The TOP 100 Brands Worldwide

Thursday, 09 June 2011 03:01

Written by Resti Reyes. Jr.

Millward Brown publishes a report called “The BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands” – a comprehensive ranking of the best brands in the world. The earth-shaking news this year is the toppling of internet search giant Google from the top spot on this list. It is significant because up to this time, the conventional thinking has been the one utility that best serves the vastest majority would logically be king of the hill in this contest. In this regard, it is very difficult to think of something that could be more universally useful than Google – a free search engine service that is available to everyone on the planet. What could be cooler?

Ahhh… but coolness can be subjective. Hence, Apple, the company that has been repeatedly reinventing what it means to be cool in terms of gadgets, is now the undisputed king of coolness, and is officially ranked number one worldwide as THE most valuable brand. From the first Macs to the iPod, then the iPhone, and now the iPad, Apple has consistently displayed outstanding creative and innovative thinking in each and every one of their new products. Apple today is doing what Sony did two generations ago when they introduced the Walkman and the compact disc.

Last year, Apple's portfolio of highly coveted consumer goods pushed it past Microsoft to become the world's most valuable I.T. company, and it continues to mesmerize the consumer world with improved products every time. The goods are so highly desired and valued that they allow the company to charge exceptional prices for them.

In a Reuters report, a Millward Brown executive was quoted as saying, "Apple is breaking the rules in terms of its pricing model. It's doing what luxury brands do, where the higher price the brand is, the more it seems to underpin and reinforce the desire."

By contrast, one of the brands most threatened by Apple's rising popularity in offices took a big hit in the survey.

Research In Motion's BlackBerry brand lost a fifth of its brand value. Among technology companies, only Nokia's 28 percent decline was steeper. And Nokia’s recent announcement that they will abandon their proprietary Symbian OS is not going to help them any.

Of the top 10 brands in Monday's report, six were technology and telecoms companies: Google at number two, IBM at number three, Microsoft at number five, AT&T at number seven and China Mobile at number nine.

McDonald's rose two places to number four, as fast food became the fastest-growing category, Coca-Cola slipped one place to number six, Marlboro was also down one to number eight, and General Electric was number 10.

The report showed that growing demand from China’s more than one billion consumers was a major factor in the rise of fast-food brands, along with the entry of Chinese brands like Baidu and China Mobile. The Chinese have been discovering fast food – coffee, burgers, pizza – hence, the rise of Starbucks, McDonald's, and Pizza Hut.

McDonald's has been reinventing itself, adapting its menus, adding healthy options, expanding the times of day it can be visited, like offering oatmeal for breakfast, and serving spaghetti and fried chicken ion markets like the Philippines.

Facebook entered the top 100 at number 35 with a brand valued at $19.1 billion, while Chinese search engine Baidu rose to number 29 from 46.

Toyota reclaimed its position as the world's most valuable car brand, as it recovered from a bungled 2010 product recall. The survey was carried out before the March earthquake that caused massive disruption to Japanese supply chains.

Here are the top twenty brands:

1.Apple
2.Google
3.IBM
4.McDonald’s
5.Microsoft
6.Coca-Cola
7.AT&T
8.Marlboro
9.China Mobile
10.General Electric (GE)
11.ICBC Asia (china)
12.Vodafone
13.Verizon
14.Amazon.com
15.Walmart
16.Wells Fargo
17.UPS
18.Hewlett-Packard (HP)
19.Deutsche Telekom
20.Visa