Apple, Google, and Amazon are the three most valuable brands in Interbrand’s 2018 Best Global Brands report. Now in its 19th year, the report’s 2018 theme is “Activating Brave.”
The top three includes two of the world’s first $1trillion companies, according to stock market valuations. These, it should be noted, produce an estimate of future earnings so, in a way, they’re brand judgements too.
Anyway Interbrand says Apple’s brand is worth $214bn (billion), up 16 per cent with second place Google up ten per cent to $155bn and Amazon (the second $1trillion stock market darling) up 56 per cent to $100bn.
Microsoft’s brand is worth $92bn, Coco-Cola $66bn, Samsung $59bn, Toyota $53bn, Mercedes-Benz $48bn, Facebookj $45bn (down six per cent after a battering from all sides) and McDonald’s $43bn.
Brands are valued according to financial performance, the role the brand plays in purchase decisions and competitive strength/ability to generate earning in the future.
Interbrand London CEO Christian Purser says: “Leading brands are more customer obsessed than ever, bringing the voice of the customer into every aspect of their business, making bold moves and taking calculated risks based on customer understanding. The fastest growing brands across the last five years of the study are typically the most relevant to people’s lives and the most responsive to their changing needs.”
Has the stock market got it right or has Interbrand? Worrying, perhaps, if you’re a shareholder.
