Marketing consultant Interbrand collaborates with Business Week to publish its annual ranking of global brands based on 4,000 valuations conducted over 20 years.
With 34 offices in more than 20 countries around the globe, Interbrand lists international trademarks that have generated the greatest economic returns for their owners.
A criteria for Interbrand's study is that an eligible global brand must achieve at least a third of its sales outside of its home country. Furthermore only publicly traded companies are included, thus excluding a well-known brand like Mars which is privately held. Wal-Mart is excluded because it does business under too many different brand names in various foreign markets.
Interbrand calculates the dollar value shown for each company as net present value, using tested formulas to determine today's value of future earnings that a company's brand is expected to generate for its owners. The percentage in bold shows how much a brand has increased or decreased in value since 2005.
Below is our select list of this year's top 40 global trademarks.
Top 40 Global Brands (2006)
- Coca-Cola (U.S) ... US$67 billion ... -1%
- Microsoft (U.S.) ... $56.9 billion ... -5%
- IBM (U.S.) ... $56.2 billion ... +5%
- General Electric (U.S.) ... $48.9 billion ... +4%
- Intel (U.S.) ... $32.3 billion ... -9%
- Nokia (Finland) ... $30.1 billion ... +14%
- Toyota (Japan) ... $27.9 billion ... +12%
- Disney (U.S.) ... $27.8 billion ... +5%
- McDonald's (U.S.) ... $27.5 billion ... +6%
- Mercedes (Germany) ... $21.8 billion ... +9%
- Citi (U.S.) ... $21.5 billion ... +7%
- Marlboro (U.S.) ... $21.4 billion ... +1%
- Hewlett-Packard (U.S.) ... $20.5 billion ... +8%
- American Express (U.S.) ... $19.6 billion ... +6%
- BMW (Germany) ... $19.6 billion ... +15%
- Gillette (U.S.) ... $19.6 billion ... +12%
- Louis Vuitton (France) ... $17.6 billion ... +10%
- Cisco (U.S.) ... $17.5 billion ... +6%
- Honda (Japan) ... $17.1 billion ... +8%
- Samsung (South Korea) ... $16.2 billion ... +8%
- Merril Lynch (U.S.) ... $13 billion ... +8%
- Pepsi (U.S) ... $12.7 billion ... +2%
- Nescafe (Switzerland) ... $12.5 billion ... +2%
- Google (U.S.) ... $12.4 billion ... +46%
- Dell (U.S.) ... $12.3 billion ... -7%
- Sony (Japan) ... $11.7 billion ... +9%
- Budweiser (U.S.) ... $11.7 billion ... -2%
- HSBC (U.K.) ... $11.6 billion ... +11%0
- Oracle (U.S.) ... $11.5 billion ... +5%
- Ford (U.S.) ... $11.1 billion ... -16%
- Nike (U.S.) ... $10.9 billion ... +8%
- UPS (U.S.) ... $10.7 billion ... +8%
- JP Morgan (U.S.) ... $10.2 billion ... +8%
- SAP (Germany) ... $10 billion ... +11%
- Canon (Japan) ... $9.9 billion ... +10%
- Morgan Stanley (U.S.) ... $9.8 billion ... 0%
- Goldman Sachs (U.S.) ... $9.8 billion ... +13%
- Pfizer (U.S.) ... $9.6 billion ... -4%
- Apple (U.S.) ... $9.1 billion ... +14%
- Kellogg's (U.S.) ... $8.8 billion ... +6%
As the top 40 rankings show, the most successful brands are simple, clear, passionate and convincing.
And The Winners Are ...
Two of the top percentage improvements in global brand value from last year are Web commerce companies, namely Google and eBay.
Top Global Brand Value Gainers (2006)
- Google ... $12.4 billion (up 46%)
- Starbucks ... $3.1 billion (up 20%)
- eBay ... $6.8 billion (up 18%)
Internet auction service provider eBay finished third overall. Number one goes to Google, the search engine allstar, which saw its international trademark value almost double in 2006. To give further perspective to the vast increase in Google's brand value, company revenues in 2006 are expected to approach $9 billion. The anticipated earnings from Google's brand name are fuelling the steady appreciation in Google's stock price. In comparison, the Yahoo! global brand was valuated at $6.1 billion and finished in 55th place in 2006, with a respectable 15% rise in value from 2005.
Both eBay and Starbucks continue to expand aggressively into fast-growing foreign economies like China, often establishing joint ventures to spearhead the growth of their brands worldwide.
The following companies saw remarkable declines in global brand values from last year.
Top Global Brand Decliners (2006)
- GAP ... $6.4 billion (down 22%)
- Ford ... $11.1 billion (down 16%)
- Kodak ... $4.4 billion (down 12%)
Finally, as the following list shows, American companies represent more than one half the valuation of global brands in 2006.
% Top Global Brands By Country (2006)
- United States ... 51%
- Germany ... 9%
- Japan ... 8%
- France ... 8%
- United Kingdom ... 5%
- Switzerland ... 5%
- Italy ... 4%
- South Korea ... 3%
- Netherlands ... 2%
- Other ... 4%
With a few exceptions like Google and eBay, however, the fastest growing brands by value are from international markets. From the top ten global brands, Finland's Nokia appreciated by 14% while Japan's Toyota increased in value by 12% from 2005. German brand Mercedes appreciated 9%. American brands in the top 10 were flat, going up an average of less than 1% with several declining brand valuations.
To be fair, many U.S. global brands started 2006 with a much higher valuation so we might forgive smaller percentage increases. For example, Coca-Cola and Microsoft began the year with global brands worth $67 billion and $57 billion, respectively.
Still, one can't help wonder how international trade will dramatically shift if global trademarks from Finland, Japan and Germany bulk up and are joined by world-leading brands from fast-growing countries such as Brazil, Russia, India and China.
Also see Global Brand Marketing by Country for 2007.
Sources: Interbrand & Newsweek Best Global Brands 2006
