By Nicholas Fang

Top local brands that have achieved success at the Singapore Prestige Brand Awards (SPBA) before can now aspire to enter a Hall of Fame.

This new category was announced yesterday at the official launch of this year's SPBA, organised by the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (Asme) and Chinese newspaper Lianhe Zaobao, and sponsored by CitiBusiness, an arm of Citibank.

The Hall of Fame award will recognise truly deserving and outstanding local brands that have excelled consistently.

To qualify, brands must have won the SPBA accolade at least five times.

Alternatively, a company can still qualify if it has won only three times, as long as it has secured an 'overall win' in any of the four main categories at least once since last year.

Asme president Lawrence Leow believes the new category will raise the benchmarks in branding and inspire more Singapore brands to excel in this area.

He also said the current business environment gave companies the opportunity to differentiate themselves from their competitors through sound branding.

'Some businesses may ask if branding is still relevant to small and medium-sized enterprises in the current climate of uncertainty, when companies have to grapple with very real and immediate concerns, such as escalating costs in everything from oil to raw materials to food,' he said.

'I would say that branding is more relevant than ever.

'Studies have shown that a strong brand is invaluable as the battle for customers intensifies each day, and strong brands have been able to protect their premium pricing and margins better than lesser-known competitors.'

Submission of entries for the award opened yesterday. Firms can submit their entries to Asme. The winners will be announced in December.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on 4 July 2008.