The world's most valuable brands

For the second year in a row, BusinessWeek has teamed up with Interbrand to publish a ranking of 100 of The World's Most Valuable Brands by dollar value. Despite a dismal financial year for scores of companies, several brands exceeded expectations.

Of brands that are in the beleaguered telecommunications, consumer electronics and semiconductor sectors, Samsung (#34) turned in a stellar 30 percent increase in brand value, to $8.3 billion, from $6.4 billion in 2001. Rival telecomm brands, Nokia (#6) and Ericsson (#71), declined 14 percent and 49 percent, respectively, and AT&T (#17) lost 30 percent of its brand value, knocking it out of the top ten.

Among technology brands, Dell (#31) stoodout, with a 12 percent increase in brand value, while its competitor in the PC category, Compaq (#27), lost 21 percent of its brand's value. Germany's SAP brand (#42) is the only other technology solutions provider to have increased in brand value, turning in a admirable gain of seven percent.

Returning to the top ten is cigarette brand Marlboro, moving from #11 to #9, and achieving a 10% increase in value.

In examining what some brands have done to succeed in the teeth of their industries' declines, Interbrand CEO Chuck Brymer said, "In a category of largely undifferentiated brands, Samsung has excelled at delivering superior product design, and has effectively communicated with customers in a brand-focused way. And Dell's brand has always been about superior customer service, and their business model is specifically designed to deliver it."

"Though advertising and marketing spending may have tightened up over the past year, what we found is that those brands that have put the customer experience first and developed their businesses around that, have been rewarded with increases in brand value," notes BusinessWeek associate editor Gerry Khermouch. "Starbucks (#93) which grew 12 percent this year is a classic example of a company that capitalizes on a strong customer experience. On the other hand, brands such as Ford (#11) and Merrill Lynch (#25), which lost 32 percent and 25 percent, respectively, are just two examples of brands that have lost their customer focus."

Coca-Cola retained its number one position, and even saw a gain of one percent, reconfirming that consumer products brands tend to hold their own in a recession. Also turning in a very strong showing was the Nivea (#91) brand, which posted the second largest gain with a 16 percent increase in brand value. A newcomer to the list, Caterpillar, had a strong debut at number 79. Both Nivea and Caterpillar had great success with brand extensions in 2001-Nivea, with focused extensions within its core hand and body cream category; and Caterpillar by taking its brand to new categories by leveraging their brand's value to forge successful licensing deals.

Rounding out the top 10 after Coca-Cola are Microsoft (#2), IBM (#3), GE (#4), Intel (#5), Nokia (#6), Disney (#7), McDonald's (#8), Marlboro (#9), and Mercedes (#10).

"From a South African perspective, it is important to note that globally, companies see the need to continually measure the value of their brands," says Interbrand Sampson managing director Jeremy Sampson, "and we need to keep pace with global trends. It is increasingly absurd that the largely tangible assets on balance sheets reflect only 20% or 30% of the value of a business. Hence the need to use a globally accepted methodology such as Interbrand's."

Interbrand's Annual Ranking of 100 of the World's Most Valuable Brands