100 Most Valuable Global Brands

Business Week/Interbrand just published their fifth annual ranking of the 100 most valuable global brands in the August 1st edition of Business Week.  Once again, Coca-Cola was in first place with 2005 brand value of US$67.525 billion.  Microsoft, although losing two percent in brand value this year, remained in second place at US$59.941 billion.  Rounding up the top five are IBM (US$53.376 billion), GE (US$45.996 billion) and Intel (US$35.588 billion). With the exception of Nokia (US$26.452 billion), jumping from eighth to sixth place, there was no change in the pecking order from last year within the top ten brands.  Following sixth place Nokia are Disney (US$26.441 billion), McDonald’s (US$26.014 billion), Toyota (US$24.837 billion) and Marlboro (US$21.189 billion). 

To make the list, a brand has to be worth more than US$2 billion; beer maker Heineken, the 100^th placeholder, has a brand value of US$2.357 billion.  While most brands on the list are well known and have been doing business for decades and even centuries, younger brands are also represented.  Internet players, such as No. 55 eBay (US$5.701 billion), No. 58 Yahoo! (US$5.256 billion) and No. 68 Amazon.com (US$4.248 billion) only came into existence about a decade ago and No. 38 Google did not exist then.  Google’s brand is worth US$8.461 billion.  Not bad for a seven year old company!

The message:  Brands are valuable.  Their worth can be staggering but they must be protected and promoted to maintain and increase these values.  Brands represent significant percentages of a company’s value.  For instance, No. 1 Coca-Cola represents 64% of the company’s market capitalization.  If a company is not vigilant in cultivating its brands, values will drop.  No. 28 Sony’s brand value slumped US$2 billion from US$12.76 billion to US$10.75 billion this year, a 16% drop.  On the other hand, eBay's brand value increased US$1 billion from US$4.7 billion to US$5.7 billion, an increase of 21%. 

Do you have to spend heavily on advertising to be a top brand?  Not necessarily.  Take eBay as an example.  It does not rely on traditional channels of advertising on television, radio and the print media; instead, it uses its own website to promote its brand.  In fact, brands scoring the most increase use channels such as the Internet, outdoor/indoor advertising, entertainment, product placements and other creative means to promote their brands.   

Will your brand be on the list next year?  What all 100 top brands have in common are trademark registration, appreciation of brand value and the willingness to invest in promoting and protecting their brands. 

The most basic of these is registration.  Without basic trademark registration, brands have little value.  So, the first thing to do is to register.