After three years dominating the no. 1 spot in BrandZ’s Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands rankings, the king has just been dethroned.
According to their 2014 rankings, published today, Google is now the top dog after growing a whopping 40% from last year and carrying a brand value of $159 billion.
Apple? Well, they’re still doing quite well for themselves, occupying the no. 2 spot and declining 20% to $148 billion.
"Google has been extremely innovative this year with Google Glass, investments in artificial intelligence and a range of partnerships," said Benoit Tranzer, the head of Millward Brown France. Apple, which dominated the top position for three straight years, saw its brand value fall by 20% to $147.88 billion.
The top 10 of the 100 slots were dominated by US firms. IBM was in third place at $107.54 billion, a fall of 4%, followed by Microsoft at $90.19 billion – a 29% rise.
Fast food chain McDonald's ranked next at $85.71 billion, followed by the highest ranked FMCG brand Coca-Cola ($80.68 billion), it said.
The world's largest retail chain, Walmart, is the highest ranked retailer on the list at no. 22, and a brand value of $35.3 billion. Budweiser was the only other FMCG or grocery retail brand to appear in the top 50, with a value of $24.4 billion.
Brands like Gillette, Colgate, Tesco, Woolworths, Pepsi Aldi and Red Bull all featured between 50- 100.
China led in the insurance sector with Ping An valued at $12.4 billion and China Life ($12 billion).
French luxury goods manufacturer Louis Vuitton ranked 30th overall but was the top luxury brand with a value of more than $25 billion.
A firm's brand value is calculated on the basis of its financial performance and its standing among consumers.
© 2014 - European Supermarket Magazine by Enda Dowling
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