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Product category: Market research
News Release from: Millward Brown | Subject: BrandZ Top 100 Most Powerful Brands
Edited by the Marketingservicestalk Editorial Team on 24 April 2008

BrandZ Top 100 Most Powerful Brands
released

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Google is the most valuable brand in the world for the second year, with a brand value of $86.1bn, according to Millward Brown's third annual BrandZ Top 100 Most Powerful Brands ranking.

Millward Brown, a global leader in brand, media and communications research, has announced its third annual BrandZ Top 100 Most Powerful Brands ranking Vodafone was listed as the most powerful British brand with a value of $37 billion

Since the last ranking Vodafone showed a 75 per cent increase in brand value and moved up the ranking 11 places.

Google tops the global list again with a brand value of $86.1bn followed by GE at $71.4bn and Microsoft at $70.8bn.

Although only six British brands meet the criteria of being a Top 100 global power brand, their combined value did better than average by rising 33 per cent (from $97.7 billion in 2006 to $127.2 billion in 2007) compared to a rise of 21 per cent for the Top 100 as a whole.

Warwick Nash, CEO, UK and Ireland at Millward Brown, said: "The results this year highlight the strength of those British brands that have global clout and are leveraging their brands to help aid their growth.

"But this ranking is a wake-up call for companies to invest in the power of their brands if they want to grow their business or sustain it in tougher time".

The 2008 ranking is based on analysis of consumer opinion and publicly available financial data for the period January to December 2007.

Other British brands in the ranking were: Vodafone 36.9 bn 11th; Tesco 23.2 bn 25th; HSBC 18.5 bn 35th; Marks and Spencer 11.6 bn 60th; Barclays 7.4 bn 93rd; Standard Chartered Bank 6.9 bn 100th; BP 6.3 bn; Royal Bank of Scotland 5.8 bn; Asda 5.6 bn; NatWest 5.0 bn.

The ranking reflects the growing power of brands in driving business growth.

Analysis shows that companies that own brands in the BrandZ Top 100 have significantly outperformed the stock market when compared to the SandP 500.

"This year's brand ranking demonstrates the importance of investing in brands, especially in times of market turmoil; strong brands generate superior returns and protect businesses from risk," said Joanna Seddon, CEO of Millward Brown Optimor.

"Our data shows that strong brands continue to outperform weak ones in terms of market share and share price during recessions".

The most notable global trends emerging from this year's BrandZ ranking include the following.

Established Asia vs Emerging Asia - Chinese brands continue to get stronger according to the new BrandZ ranking.

Seven brands in this year's Top 100 come from mature Asian economies: Japan, Korea and Hong Kong; their aggregate brand value increased by only 7 per cent in the last year (to $111bn).

In contrast, the value of the four Chinese brands that made this year's BrandZ Top 100 increased by 51 per cent (to $124bn).

China Mobile, Bank of China, China Construction Bank and ICBC are only just starting to expand beyond China so they have considerable potential for further growth.

Continued Rise of the BRICs - Emerging markets play a key role in driving growth for international brands, for example Apple and Gucci.

The new BrandZ Ranking shows that domestic brands from emerging economies are gaining momentum.

Chinese brands performed strongly and Russian-based mobile operator MTS entered the ranking at number 89.

MTS is the first Russian brand to make the Top 100 list with a brand value of $8.1bn.

Other BRIC brands to watch in future brand rankings include Lukoil, Beeline, and Baltika from Russia, ICICI from India, as well as Brahma, Petrobras, and Bradesco from Brazil.

Technology Boom - The technology sector (including mobile operators), which accounted for 28 of the top 100 brands, outperformed all other categories in this year's BrandZ Ranking, with a brand value growth of $187.5bn.

This is more than half of the Top 100's total increase and is up 34 per cent on value since last year's ranking.

Commenting on this year's BrandZ Ranking, Eileen Campbell, Global CEO of Millward Brown, said: "We've been tracking brand equity on WPP's behalf for 10 years, so we know what hard work it is and what a fantastic achievement it is for any brand to achieve BrandZ Top 100 status.

"We'd like to congratulate these companies for their extraordinary performance and commitment to the power of great brands and the role that effective marketing plays in building them.

"Particularly in a challenging global economy, we were delighted to see such high growth, reconfirming our assertion that sustained marketing support is a winning strategy, even in tough business conditions".

The complete BrandZ Ranking report with category and regional breakdowns as well as additional analysis is available online from Millward Brown.

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