year and HSBC awarded the Best International Brand of the Year. Besides being crowned Brand of the Year, the big winner of the night Munchee also won Gold in the categories of Product Brand of the Year, Export Brand of the Year, Local Brand of the Year and Silver in the category of CSR Brand of the Year.
 

Chairman of the Postgraduate Chartered Institute of Marketing Dr. Uditha Liyanage, who was honoured with an award himself, addressed the audience briefly at the beginning of the night, describing the judging criteria. "It must be remembered that the winning brands achieved the results that they got through their own work and determination. There were many criteria employed in indentifying the winners from the non winners which was divided into two broad categories. One included sales volume, growth, brand reputation, customer satisfaction etc. while the other set related to what the brand did - brand intent, content and so on", he clarified.
 

The large and diverse panel of judges had their hands full this time around as the awards had received a record number of new entrants with nearly 25% of the entries coming from new companies and brands who competed in the awards for the first time.
 

The complex and time consuming judging process was carried out by 12 dedicated professionals and industrialists who too were awarded with trophies for their efforts and invaluable contribution towards the event.