Best Global Brands 2015

The American Marketing Association defines a “brand” as “a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers.” Some marketing researchers assert that brands are one of the most valuable assets that a company has.

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According to Millward Brown Optimor, “strong brands have the power to create business value. They impact much more than revenues and profit margins. Strong brands create competitive advantages by commanding a price premium and decrease the cost of entry into new markets and categories. They reduce business risk and help attract and retain talented staff.”

“Brand equity” is defined by the American Marketing Association as “the value of a brand” (although not in the financial sense of “value”), while, according to P. Kotler and K. Keller in their book Marketing Management, it is “the added value endowed to products and services.” Keller, in Strategic Brand Management, writes that a brand “has positive customer-based brand equity when consumers react more favorably to a product and the way it is marketed when the brand is identified than when it is not.” David Aaker (Managing Brand Equity) calls it “the set of assets and liabilities linked to a brand’s name and symbol that adds to or subtracts from the value provided by a product or service to a firm and/or that firm’s customers.”

The various definitions are important to define the concept but do not lead to a single measure of brand equity.

“Brand value” is often confused with brand equity, but the former refers more specifically to the financial value of a brand. Therefore, Kotler and Keller define “brand valuation” as “an estimate of the total financial value of the brand.”

There is no standardized or accepted definition of brand value or brand valuation. Nevertheless, Interbrand and Millward Brown Optimor (MBO) have developed rankings that are well respected. Interbrand characterizes its method as “proven, straightforward and profound. It examines brands through the lens of financial strength, the importance of the brand in driving consumer selection, and the likelihood of ongoing revenue generated by the brand.” Millward Brown Optimor calls its BrandZ “the most reliable, comprehensive and useful brand valuation ranking available,” a database that provides a “detailed, quantified, understanding of consumer decision-making worldwide.”


Click To View Brand Rankings Type:

MBO | InterBrand


Click To View Brand Rankings Type:

MBO | InterBrand


MillwardBrown Optimor 2015 BrandZ Top 100

Rank

Brand

Category

Brand Value
($M)

1AppleTechnology246,992
2GoogleTechnology173,652
3MicrosoftTechnology115,500
4IBMTechnology93,987
5VisaPayments91,962
6AT&TTelecom Providers89,492
7VerizonTelecom Providers86,009
8Coca-ColaSoft Drinks83,841
9McDonald’sFast Food81,162
10MarlboroTobacco80,352
11TencentTechnology76,572
12FacebookTechnology71,121
13Alibaba GroupRetail66,375
14Amazon.comRetail62,292
15China MobileTelecom Providers59,895
16Wells FargoRegional Banks59,310
17General ElectricConglomerate59,272
18UPSLogistics51,798
19DisneyEntertainment42,962
20MastercardPayments40,188
21BaiduTechnology40,041
22ICBCRegional Banks38,808
23VodofoneTelecom Providers38,461
24SAPTechnology38,225
25American ExpressPayments38,093
26WalmartRetail35,245
27T-mobileTelecom Providers33,834
28NikeApparel29,717
29StarbucksFast Food29,313
30ToyotaCars28,913
31The Home DepotRetail27,705
32Louis VuittonLuxury27,445
33BudweiserBeer26,657
34BMWCars26,349
35HSBCGlobal Banks24,029
36RBCRegional Banks23,989
37PampersBaby Care23,757
38L’Oréal ParisPersonal Care23,376
39HPTechnology23,039
40SubwayFast Food22,561
41China Construction BankRegional Banks22,065
42ZaraApparel22,036
43Mercedes-BenzCars21,786
44OracleTechnology21,680
45SamsungTechnology21,602
46MovistarTelecom Providers21,215
47TD BankRegional Banks20,638
48Commonwealth BankRegional Banks20,599
49ExxonMobilOil & Gas20,412
50Agricultural Bank of ChinaRegional Banks20,189
51AccentureTechnology20,183
52GillettePersonal Care19,737
53FedExLogistics 19,566
54Shell Oil & Gas18,943
55Hermes ParisLuxury18,938
56IntelTechnology18,385
57ColgatePersonal Care17,977
58BTTelecom Providers17,953
59ANZ BankRegional Banks17,702
60CitiGlobal Banks17,486
61OrangeTelecom Providers17,384
62China LifeInsurance17,365
63SinopecOil & Gas17,267
64IkeaRetail17,025
65Bank of ChinaRegional Banks16,438
66DHLLogistics16,301
67CISCOTechnology16,060
68PinganInsurance15,959
69SIEMENSTechnology15,796
70HuaweiTechnology15,335
71PetroChinaOil & Gas15,022
72US BANKRegional Banks14,786
73eBayRetail14,171
74HDFC BankRegional Banks14,027
75H&MApparel13,827
76GucciLuxury13,800
77J.P. MorganGlobal Banks13,522
78HondaCars13,332
79PepsiSoft Drinks13,134
80FordCars13,106
81BPOil & Gas12,938
82TelstraTelecom Providers12,701
83KFCFast Food12,649
84WestpacRegional Banks12,420
85LinkedinTechnology12,200
86SantanderGlobal Banks12,181
87WoolworthsRetail11,818
88PayPalPayments11,806
89ChaseRegional Banks11,661
90AldiRetail11,660
91INGGlobal Banks11,560
92TwitterTechnology11,447
93NissanCars11,411
94Red BullSoft Drinks11,375
95Bank of AmericaRegional Banks11,335
96NTT DOCOMOTelecom Providers11,223
97Costco WholesaleRetail11,214
98Soft BankTelecom Providers11,131
99China TelecomTelecom Providers11,075
100ScotiabankRegional Banks11,044

