IT companies dominate the list of the world’s most valuable brands.
The Brand Finance Global 500 shows that Apple is still the world’s most valuable brand, but Samsung is fast closing the gap. They are followed by Google, Microsoft and Verizon to round out the top five.
General Electric, AT&T, Amazon, Walmart and IBM also made it into the top 10 of this year’s list.
The top 20 is completed by Toyota, Coca-Cola, China Mobile, T-Systems, Wells Fargo, Vodafone, BMW, Shell, Volkswagen and HSBC.
Ferrari was named as the world’s most powerful brand.
The Italian carmaker scores highly on a wide variety of measures on Brand Finance’s Brand Strength Index, from desirability, loyalty and consumer sentiment to visual identity, online presence and employee satisfaction. Ferrari is one of only eleven brands (including Google, Hermès, Coca-Cola, Disney, Rolex and F1 racing rivals Red Bull) to be awarded an AAA+ brand rating and has the highest overall score.
Brand Finance chief executive David Haigh says: “The prancing horse on a yellow badge is instantly recognizable the world over, even where paved roads have yet to reach. In its home country and among its many admirers worldwide Ferrari inspires more than just brand loyalty, more of a cultish, even quasi-religious devotion, its brand power is indisputable.”
Although Ferrari is the world’s most powerful brand, being a niche, luxury brand with an officially capped production, it is perhaps unsurprising that it is some way off being the world’s most valuable. Its $4-billion brand value puts it 350th in brand value terms.
Haigh explains: “Apple also has a powerful brand, rated AAA by Brand Finance. However what sets it apart is its ability to monetize that brand. For example, though tablets were in use before the iPad, it was the application of the Apple brand to the concept that captured the public imagination and allowed it to take off as a commercial reality.”
This is just one of the factors responsible for its $105-billion brand value; Apple is the world’s most valuable brand for the third year in a row.
Apple’s dominance is being challenged by Samsung, however. The Korean giant’s improving reputation for reliability, a faster pace of innovation and wider range of devices are among many factors that have seen its brand value increase by $20-billion to $79-billion this year.
Other tech successes include Netflix, which has nearly doubled its brand value to appear in the Brand Finance Global 500 for the first time. Its value has grown 93% in a year to $3,2-billion, to make Netflix the 468th most valuable brand. Still operating only in the Americas, Scandinavia and the British Isles, there is huge potential for further growth.
Facebook meanwhile has recovered from its problematic IPO, which saw its reputation suffer and its brand value plunge in 2013. This year it has rebounded, adding 76% to its brand value to bring the total to $9,8-billion, putting it 122nd. Investor confidence in its long term prospects has returned as revenues from mobile advertising have grown.
US brands continue to dominate the Brand Finance’s list, occupying 185 brands of the 500 spots. Japan is second.
Despite seven Japanese brands having dropped out of the table, the total for the country as a whole is up thanks to brand value increases of over 30% from Japan’s three biggest brands; Toyota, Mitsubishi and Honda. Germany, France and the UK complete the top fiev. Despite China’s status as the world’s second biggest economy, it is 6th in terms of total brand value as its brands are still developing.
