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Coca-Cola still best global brand

30 Jul 2007

NEW YORK: Google, Zara, Apple, and Nintendo are among this year's top gainers in BusinessWeek's annual ranking of The Best Global Brands. For the seventh consecutive year, BusinessWeek teamed up with leading brand consultancy Interbrand to publish a ranking of the top 100 global brands by brand value.

Reviving even a storied brand isn't easy, once consumers have a negative perception of it. Just ask Ford or Gap, which lost 19% and 15% of their brand value, respectively, in this year's BusinessWeek/Interbrand annual ranking of the 100 Best Global Brands. Even such perennial winners as Coca-Cola (No. 1) can have trouble boosting their brand. The beverage giant claimed the top spot for the seventh year in a row, mostly because it is big and everywhere, but it failed to further grow its reputation because its move into healthier drinks has yet to resonate.

Still, it's possible to stage a brand comeback. Several such stories emerged in this year's ranking.

While it's tempting for a challenged brand to emulate the likes of Google (No. 20), Apple (No. 33), or Starbucks (No. 88), doing so can seem audacious at best, delusional at worst. A potentially more useful exercise: examining brands that have stumbled but recovered. Take Nokia Corp. (No. 5): The Finnish giant realised its focus on making cheap handsets for the developing world was hurting in the US and Europe. Nokia released high-end phones aimed at both the consumer and business user and is showing strength in emerging and mature markets alike.

Methodology

BusinessWeek chose Interbrand's methodology because it evaluates brand value in the same way any other corporate asset is valued—on the basis of how much it is likely to earn for the company in the future. Interbrand uses a combination of analysts' projections, company financial documents, and its own qualitative and quantitative analysis to arrive at a net present value of those earnings. Interbrand takes many ingredients into account when ranking the value of the Best Global Brands. Even to qualify for the list, each brand must derive at least a third of its earnings outside its home country, be recognisable outside of its base of customers, and have publicly available marketing and financial data.

BusinessWeek's special report, The Best Global Brands, (6 August issue) is currently available at www.businessweek.com and on newsstands.

BusinessWeek/Interbrand's annual ranking of The Best Global Brands for 2007

Rank	Company	2007 brand value	Percent change (over 2006)	Country of ownership
		$MILLIONS
1	Coca-Cola	65 324	-3%	US
2	Microsoft	58 709	3%	US
3	IBM	57 091	2%	US
4	GE	51 569	5%	US
5	Nokia	33 696	12%	Finland
6	Toyota	32 070	15%	Japan
7	Intel	30 954	-4%	US
8	McDonald's	29 398	7%	US
9	Disney	29 210	5%	US
10	Mercedes-Benz	23 568	8%	Germany
11	Citi	23 443	9%	US
12	Hewlett-Packard	22 197	9%	US
13	BMW	21 612	10%	Germany
14	Marlboro	21 283	0%	US
15	American Express	20 827	6%	US
16	Gillette	20 415	4%	France
17	Louis Vuitton	20 321	15%	US
18	Cisco	19 099	9%	US
19	Honda	17 998	6%	Japan
20	Google	17 837	44%	US
21	Samsung	16 853	4%	S. Korea
22	Merrill Lynch	14 343	10%	US
23	HSBC	13 563	17%	Britain
24	Nescafe	12 950	4%	Switzerland
25	Sony	12 907	10%	Japan
26	Pepsi	12 888	2%	US
27	Oracle	12 448	9%	US
28	UPS	12 013	12%	US
29	Nike	12 004	10%	US
30	Budweiser	11 652	0%	US
31	Dell	11 554	-6%	US
32	JPMorgan	11 433	12%	US
33	Apple	11 037	21%	US
34	SAP	10 850	8%	Germany
35	Goldman Sachs	10 663	11%	US
36	Canon	10 581	6%	Japan
37	Morgan Stanley	10 340	6%	US
38	Ikea	10 087	15%	Sweden
39	UBS	9 838	13%	Switzerland
40	Kellogg's	9 341	6%	US
41	Ford	8 982	-19%	US
42	Philips	7 741	15%	Netherlands
43	Siemens	7 737	-1%	Germany
44	Nintendo	7 730	18%	Japan
45	Harley-Davidson	7 718	0%	US
46	Gucci	7 697	8%	Italy
47	AIG	7 490	NEW	US
48	eBay	7 456	10%	US
49	AXA	7 327	NEW	France
50	Accenture	7 296	8%	Bermuda
51	L'Oreal	7 045	10%	France
52	MTV	6 907	4%	US
53	Heinz	6 544	5%	US
54	Volkswagen	6 511	8%	Germany
55	Yahoo!	6 067	0%	US
56	Xerox	6 050	2%	US
57	Colgate	6 025	7%	US
58	Chanel	5 830	13%	France
59	Wrigley's	5 777	6%	US
60	KFC	5 682	6%	US
61	Gap	5 481	-15%	US
62	Amazon.com	5 411	15%	US
63	Nestle	5 314	8%	Switzerland
64	Zara	5 165	22%	Spain
65	Avon	5 103	1%	US
66	Caterpillar	5 059	10%	US
67	Danone	5 019	8%	France
68	Audi	4 866	17%	Germany
69	adidas	4 767	11%	Germany
70	Kleenex	4 600	-5%	US
71	Rolex	4 589	8%	Switzerland
72	Hyundai	4 453	9%	S. Korea
73	Hermes	4 255	10%	France
74	Pizza Hut	4 254	-9%	US
75	Porsche	4 235	8%	Germany
76	Reuters	4 197	6%	Britain
77	Motorola	4 149	-9%	US
78	Panasonic	4 135	4%	Japan
79	Tiffany & Co.	4 003	5%	US
80	Allianz	3 957	NEW	Germany
81	ING	3 880	12%	Netherlands
82	Kodak	3 874	-12%	US
83	Cartier	3 852	15%	France
84	BP	3 794	-5%	Britain
85	Moet & Chandon	3 739	15%	France
86	Kraft	3 732	-5%	US
87	Hennessy	3 638	2%	France
88	Starbucks	3 631	17%	US
89	Duracell	3 605	1%	US
90	Johnson & Johnson	3 445	8%	US
91	Smirnoff	3 379	11%	Britain
92	Lexus	3 354	9%	Japan
93	Shell	3 331	5%	Britain
94	Prada	3 286	14%	Italy
95	Burberry	3 221	16%	Britain
96	Nivea	3 116	16%	Germany
97	LG	3 100	3%	S. Korea
98	Nissan	3 072	-1%	Japan
99	Polo RL	3 046	NEW	US
100	Hertz	3 026	NEW	US