10. Hp
Brand Value: 28,479
Region/Country: United States
Sector: Electronics
Despite turbulence after replacing its CEO in late 2010, the HP brand retains its number 10 position. HP brings together a portfolio that spans printing, software, services, and IT infrastructure to solve customer problems. Over the past year, the company has been shifting its business strategy, increasing focus on enterprise and taking transformative moves toward higher-value, higher-margin growth categories. As HP continues to transform itself and leverage acquisitions, it will experience challenges in maintaining a cohesive culture. The assimilation of EDS into HP’s culture, for instance, has seen positive results but it remains a work-in-progress. Clarity internally for what the brand stands for and alignment in behaviors will need to be priorities in order to successfully complete the transformation HP aims to achieve in the marketplace and shift customers’ perceptions. Seizing on the potential of social media, HP is a model for informing and conversing with its customers online through sites such as YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook. These sites have also offered a platform for employees to share experiences. While HP’s recent announcement of plans to spin off its PC business (in addition to the recent drop of webOS) has peaked interest, it is important to note that even without this business unit, HP will remain one of the world's largest tech companies.
9. Disney
Brand Value: 29,018
Region/Country: United States
Sector: Media
Disney continues to deliver its quality, family-fun experiences through parks, movies, and merchandise. In the year ahead, it has plans to expand on its successful Fantasyland in its Orlando Magic Kingdom park, delivering further on the experience the brand is built upon: fulfilling the dreams of its audience. This year, Disney’s park in Hong Kong continued to perform well, and an agreement to build another in Shanghai should improve the brand’s presence even more in the region. The Cars franchise continues to be a vital one for the company and Disney has plans to open a “Cars Land” at its redesigned California Adventure park. The question the brand faces in the year ahead, however, is if it is creating enough new stories and characters to live up to its promise of magic and fun.
8. Apple
Brand Value: 33,492
Region/Country: United States
Sector: Electronics
Setting the bar high in its category and beyond, Apple is the icon for great branding meeting great technology to deliver a unique overall experience, making its giant leap from #17 to #8 in the rankings less than surprising. Consumers continue to follow its product launches with anticipation and are quick to integrate its sleek products into their lifestyles. Continuing its wave of first-to-market products, Apple launched the iPad in 2010 creating the new tablet category in the process. Since its launch, young and old alike have embraced it as a tool, with organizations from education to health to sales coming on board as well. Apple has even implemented the iPad in its innovative retail spaces as a service tool for customers as they wait in line. The recent unveiling of iCloud, a service that seamlessly links users to their music, photos, contacts, and documents, will further extend the benefits of being connected “anywhere anytime” to a fast-growing audience. Steve Jobs’ recent resignation has the world curious about the impact on this innovative company as it is unclear how much of the brand’s success was due directly to Jobs’ own vision and control, and how much was due to his team—including new CEO, Tim Cook.
7. Intel
Brand Value: 35,217
Region/Country: United States
Sector: Electronics
Intel is at the forefront of microprocessor innovation, committed to advancements in energy efficiency, the use of technology in education and healthcare, and global ventures in computer technology. The business cycle in the technology industry favors such a strong leading brand, and Intel seizes upon this position with an unwavering focus on innovation. As competition intensifies, Intel continues to promote the speed, quality, and reliability of its products as the basis for its price premium. However, as an ingredient brand, customers sometimes forget about it, with the brand becoming buried in the product itself. Even though it is less pronounced in messaging, Intel’s sonic branding remains strong given its iconic status . Additionally, prolonged delivery of its smartphone powered by its legendary processors (in part, a consequence of the dissolution of Intel’s collaboration with Nokia) has not helped the brand. Through aggressive, well-executed advertising campaigns; corporate citizenship activities; and a strong social media presence, Intel continues to grow its awareness, especially by engaging consumers in conversations about the future.
6. Mc Donalds
Brand Value:
Region/Country: United States
Sector: Restaurant
A master of consistency, quality, and in recent years, consumer responsiveness, the long-time fast food leader drives innovation in the category it dominates—from McCafé, its higher quality coffee (with sales challenging Starbucks) to a healthier Happy Meal, which it plans to roll out in in the early fall. In terms of environmental sustainability, the brand is embarking on an ambitious program that requires all of its suppliers over time to source their products entirely from sustainably managed land. Additionally, it is making moves to ensure that vegetable oil from McDonald’s restaurants is converted into 100 percent biodiesel to fuel its logistics fleet. You may have noticed in our 2011 Best Global Green Brands report there is a gap between consumer perception and corporate performance relative to sustainability. Closing this gap will be critical for future growth. This year, the brand experienced a high-profile conflict over social media due to its Ronald McDonald mascot, whom a group of health advocates and activist physicians wanted to see fired. Holding his ground, CEO Jim Skinner announced the McDonald’s brand ambassador would not be retiring.
