Discovery Bank takes gold at the Ask Afrika Brand Index 2024

“Many of our banking clients expressed a need to have a deeper understanding of their brand’s performance in the banking industry. The Ask Afrika Brand Index is our response to this need”, explains Sarina de Beer, director of global product development at Ask Afrika.

Independent and rigorous methodology

This Ask Afrika benchmark study aims to uncover how customers perceive and experience their banks, and how brands strengthen relationships by doing more than merely delivering on the brand promises made. Interviews were conducted with 3,850 respondents and the results were independently audited. The index calculation is based on 2 core questions. Core diagnostics are derived from the following broader questionnaire:

• 2024 Ask Afrika Brand Health Research – interviewing banking clients across 11 South African banks looking at brand satisfaction and delving into brand performance diagnostics. This benchmark also includes Emotional brand satisfaction and looks into, values and brand loyalty in more detail.

“The Ask Afrika Brand Index is as much a leadership conversation as it is a brand conversation”, de Beer mentions. “It adopts the premise that brands lead with purpose. This implies that a significant synergy and integration is required between brand, marketing, and customer experience (CX) strategies, being congruent to the brand purpose and responding to societies, not only to customers.”

Pictured: Sarina de Beer, Director of Global Product Development at Ask Afrika.; Firoze Bharat Chief Marketing Officer; Discovery Ltd Jo-Anne Hendricks General Manager Head of Marketing Discovery Bank

Contextual smog and overwhelm is the current marketing challenge

People have been faced with tremendous change the last half a decade, and they are emphasising the need for consistency. Dealing with uncertainty is perceived to be more stressful than knowing something bad is definitely going to happen, and this increases the need for control. Disruption is also not the solution to uncertainty anymore as customers perceive it to be detracting from the quality of their lives. Respondents also indicate that they suffer from change fatigue, and have 50% less mental capacity to cope with change.

Connection is the new currency

In this state of being totally overwhelmed, institutions and brands have become the chosen champions for trust, reconnecting society as the new carriers of hope. 53% of respondents indicated a need for brands to be visible on a societal level. This is higher in some markets and industries and is vital for in the banking industry. 

Respondents indicated that they are willing to buy from a brand before they trust it. But only once the brand has earned trust, will they be an advocate for the brand. And this trust is earned by creating a connection between the brand, the consumers and the society at large. This connection serves as the underlay for building loyalty and creating authentic relationships.

Pictured: Sarina de Beer, Director of Global Product Development at Ask Afrika; and Unathi Boniwe Head of Marketing Investec Private Banking

Enablers of success

“Customer commitment is driven through authentic relationships and embedded in trust. To achieve this, it is critical for companies to create congruent brand and customer experience strategies”, de Beer explains.

“South African banks are generally succeeding with relationship building, which can be seen in the high trust customers have in our banks. Our banks are also increasingly successful in building brand loyalty within a multi-banked context. Respondents indicated the top three enablers of success are banks that offer smart, simple, and easy products, banks that show they have customers’ best interests at heart and are not just about profits, and banks that have a good reputation.”

Pictured: Sarina de Beer, Director of Global Product Development at Ask Afrika; and Chantal Storbeck Head: Customer Value Proposition & Research at African Bank

And the winners are...

Purpose-led brands that win sustainably create integrated strategies that embed connection and trust. This became evident in the creative communication of the top three banks that each have a trust story in their narrative and purpose in how they were founded.

The top three ranking in the Ask Afrika Brand Index 2024 is as follows:

• Discovery Bank
• Investec
• African Bank

Companies wishing to purchase customised Ask Afrika Banking Brand Index Reports can contact Sarina de Beer at