Brandz study of the top 100 brands: Google top, banks flop

On Wednesday, the market research firm Millward Brown Optimor released its brand ranking, «Brandz Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2009.» The world’s 100 most valuable consumer brands are worth approximately 1.95 trillion dollars and recorded modest growth of 1.7 percent. Google tops the list at $100 billion, followed by Microsoft at $76.2 billion. For the first time, Coca-Cola also made it into the top three with $67.6 billion. There were 15 new entries during the 2008 survey period. The top newcomer is Pampers at No. 31, followed by Nintendo (No. 32) and Visa (No. 36).
» Overview of the 100 Most Valuable Brands
» Full report: Brandz Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2009
The most valuable Swiss brands are Nescafé (valued at $5.6 billion, up 23 percent) and Nespresso ($2.5 billion). The Swiss brands with the highest growth rates among the top 20 climbers are Rolex (+35 percent) and Nespresso (+27 percent). Nestlé’s bottled water brands also performed well, with six of them ranking among the top 10. In contrast, the Swiss brands Cartier and UBS (ranked 80th and 64th, respectively, last year) did not make it into the top 100 this year. Meanwhile, Zurich lost 37 percent of its brand value.
» Interview with Millward Brown Director Sana Carlton on the Brandz Study
» See the Interbrand study on the top 100 brands

Trends
Value for the Money
Brands offering good value for money performed well. This is due to both their quality and their price, as seen, for example, with Aldi (+49 percent) and H&M (+8 percent), which is now the number one clothing brand.
Luxury goods
Even when money is tight, consumers still treat themselves every now and then. Brands such as McDonald’s (+34 percent), Marlboro (+33 percent), and Budweiser (+23 percent) have all held their own.
At home
Household brands have seen strong growth. Home shopping: Amazon (+85 percent) and eBay (+16 percent). Personal care: Nivea (+24 percent). Gaming: Nintendo made its debut on the list, ranking 32nd. Pampers took the top spot in the new brands category. P&G achieved a brand value of $18.9 billion (10 percent of the company’s revenue) thanks to increased brand awareness. This is attributable, in part, to word-of-mouth from well-known «mommy bloggers.».
Mobile communications
The growing popularity of mobile Internet access via devices such as the iPhone and BlackBerry has led to tremendous growth for the mobile carrier sector as a whole. BlackBerry’s brand value rose again (100 percent) as the company successfully expanded into the consumer market rather than focusing solely on business customers. The launch of the BlackBerry Storm with a touchscreen has made BlackBerry a direct competitor to the iPhone.

Calculation of Brand Values

The BrandZ Top 100 ranking determines the dollar value of various brands. To do so, it analyzes both financial data and research findings on consumers and business customers collected as part of BrandZ, the world’s largest brand value study. This is the fourth time the BrandZ study has been conducted annually.