Click To View Brand Rankings Type:

MBO | InterBrand


Interbrand | Best Global Brands 2015 | Top 100

Rank

Brand

Sector

Brand Value (M)

1AppleTechnology170,276
2GoogleTechnology120,314
3Coca-ColaSoft Drinks78,423
4MicrosoftTechnology67,670
5IBMTechnology65,095
6ToyotaCars49,048
7SamsungTechnology45,297
8General ElectricConglomerate42,267
9McDonald’sFast Food39,809
10Amazon.comRetail37,948
11BMWCars37,212
12Mercedes-BenzCars36,711
13DisneyEntertainment36,514
14IntelTechnology35,415
15CiscoTechnology29,854
16OracleTechnology27,283
17NikeApparel23,070
18HPTechnology23,056
19HondaCars22,975
20Louis VuittonLuxury22,250
21H&MApparel22,222
22GillettePersonal Care22,218
23FacebookTechnology22,029
24PepsiSoft Drinks19,622
25American ExpressPayments18,922
26SAPTechnology18,768
27IKEARetail16,541
28PampersBaby Care15,267
29UPSLogistics14,723
30ZARAApparel14,031
31BudweiserBeer13,943
32eBayRetail13,940
33J.P. MorganGlobal Banks13,749
34KelloggsFMCG12,637
35VolkswagenCars12,545
36NescaféBeverages12,257
37HSBCGlobal Banks11,656
38FordCars11,578
39HyundaiCars11,293
40CanonElectronics11,278
41Hermes ParisLuxury10,944
42AccentureTechnology10,800
43L’Oréal ParisPersonal Care10,798
44AudiCars10,328
45CitiGlobal Banks9,784
46Goldman SachsFinancial Services9,526
47PhilipsElectronics9,400
48AXAFinancial Services9,254
49NissanCars9,082
50GucciLuxury8,882
51DanoneFMCG8,632
52NestléFMCG8,588
53SiemensTechnology8,553
54AllianzFinancial Services8,498
55ColgatePersonal Care8,464
56PorscheCars8,055
57CartierLuxury7,924
58SonyElectronics7,702
593MDiversified7,243
60Morgan StanleyFinancial Services7,083
61VisaPayments6,870
62AdidasSporting Goods6,811
63Thomson ReutersMedia6,583
64Discovery ChannelMedia6,509
65PanasonicElectronics6,436
66Tiffany & CoLuxury6,306
67StarbucksRestaurants6,266
68AdobeTechnology6,257
69PradaLuxury6,222
70SantanderRestaurants6,097
71XeroxBusiness Services6,033
72CaterpillarDiversified5,976
73BurberryLuxury5,873
74KIA MotorsCars5,666
75Kentucky Fried ChickenFast Food5,639
76MasterCardPayments5,551
77Johnson and JohnsonFMCG5,533
78ShellOil & Gas5,530
79Harley-DavidsonAutomotive5,460
80DHLLogistics5,391
81SpriteBeverages5,365
82LegoFMCG5,362
83Deere & CompanyDiversified5,208
84Jack DanielsAlcohol5,161
85ChevroletCars5,133
86FedExLogistics5,130
87Land RoverCars5,109
88HuaweiTechnology4,952
89HeinekenAlcohol4,822
90MTVMedia4,763
91Ralph LaurenApparel4,629
92Johnnie WalkerAlcohol4,540
93CoronaAlcohol4,456
94SmirnoffAlcohol4,407
95KleenexFMCG4,330
96Hugo BossApparel]4,270
97PayPalPayments4,251
98MINICars4,243
99Moët et ChandonAlcohol4,131
100LenovoTechnology4,114
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