Munich, 10.02.2010 - The presentation of the best brands awards once again brought together the crème de la crème of Germany's brand name industry. The gala in Munich's Bayerischer Hof hotel was opened this evening by retired Federal Minister of Finance Peer Steinbrück. A dazzling line-up of celebrities including TV-presenter Sonya Kraus, Norwegian pop singer Marit Larsen and leading German actor and comedian Christoph Maria Herbst, famous for his bad-tempered character Stromberg, delighted the audience with a rich palette of entertainment. There was an air of anticipation among the more than 450 invited guests as the "best brands 2010" were announced: Lego, Samsung, Google and Henkel. The winners, in addition to the coveted best brands trophy, received a cheque for communication and media achievement to the value of more than one million euros.
What is special about the best brands award, however, is that the winners are not elected by a jury, but rather by the consumers. The prize-winning candidates are evaluated in a representative GfK study based on two central criteria - their actual economic market success and the popularity of their brand according to consumer perception. Up until now, no other marketing branch ranking has ever taken both facets of brand strength into consideration.

The German brand ranking "best brands" was launched back in 2004 by the Serviceplan Group, the GfK Group, the ProSiebenSat. 1 Group, the WirtschaftsWoche magazine, the German brand association (Markenverband) and the iq media marketing company with the aim of promoting successful brand management in Germany by way of both the awards presentation and the accompanying one-day conference. Since then, the best brands award ceremony has been held every year in February.

But it wasn't only the brands and their makers who attracted interest at the best brands 2010 ceremony. As in the previous year, the gala was accompanied by an appeal for donations to the Karlheinz Böhm "Menschen für Menschen" (People for People) foundation. Sara Nuru - in addition to being "Germany's Next Top Model", also Youth Ambassador for Böhm's relief project - pleaded the case for supporting the "ABC-2015" programme in front of the best brands guests. The aim of the project is to help children in Ethiopia - one of the world's poorest countries - to gain access to education and receive schooling.

Find out more about the best brands award: http://www.bestbrands.de/index_fs.html