NEW DELHI: The Brand Council, a part of Superbrands India is currently evaluating over 700 brands in the country in 95 different categories to identify the strongest among the lot and award them the Superbrands status.

The Superbrands status is internationally recognised as the Oscar in the world of Branding.

Says Superbrands India CEO Anmol Dar, "The Superbrands concept is a winner in 18 countries worldwide. The discipline of branding has matured in India today and it is time to pay tribute to exceptional brands."

Only the strongest brands will be shortlisted in this evaluation process and will be offered the opportunity to be a part of the first edition of Superbrands the book, a chronicle of India's strongest brands for this year. The first edition of the book will be dedicated to the late ad guru Shunu Sen. The council members have decided to retain his name on the Council even after his demise as he was deeply involved with the Superbrands project in India since its inception.

The brand council includes executive director (New Ventures), HLL Dalip Sehgal, CEO, J Walter Thompson Mike Khanna, group president & national creative director, O&M, Piyush Pandey, business editor CNBC and MD TV 18 Raghav Bahl.

The members, each of whom is known to have an instinctive "feel" for brands, have been given a list of product categories and brands under each. These brands are being rated on a scale of 1 to 10. To ensure unbiased results, representatives of a brand are advised not to rate the brands in that particular category and the average mean score of the rest of the brand council members is taken as theirs.

The brand council is scheduled to meet later this month to discuss the findings. Once the brand council reaches a consensus that a particular brand in a category deserves to be invited for participation in the Superbrands Book, invitations will be sent out to them. Without the approval of the Brand Council members, no brand will find place in the publication.

An official release informs that in each of the countries that Superbrands operates in, it has an independent Superbrands Council. Comprehensive research is undertaken to identify the brands in various categories and that offer the consumer significant emotional and/or physical advantages over its competitors, which (consciously or sub-consciously) customers want, recognise and are willing to pay a premium for. The Brand Council, composed typically of doyens of business, industry, advertising, marketing and media - then reviews each of these brands and pronounce judgement.

Launched in the year 1993, Superbrands is a concept developed by UK marketing guru Marcel Knobil, the founder of the Superbrands Organisation and the chairman of the Superbrands Council, UK. Over the years, Superbrands has evolved into being a recognised, independent authority and arbiter of branding - it exists to promote the discipline of branding and to pay tribute to exceptional brands. It has been tracking the branding phenomenon for the past nine years and maintains councils in 18 different countries .