World's top 100 brands increase brand value to $3.4 trillion
The world’s top 100 brands have a brand value of $3.4 trillion, up 133% on 2006, finds a new report. Google, Apple and Microsoft are the world’s most valuable brands, with total values of upwards of $580 billion. Apparel and fast food have managed to boost their value the most significantly since last year, while oil & gas company brand value plummeted.
The latest ‘BrandZ Global Top 100 Most Valuable Brands' report, released by marketing consultancies WPP and Kantar Millward Brown, identifies trends in the development of brand value among the world’s top 100 brands. Brand value, is defined according to the report as “the dollar amount a brand contributes to the overall value of a corporation.”
The value of the world’s biggest brands has seen sky high growth in recent years, totalling 133%, by increasing with leaps, bounds and plateaus between 2006 and 2016, to hit $3.4 trillion.
The rapid appreciation of brand value is in part the result of leveraging the internet to give them global reach, according to Doreen Wang, Head of BrandZ who added that they are also “leveraging their brand equity as a global identity and passport. The expansion of a brand is now no longer defined by the limits of its category, but by the possibilities of technology. So there is no longer a need to wait to be a domestic giant before going global. Start your brand intending to go global, and anticipate the necessary business infrastructure."
Top 25 brands by brand value
Google comes out as the world’s top brand in the most recent report, its total value increasing 32% to hit $229 billion, and beating out Apple whose value was hit by an 8% contraction, falling to $228 billion and the top perch. Microsoft took third place, with a small increase in value of 5%, settling its total value at $121 billion. AT&T has moved into fourth spot, up two from the previous year on growth of 20%, while Facebook has clambered up seven spots to number five – its brand is now worth $107 billion.
Visa takes the number six spot, with value of close to $100 billion, although Amazon is nipping at its heels, with 59% growth on the year previous it moved up seven spots to seventh. Verizon loses one spot, to eight, while McDonald's remains stationary on the year previous at number 9. IBM has seen its brand value decrease by 8%, seeing it lose six spots on the year previous.
Notable changes in the top 25 include Starbucks, whose brand value appreciated 49% and saw it move up eight spots, while Nike increased 26% to 24 from 28 the year previous. Alibaba was the biggest dropper in value, falling 26% and 5 spots – facing stiff competition from JD.com, which increased its brand value by 37% to come in at number 99.
Segment growth
The research also explored the change by sector as a whole; finding a relatively mixed bag of results. Some categories saw considerable growth. Apparel brands for instance, appreciated by 14% on average between 2015 and 2016, following no growth the previous year. Fast food saw 11% growth last year, up from 4% the previous year, while telecom providers managed to boost their apparent brand value among the public by 9% last year and 17% the year previous.
Not all brands however, have had a good run of it. Cars saw their total brand value depreciated by 3% last year following lacklustre growth the year previous of 3%. Beer too saw a contraction, falling -3% last year, following a 14% appreciation the year previous. Oil & gas saw the biggest drop in brand value however, at -20% – affected in part by the lower value of oil.
High potentials grow faster
The research also considered trends in the growth of brand values across the wider landscape between 2006 and 2016. For this, the authors identified 95 brands that have managed to be in the top 100 in both years, and split them into three groups, high-, medium- and low-potential.
The research found that the three groups have managed considerably different fortunes in their brand value growth. The high-potential group saw their total value growth far surpass that of the average, hitting 200% on average between them. The medium potential growth saw growth at a below average value of 91% across the whole period, while the low-potential group saw its brand value appreciate by 31% on average.
According to the study the high-potential brands tend to leverage innovation, which led to improved experiences among consumers – and correspondingly, increased brand valuation over time as their propositions build on their past to remain relevant.