5. GE
Brand Value: 42,808
Region/Country: United States
Sector: Diversified
GE continues to be one of the world’s most respected brands, and an example of the power of imagination. While the Fukushima disaster and financial issues in the U.S. generated some bad press in 2011, it remains strongly positioned around the world, operating in more than 100 countries and employing 300,000 people worldwide. Its ecomagination and healthymagination programs are two of the brand’s flagship platforms, driving the company and providing an enviable credibility halo across multiple lines of business around the world. While others are investing around a singular idea (IBM’s Smarter Planet, Accenture’s High Performance), GE is pursuing a potentially more demanding strategy of building the master brand while simultaneously expanding capability in healthcare and the environment. The early results indicate that the strategy is paying off
4. Google
Brand Value: 55,317
Region/Country: United States
Sector: Internet Services
With a 27 percent increase in brand value in the past year, Google’s position as one of the world’s pre-eminent brands is growing and nothing seems capable of stopping it. Google has focused largely on developing new offerings in the past year, including Chromebook, a cloud-connected computer without internal software and equipped with the tagline “Ready When You Are.” Besides attracting more visitors than any other website, Google also continues to attract and retain employees, ranking number one on multiple surveys of the most attractive employer. Ensuring its people are engaged in the company’s success, Larry Page, co-founder and current CEO, announced that 25 percent of employees’ yearly bonuses depended on the performance of Google+, the brand’s new social networking challenger. Google+ was received with a mixed response and while it is difficult to find specific data, Google+ may find its greatest challenge to be overcoming the issue of so many social sites being available to consumers. Harnessing its power for good, Google continues to raise awareness for climate change, global public health, and poverty, with more than U.S. $100 million in grants awarded since 2004 through Google.org.
3. Microsoft
Brand Value: 59,087
Region/Country: United States
Sector: Computer Software
Microsoft continues to dominate the PC operating system, server software, and office productivity software markets. This is both a blessing and a curse as the future of computing moves to the mobile space. Competitors continue to lure customers with mobile applications that turn individual devices into ecosystems. Google’s no-cost model will continue to put pressure on Microsoft’s profit margins, and Google Apps could threaten the Microsoft Office business with its competing cloud integration and collaborative tools. A new partnership with Nokia is likely to shine a bright light on Microsoft’s mobile software, which has had a tough history with both consumers and providers. This, along with the recent acclaim for the Xbox Kinect, the Windows Phone Mango OS, and tablet-ready Windows 8 designs, indicates that Microsoft has all the pieces in place to build a strong consumer business.
2. IBM
Brand Value: 69,905
Region/Country: United States
Sector: Business Services
IBM, which celebrates its 100-year anniversary, is stronger than ever, having evolved its offerings from hardware, to service, to knowledge, and now to innovation. IBM’s success is due in large part to its commitment to intelligence—from the intelligence of employees brainstorming together in IBM Jams to the intelligence of information being used to improve power grids and transport systems. Additionally, the brand’s advocacy of open-source software has resulted in a more productive services unit. For its latest “grand challenge,” IBM brought its deep-analytics computer, Watson, on the Jeopardy game show where it dispatched past champions to garner massive earned media. Between its Watson triumph, its century celebration, and its ongoing drive to make the planet smarter, the IBM brand is operating at full speed.
1. Coca Cola
Brand Value: 71,861
Region/Country: United States
Sector: Beverages
The Coca-Cola brand remains timeless yet relevant as it celebrates its 125th anniversary. The company lives and its brand, and the overall equity of happiness comes through at every touchpoint. It continues to receive enormous exposure through top-tier sponsorships with popular events like the FIFA World Cup. Additionally, Coca-Cola ties itself closely with meaningful promotions relating to disaster relief, youth empowerment, and sustainability issues around the globe. This past year also saw the wide rollout of its PlantBottle™, a sustainable and recyclable bottle made partially of plant material, which included Heinz adopting the technology for use with ketchup bottles (which featured "talking labels" asking “Guess what my bottle is made of?”). As soft drinks are a relatively stable market, Coca-Cola’s brand value moves accordingly. Per company reports, consumers worldwide choose to refresh themselves with Coca-Cola products “at a rate of over 1.7 billion servings each and every day.” That’s a lot of Coke.
View the complete list at Brandirectory
