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Tech companies Google, IBM, Apple and Microsoft head the world's top 100 most valuable brands, according to a new global survey.
Strong brands prove their resilience to recession in the fifth annual Millward Brown Optimor BrandZ Top100 Most Valuable Global Brands (pdf) ranking released Wednesday. When most key financial indicators plummeted, the value of the top 100 brands rose by four per cent in the last year to more than $2 trillion. The BrandZ Top 100, commissioned by global advertising group WPP, is claimed to be the only valuation in the world that takes into account customers’ opinions on brands and demonstrates this with a dollar value.
“In the past, many companies were quick to cut their marketing spend during a down economy,” said Joanna Seddon, CEO of Millward Brown Optimor. “A new trend has emerged in the wake of the recession as more companies realized the importance of maintaining and even increasing budgets to support brand loyalty and engagement.”
In a separate ranking list issued yesterday, Google was given the top rank as the most reputable company operating in Ireland (it is of course likely to be better known than say chip giant Intel, which powers most PCs used in Ireland). Corporate Reputations launched the results of the Ireland RepTrak 2010 study with Kellogg’s, BMW, Marks & Spencer’s and Nokia among the Ireland’s top ranking companies in 2010, all with "excellent reputations." Anglo Irish Bank dwells at the bottom of the list, finishing last out of the 115 organisations included in the survey. John Player & Sons, UPC (Chorus NTL), NTR (of West Link Toll Bridge fame), and Bank of Ireland were also ranked in the bottom five.
The study revealed that of the 20 companies with the best reputations in Ireland, 12 were multinationals and eight were indigenous firms. The top five indigenous Irish firms are, in order, the Irish Times, An Post National Lottery, Easons & Sons, Smyths Toys and An Post.
Key findings from the global brands' rankings include:
Tech Takes All:Technology brands demonstrated their pervasiveness in our daily lives. Google leads as the Most Valuable Global Brand worth $114 billion. IBM was second at $86 billion, an increase of 30 per cent. In third place, Apple’s brand value grew by 32 per cent and is now worth $83 billion, Microsoft was fourth with a value of $76 billion.
Social Media in your Face(book):Facebook, the popular social networking site, entered the technology sector ranking for the first year with a brand value of $5.5 billion. Use of social media was a key trend across many of the successful brands this year, for example, HSBC’s highly successful Expat Explorer online community.
All the BRICs in the Wall:The first Indian brand, ICICI, enters the Top 100 at number 45. This is the first year that all members of the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China) have been represented with new entrants from China, Russia and Brazil.
Banking on Brands:Taking the BrandZ Top 100 as a portfolio and comparing it to the S&P 500 over the last five years reveals that $1000 invested in the BrandZ Portfolio in 2006 would now be worth $1185 compared to $885 invested in the S&P 500, proving that strong brands outperform the stock market.
Strong Brands Bounce Back Higher: Brands such as Samsung, the highest riser with an 80 per cent growth in Brand Value, and Starbucks with an increase of 17 per cent are evidence that businesses with strong brands are able to recover from adversity faster.
Commenting on the ranking, Eileen Campbell, Global CEO of Millward Brown said: “This ranking has elevated the importance of building brands among some of the world’s most successful companies. CEOs and CFOs around the world should be asking their brand and marketing teams how they can leverage brand to both protect and grow the business.”
