WPP subsidiary Millward Brown Optimor released its highly regarded annual brand ranking BrandZ Top 100 (PDF) back in April. It identifies the world’s most valuable global brands as measured by their dollar value.
Topping the list were Internet giant Google, whose brand was valued at a whopping $100 billion, and rival Microsoft which came in second with a $76.2 billion valuation. The report showed Google’s brand value was up from $86 billion last year (an increase of 16% in value), while Microsoft’s rose only 8% in value over the past year.
Note that this is the value of the brand and not the company, and we mustn’t forget Google tends to put its name in all its products so would conceivably get more exposure as Microsoft, which markets far more brands than just one (Windows, Bing, etc.). Then again, Microsoft has been around a heck of a lot longer than Google, as has Coca-Cola which came in third with a brand valuation of $67.6 billion.
Just for reference, I took a look at both tech companies’ current stock listings to see how they relate to the brand value pegged by Millward Brown’s ranking. Google today has a market cap of $142.82 billion, while Microsoft’s amounts to $212.16 billion, or an approximate 1.5 ratio in Redmond’s favor.
Does Google’s brand really account for 70 percent of its total market value, or has its brand taken a hit since the initial report? After all, Google is now Public Enemy No. 1 in the eyes of the antitrust division of the U.S. Justice Department, competitors, and others.
Other valuable top brands in technology, according to Millward Brown’s ranking, included IBM ($66.6 B), Apple ($66.1 B), Vodafone ($53.7 B), Nokia ($35.1 B), Blackberry ($27.4 B), HP ($26.7 B), SAP ($23.6 B), Intel ($22.8 B) and Oracle ($21.4 B). Just outside the top 25, we found Amazon at the number 26 spot, but the company can pride itself in having the most ‘brand momentum’ – a measurement predicting short-term growth prospects – this year.
For the full lists and report, click here (again, it’s a PDF file).
The report also broke down brand valuations in categories, so allow me to publish the top 3 for those categories you’re likely most interested in:
GAMING CONSOLES
1 Nintendo DS – $9.65 billion
2 Nintendo Wii – $8.25 billion
3 Microsoft Xbox 360 – $4.68 billion
MOBILE OPERATORS
1 China Mobile – $61.28 billion
2 Vodafone – $53.72 billion
3 AT&T – $20.05 billion
BEER
1 Bud Light – $6.65 billion
2 Budweiser – $6.63 billion
3 Heineken – $5.06 billion
CARS
1 Toyota – $29.9 billion
2 BMW – $23.94 billion
3 Porsche – $17.46 billion
(Image via Renato Mitra’s blog)
76.2 Billion + 8% of 76.2 Billion = 76.2 Billion
Might wanna double check that.
Good catch, fixed.
good catch indeed.. and quickly fixed… but i read the original, see the fixed version now… but not sure i like this “change base content” without explicitly saying its changed business….
I think you put too much faith in a flawed methodology which is designed by Milward Brown to get press attention for themselves and therefore get more clients. Basically these guys and Futurebrand and their ilk try to put a quantitative spin to make their services (brand consulting) seem more substantial.
Not even worthy of news in my view.
Er… the Nintendo DS at $9,659 billion is just a tad more than $100 billion. I think somebody has confused commas with decimal points.
its the european system dude… get with the program
not everything needs to be american gibbrish 
Indeed, but need to be consistent. Changed it.
I am European, and believe me: nobody writes out large numbers like that. I wondered after my comment if it originally said millions and not billions, as then it would make more sense.
Judging by your name Sheamus, you’re not from mainland Europe, where I assure you everybody writes out long numbers like that.
techcrunch brand value? is it based purely on recognition or “likability” as well?
lets see where Twitter will stand in the future. Maybe this is why Google didnt buy Twitter – the valuation of the BRAND!!!!!
Microsoft makes a helluva lot more money than Google does so why on earth is Google supposedly worth $24 billion more than Microsoft?
because if supposition is asserted as fact on an established blog, people believe it. the same type of people who fall for measures of brand value per market capitalization, or stock price vs. phase of the moon, or how much jedi force a company has. market valuation is no longer based on fundamentals, it’s based on sentiment and swing and Wauters coverage and other such irrelevant measures.
props for avoidance of typing m$ft.
and for proof that brands are meaningless, how is the chinese-branded #1 toy manufacturer from 2 years ago doing today?
Because nobody likes Microsoft
Toyota to have a higher brand value than BMW ??
I don’t understand the value of this ranking?
What do they calculate? How do people react on certain brands? How much money can you earn with a brand?
I bet you can earn more money giving a mountain bike the brand “BMW” than with a brand “Toyota”, or is there anybody thinking different?
Coca Cola is known probably by 90% of all humans in the world. How can it have only half of the value of Google? Don’t you have to relate it to a particular product / service?
