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Branding News South Africa

Coca-Cola still best global brand

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

RankCompany2007 brand valuePercent change (over 2006)Country of ownership
$MILLIONS
1Coca-Cola65 324-3%US
2Microsoft58 7093%US
3IBM57 0912%US
4GE51 5695%US
5Nokia33 69612%Finland
6Toyota32 07015%Japan
7Intel30 954-4%US
8McDonald's29 3987%US
9Disney29 2105%US
10Mercedes-Benz23 5688%Germany
11Citi23 4439%US
12Hewlett-Packard22 1979%US
13BMW21 61210%Germany
14Marlboro21 2830%US
15American Express20 8276%US
16Gillette 20 4154%France
17Louis Vuitton20 32115%US
18Cisco19 0999%US
19Honda17 9986%Japan
20Google17 83744%US
21Samsung16 8534%S. Korea
22Merrill Lynch14 34310%US
23HSBC13 56317%Britain
24Nescafe12 9504%Switzerland
25Sony12 90710%Japan
26Pepsi12 8882%US
27Oracle12 4489%US
28UPS12 01312%US
29Nike12 00410%US
30Budweiser11 6520%US
31Dell11 554-6%US
32JPMorgan11 43312%US
33Apple11 03721%US
34SAP10 8508%Germany
35Goldman Sachs10 66311%US
36Canon10 5816%Japan
37Morgan Stanley10 3406%US
38Ikea10 08715%Sweden
39UBS9 83813%Switzerland
40Kellogg's9 3416%US
41Ford8 982-19%US
42Philips7 74115%Netherlands
43Siemens7 737-1%Germany
44Nintendo7 73018%Japan
45Harley-Davidson7 7180%US
46Gucci7 6978%Italy
47AIG7 490NEWUS
48eBay7 45610%US
49AXA7 327NEWFrance
50Accenture7 2968%Bermuda
51L'Oreal7 04510%France
52MTV6 9074%US
53Heinz6 5445%US
54Volkswagen6 5118%Germany
55Yahoo!6 0670%US
56Xerox6 0502%US
57Colgate6 0257%US
58Chanel5 83013%France
59Wrigley's 5 7776%US
60KFC5 6826%US
61Gap5 481-15%US
62Amazon.com5 41115%US
63Nestle5 3148%Switzerland
64Zara5 16522%Spain
65Avon5 1031%US
66Caterpillar5 05910%US
67Danone5 0198%France
68Audi4 86617%Germany
69adidas4 76711%Germany
70Kleenex4 600-5%US
71Rolex4 5898%Switzerland
72Hyundai4 4539%S. Korea
73Hermes4 25510%France
74Pizza Hut4 254-9%US
75Porsche4 2358%Germany
76Reuters4 1976%Britain
77Motorola4 149-9%US
78Panasonic4 1354%Japan
79Tiffany & Co.4 0035%US
80Allianz3 957NEWGermany
81ING3 88012%Netherlands
82Kodak3 874-12%US
83Cartier3 85215%France
84BP3 794-5%Britain
85Moet & Chandon3 73915%France
86Kraft3 732-5%US
87Hennessy3 6382%France
88Starbucks3 63117%US
89Duracell3 6051%US
90Johnson & Johnson3 4458%US
91Smirnoff3 37911%Britain
92Lexus3 3549%Japan
93Shell3 3315%Britain
94Prada3 28614%Italy
95Burberry3 22116%Britain
96Nivea3 11616%Germany
97LG3 1003%S. Korea
98Nissan3 072-1%Japan
99Polo RL3 046NEWUS
100Hertz3 026NEWUS

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