Wednesday Dec 11, 2024
Wednesday Dec 11, 2024
Wednesday, 15 June 2016 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Interbrand, the world’s largest and most influential brand consultancy identifies the 100 most valuable global brands by analysing the many ways a brand benefits an organisation – from delivering on customer expectations to driving economic value.
Interbrand’s Best Global Brands, the most prestigious brand ranking table globally, is based on a unique combination of attributes that contribute to a brand’s cumulative value: the financial performance of the branded products and services, the role the brand plays in influencing customer choice, and the strength the brand has to command a premium price or secure earnings for the company.
Technology companies continue to reign among the most valuable brands in the world. Apple and Google hold the No. 1 and No. 2 spots, tech brands comprise more than a third of the entire ranking’s value, and five brands – Lego, PayPal, MINI, Moët & Chandon and Lenovo also enter the world’s most prestigious brand ranking table.
Interbrand’s 16th annual Best Global Brands report identifies the 100 most valuable global brands. For the third year in a row, Apple (No. 1) and Google (No. 2) claim the top positions. Valued at $ 170.276 billion, Apple increases its brand value by 43%. Google, valued at $ 120.314 billion, increases its brand value by 12%. Microsoft (No. 4) edges ahead of IBM (No. 5), and Amazon (No. 10) enters the Top 10 for the first time with a brand value of $ 37.948 billion.
Five new brands entered this year’s ranking: Lego (No. 82), PayPal (No. 97), MINI (No. 98), Moët & Chandon (No. 99), and Lenovo (No. 100). Lenovo is the second Chinese brand to appear on the Best Global Brands ranking. The first was Huawei (No. 88), which entered the ranking in 2014. Technology and automotive brands dominate this year’s ranking, holding a combined 28 positions. Technology brands, in particular, dominate—collectively making up more than a third (33.6%) of the total value of all 100 brands. The new entrants also knocked Pizza Hut, Nokia, Gap, Nintendo and Duracell off the list.
Top 10
Top Risers
New entrants
Lego (No. 82)
PayPal (No. 97)
MINI (No. 98)
Moët & Chandon (No. 99)
Lenovo (No. 100)
To celebrate Moët & Chandon’s (No. 99) recognition as one of Interband’s 100 Best Global Brands, leaders from Moet and Interbrand toasted the traders of the NYSE. “We are so pleased to be recognised by Interbrand as one of the Best Global Brands,” said Moët & Chandon’s new president Renaud Butel. “There is no better way to celebrate the year’s success than toasting this evening at both the New York Stock Exchange and Times Square.”
Among the other new entrants to the world’s most authoritative brand ranking were Paypal (No. 97) and Lenovo (No. 100). “We are a newly independent public company, and so we’re especially honoured to be recognised as one of the world’s most valuable brands,” said Christina Smedley, VP Global Brand and Communications of PayPal. “At PayPal, we aim to reimagine money for millions of people every single day all over the world. We value the trust our customers have in our brand, so it’s great to see Interbrand recognise it too, as we seek to build a future that will enable the safer movement and management of money for everyone.”
Lenovo, which has become the clear leader in global PCs (more than 20% share), a top 3 tablet and server maker, and a top 5 global smartphone company, secured its spot in Interbrand’s Best Global Brands in a year during which the company launched a new brand campaign (Never Stand Still); redesigned its logo to create a digital-first, social-first visual identity; and unveiled a series of new products and global marketing campaigns to reflect the breadth of its now $46b annual company.
“Business performance and brand performance are very closely linked. So it is very gratifying to see that Lenovo’s brand is now considered among the world’s strongest, because this reflects not just on the success of our marketing and customer engagement efforts, but also on the overall strength of our company,” said Lenovo Chief Marketing Officer David Roman.
Hallmarks of the Best Global Brands
Among this year’s Best Global Brands, it’s those moving at the speed of life that are accelerating. Brands across all categories – but especially new entrants and top risers – are not only adopting innovative technologies, but also embracing holistic change in order to become stronger, faster, and more agile. These are the common hallmarks among this year’s Top 100 that show what it takes to keep pace with today’s consumers and secure a place among the Best Global Brands.
Clarity of Strategy and Focus on Structure
Clarity is a sure source of strength. In order to be coherent, efficient, and meet consumer expectations, top-performing brands lean on an ambitious vision that shapes both behaviours and structures.
Focus has been a driving force for top riser Nissan (No. 49), which has embarked on ongoing integration efforts. Armed with a clear vision for the brand and disseminated by its Global Marketing leaders, the company has united its divisions and agency partners in order to deliver on its product promise, while designing business strategies to engage contemporary consumers in global markets.