Very confusing – if not clarifying what do they actually compare
The methodology is explained in the PDF, and you can also watch a video about it on this page:
http://www.mill...ndzRanking.aspx
coke known by 90% of the world???? that’s a bold statement… in india, coke is probably known by 10% and pepsi by perhaps 50% … so 10% of approx 1 billion = 100 mil.. world pop approx 7b right? 900mil from 7bil is sure more than 10% (assuming every single human outside india knows about coke
man, woman, child and dog!
Also worth noting for the Cars category: both BMW and Toyota dropped 16% compared to last year (overall, the category dropped 22% in brand value)
Not arguing that “brand value” is a bogus proposition, but it is possible for Toyota to have more valuable brand than BMW. For one, it has a reputation of being more reliable and arguably with it’s prius line may be seen as more innovative and more green. And it probably sells 20x more cars.
That sounds hot
No wonder
!!
Isn’t vodafone in one country but Visa accepted in most countries? Mmm, was this chart made by annalist?
I also wanna say that I hate my iPhone for the auto incorrections that pop up for it self, I will ditch my iPhone just because of that…
I was looking out for yahoo.I just wanted to see where they stand now. Anyway i will have a look at the full list.
No doubt Google does hold the Brand Value but still i don’t understand how they calculate brand value.I too can start my own PDF and give some vague list.
There is not relation to company earning or what people few about the brand.
Can someone explain me the concept or could publish my ANNUAL BRAND VALUE LIST?
It’s a marketing gimmick designed to draw attention to Millward Brown themselves, and to get them to sell their “branding consulting” services to companies which are not at the top, by trying to appear like they have some secret sauce and that rebranding their company will suddenly make them as valuable as Apple or Google.
As they say in the trade, JAFC
(Just another f***ing consultant)
Google was always going to be number one. Some people refer to the internet as “Google”.
I also heard some people think the internet is a series of tubes… go figure… if we were to go by people’s ignorance than we fail! I remember the time people use to call AOL the internet but look how that changed. Then again i can understand that you might be drinking that google mighty juice being passed around.
Good point about AOL. I remember back in the late 90s, AOL was the internet and the internet was AOL.
well some people refer to the internet as tubes. btw, i think google is one of the companies who are not being aggressive about their brand. look at all the sites they buyout – none of them changed their brand names (android, chromeOS, youtube, blogger etc). that said, google is an underappreciated brand
btw, microsoft is not a rival to google. yet.
There’s an app for that!
No, seriously, search for BrandZ100 and they have quite a swish iPhone app with all the brand data in it.
Evet bakıyorum davut bey ne olmuş sitelerinize siz bumusunuz diye soruyorum kendime.
Google and Microsoft beat Coke? Coke? really?
Having worked at WPP within a branding operating company (not MB), I can tell you that these “studies” are basically glorified PR campaigns that bring focus onto WPP’s “cutting edge” branding research. The 15 years worth consumer survey data they have are structurally flawed and their “analytics” border on sheer guesswork. At most, it involves high school level statistics. Seriously, the data is so unreliable that the only value is in PR for WPP. Good job on biting.
I work in marketing. Many of the % changes in brand value year-to-year (08-09) reported by Millward Brown seem too large.
Amazon.com up 85%
AT&T up 67%
Marlboro up 33%
Starbucks down 40%
McDonald’s up 33%
Wendy’s up 72%
I would really like to better understand their methodology myself!
I saw this last week in Business insider, pretty amazing.
I can harly imagine how Microsoft can beat Google witn Bing, I mean you see the digits? They are top searchers for a while.
I’m really surprised Google beat Microsoft. However, I guess Microsoft does dilute their brand over a couple of sub-brands (Xbox, MSN, Zune, Bing, etc).
Wonder how their brands would compete in aggregate:
http://www.trad...spx?symbol=msft
i like
One interesting bit from the PDF (which I actually read):
“Given the high volatility of financial markets over the past 12 months, the brand value is in some cases high relative to current market capitalization, reflecting true value rather than current market swings.”
So they consider the pre-crisis economy as the accurate reflection of true value?
It’s all about hype and consumer sentiment….
Wall street values Microsoft at $208 billion. It values Google at $142 billion and Apple at $147 billion as of today’s stock price.
Microsoft is just worth $66 billion more than both companies, yet look at it’s profit… more than 4x either companies.
Microsoft made $46 billion profit last year
Google made $13 billion profit last year
Apple made $11 billion profit last year.
“WPP subsidiary Millward Brown Optimor released its highly regarded annual brand ranking BrandZ Top 100 (PDF) back in April. It identifies the world’s most valuable global brands as measured by their dollar value.”
SO why is this news NOW???
Lol wtf, for Mobile Operators “China Mobile” is the highest. LOL I’ve never even heard of it..
Bottled waters:
Vittel on #8 ? After Volvic and Pure Life (Nestlé)?
Aquafina (from Pepsi) as #1 ?
Dasani (from CocaCola) on #4
The study seems to have a strong US bias.
http://www.mineralwaters.org/