Google has overtaken Apple to become the world’s most valuable global brand in the 2014 BrandZTM Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brand ranking, worth $159bn, an increase of 40% year on year.
After three years at the top, Apple slipped to No 2 on the back of a 20% decline in brand value, to $148bn.
Whilst Apple remains a top performing brand, there is a growing perception that it is no longer redefining technology for consumers, reflected by a lack of dramatic new product launches.
The world’s leading B2B brand, IBM, held onto its No 3 position with a brand value of $108bn.
Millward Brown Optimor Managing Director, Nick Cooper commented on the number one brand: “Google has been hugely innovative in the last year with Google Glass, investments in artificial intelligence and a multitude of partnerships that see its Android operating system becoming embedded in other goods such as cars. All of this activity sends a very strong signal to consumers about what Google is about and it has coincided with a slowdown at Apple.”
“This year’s index highlights the end of the recession, with a strong recovery in valuations and, for the first time, real growth across every category and the Top 100 as a whole,” said WPP, Chief Executive of The Store, David Roth.
“What’s remarkable is the way that strong brands have led the recovery. Seventy-one of the brands listed in our 2014 Top 100 were there in 2008. Despite the financial turmoil and the digital disruption that have decimated many businesses during the last few years, these brands have remained in the ranking, proving the durability of strong brands.”
The BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands study, commissioned by WPP and conducted by Millward Brown Optimor, is now in its ninth year and uses the views of potential and current buyers of a brand, alongside financial data, to calculate brand value.
The study also found that Apparel is the fastest growing category with the top 10 Apparel brands growing in value by 29% to nearly $100bn this year, outpacing Cars (up 17%) and Retail (up 16%).
Brands such as Uniqlo, Nike and Adidas all recorded double-digit increases in their valuation.
Technology service companies continue to climb, taking the top four spots on this year’s list.
They are also this year’s biggest risers. The fastest climber this year was leading Chinese internet brand Tencent, up 97% to $54bn and the No 14 position, followed by Facebook which rose 68% to $36bn and took the No 21 spot.
New brands in the Top 100 include Twitter at No 71 with a brand value of $14bn and LinkedIn at No 78 worth $12bn. Collectively, Technology companies make up 29% of the value of the BrandZ Top 100 ranking.
Laura Bracher, London
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