Clarity doesn’t come just from within: Today’s savvy brands benefit from tapping into their consumers too. Top riser 3M (No. 59) – known for everything from Scotch tape to circuits – asked its employees, as well as 15,000 customers in 15 countries, to help define its new brand platform ‘3M Science. Applied to Life’. It has driven clear growth strategies and focused on increasing R&D spends, divesting lagging businesses, and developing storied content to create product-awareness among its global, under-35 targets.
A central purpose is particularly crucial for diversified companies. Microsoft’s (No. 04) CEO Satya Nadella set a bold ambition to “reinvent productivity to empower every person and every organisation on the planet to do more and achieve more.” Microsoft brought together its Windows and devices organisations to align its engineering structure to its strategy, along with its commercial cloud – a move that’s grown revenue by 88%, driven by Office 365, Azure, and Dynamics CRM Online.
From strategy to structure, successful brands are streamlining and integrating their operations for greater agility and focus.
Relentless Customer-Centricity
As brands gain focus, that focus is ever more zeroed-in on the customer. For perennial Top Ten brands like Apple (No. 01) and Amazon (No. 10), customer-centricity is built into their DNA. But many brands are continuing to evolve by developing design-led strategies that place customers at the core.
In its first year as an independent entity, PayPal (No. 97) breaks into the Best Global Brands report with the continued mission of “powering the people economy.” Simplicity, security, and ease of use are priorities that have been internalised because they are central concerns for the company’s users – particularly sellers. PayPal is investing in seamless technologies like mobile and contactless payments and acquiring user-friendly platforms like Braintree and Venmo. For PayPal, it’s not just about meeting consumer needs, but letting those needs power the business strategy.
This outside-in approach is being adopted by other breakthrough brands. LEGO brand (No. 82), which made its Best Global Brands debut this year, taps into a rising ‘maker’ ethos, popularised by tinkerers of all types. ‘LEGO Ideas’ invites LEGO brand enthusiasts to create, document, and crowdshare their own projects, with the chance of seeing them on shelves. The platform is an innovative tool for bringing customers closer to the business – and gathering valuable insights.
It’s these authentic interactions that today’s savvier consumers seek as they cull through the crowd of brands vying for their attention. For heritage brands like Hermès (No. 41), which soared 22% in brand value this year, authenticity manifests in an unshakable devotion to craftsmanship, quality, and enabling customers to ‘indulge in moments of pure lightness’. Hermès recently appealed to a new digital generation by partnering with the bastion of customer-centricity, Apple, to unveil the Apple Watch Hermès.
Tech-Powered Personalisation
While technology paves the way for innovation, brands across all industries are harnessing its power to create unprecedented, personal experiences.
Adobe (No. 68) has become a partner in personalisation by developing leading-edge tools that empower brands to create experiences tailored to their own customers. Its Experience Manager Screens and Adobe Target platforms harness cloud connectivity and location-targeting technologies to cater directly to individuals as they move through the buying funnel.
Technology is also proving a force for cross-industry collaboration. Rising brands in all categories are partnering with tech giants to connect with customers in groundbreaking ways. Auto brand Toyota (No. 06) harnesses Google’s (No. 02) powerful API to push city-specific messaging into geo-targeted banner ads. Toyota also extends its influence from behind the wheel and into drivers’ daily lives as it joins Panasonic (No. 65) to develop its cloud-connected Smart Center.
Technology isn’t just relegated to the cloud. While many of the Top 100 brands are tapping technologies to create innovation, others are using technology in innovative ways. Moët & Chandon (No. 99) rises back onto the Best Global Brands report, buoyed by efforts to keep its image fresh. It reinforced its place in the nightlife scene with ‘Bright Night’, the first-ever luminous champagne bottle, which demonstrates how even the most distinctive brands can adopt simple technologies to captivate and delight consumers.
Clarity, customer-centricity, and using technology to power personal experiences are all hallmarks of the brands that have made the most impressive strides this year. As each demonstrates, there is no singular template for building a great brand, but it’s enlightening to see how these broad characteristics manifest as individual brands evolve at the speed of life.
Methodology
Interbrand’s 16th annual ranking identifies the 100 most valuable global brands by analysing the many ways a brand benefits an organisation—from delivering on customer expectations to driving economic value. Interbrand’s Best Global Brands methodology was the first brand valuation method to become ISO certified. The ranking is based on a combination of attributes that contribute to a brand’s cumulative value:
2015 Best Global Brands Website
This year’s Best Global Brands website (bestglobalbrands.com) features 100 detailed brand profiles and articles authored by Interbrand thought leaders. Please visit bestglobalbrands.com to read the 2015 Best Global Brands report in full.
