Coca-Cola is the most valuable brand in the world for the ninth consecutive year, according to the latest Interbrand/BusinessWeek brand-value ranking, published September 17. Rounding out the Top 5 list are IBM, Microsoft, General Electric, and Nokia.
This Top 10 list of the best brands shows this year's ranking, last year's ranking, estimated brand value, and change in brand value since 2008's list:
Key findings:
- 8 of the Top 10 brands are American; of the remainder, 1 is Finnish and 1 Japanese.
- Every brand that made the Top 10 list in 2008 made the Top 10 list for 2008, with the Top 5 in both years identical. For the No. 6-10 spots, the deck was shuffled. Google's position changed the most, from No. 10 in 2008 to No. 7 in 2009.
- Among the Top 10, Google showed the greatest year-over-year increase in value (25%) and General Electric showed the largest drop (-10%).
Biggest Changes in Brand Value
Google, Amazon, and Zara gained the most value from 2008 to 2009:
But overall, the value of the top 100 brands declined from 2008 to 2009—the first time this has happened since Interbrand and BusinessWeek started tracking brand value. Not surprisingly, big banks and auto brands fared the worst, while food brands benefited as consumers began eating more at home, notes the Interbrand/BusinessWeek joint report.
Off the List, New to the List
Seven brands fell completely off the list. Among the most notable:
- Merrill Lynch, which ranked No. 34 last year, and AIG, previously No. 54. Both companies required emergency assistance from the US government, and their brands took a big hit.
- ING, ranked No. 86 last year, also fell off the list after huge subprime losses.
New to the Top 100 brand-value list this year are Lancôme, Burger King, Adobe, Puma, Burberry, Polo Ralph Lauren, and Campbell's.
About the data: To read about the method used to calculate these rankings, go to https://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_39/b4148050507775.htm.
