Madison Avenue may be the center of the advertising industry, but Silicon Valley is home to the most valuable brands.þþFor the third consecutive year, Apple and Google top the annual Interbrand Best Global Brands report.þþThe report, which is to be released on Monday, estimates the value of the Apple brand at $170.3 billion, up 43 percent from last year. The Google brand, at $120.3 billion, increased in value by 12 percent. (The value of Facebook’s brand, ranked No. 23, increased 54 percent to $22 billion, the highest percentage increase from last year’s report.)þþAs data and technology continue to reshape advertising, the creative side of the business has been trying to keep pace. Changes in how ads are bought and sold — along with the ability to target consumers based on their preferences, behavior and other online data — have forced the advertising industry to re-examine marketing fundamentals, including branding.þþDuring the 12th annual Advertising Week conference last week in New York, there was a focus on the power of brands. One event, “Do Brands Still Matter?” — which featured leaders from Coca-Cola, Facebook and the agency Ogilvy and Mather — seemed in particular to underscore the creative industry’s insecurity.þþJez Frampton, the global chief executive of Interbrand, says brands still matter.þþ“Nowadays, in order to succeed in any marketplace, you not only have to have a great business idea, you have to have a great brand,” Mr. Frampton said in a recent interview.þþThe technology industry dominated the Interbrand list this year, representing more than one-third of the report’s overall value. Including No. 1 Apple and No. 2 Google, technology brands filled four of the report’s top 10 spots. Microsoft climbed a notch to No. 4, bumping IBM to No. 5; Samsung remained at No. 7. Interbrand classifies IBM as a business services brand, and Amazon, at No. 10, as a retail brand.þþ“All the brands in the top are there for a very good reason,” Mr. Frampton said. “They’ve either transformed or made better how we live our lives.”þþRounding out the top 10 were Coca-Cola, at No. 3; Toyota, at No. 6; General Electric, at No. 8; and McDonald’s, at No. 9.þþInterbrand determines the rankings and brand valuations using factors that include how much revenue a company earns from a branded product, how big a role a brand plays in influencing its consumers’ decisions and brand loyalty.þþOther notable brands on this year’s list include the German automaker Volkswagen, which dropped to No. 35 from No. 31 and lost 9 percent of its value. Volkswagen recently admitted that it sold 11 million cars equipped with devices programmed to cheat on emissions tests. Its ranking reflects sentiment after the scandal.þþLenovo squeaked into the report for the first time, at No. 100, becoming the second Chinese brand to make the list after Huawei, a phone maker, appeared last year.þþOther new entrants include Lego, PayPal, Mini and the Champagne brand Moët & Chandon.þþPizza Hut, Gap, Nokia, Nintendo and Duracell fell out of the top 100.
Source: NY Times
