The World’s Most Valuable Brands Continue to Grow

June 26, 2019

This article is included in these additional categories:

B2B | Brand Metrics | Brand-Related | Industries | Retail & E-Commerce | Technology | Top Brands

BrandZ has released its Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2019 report [pdf] showing continued growth in value of the world’s most valuable brands, albeit not at the rate from last year. The report indicates that the value of the top 100 brands grew by 7% in the past year (compared to the 21% jump a year earlier), adding $328 billion to reach a total of $4.7 trillion in 2019.

Despite not matching or exceeding last year’s record-breaking single-year increase in the report’s 12-year history, this year’s figure can boast a 226% increase from 2006 when the top 100 brands’ collective value was $1.4 trillion.

BrandZ argues that this year’s growth is a success despite being down considerably from last year, noting that the “hard-won gain outperformed the global GDP growth rate” and came during “a year marked by rising consumer expectations, the erosion of category boundaries, and geopolitical disruptions.”

This year, Luxury leads the way in category growth, as brands in the Luxury category grew in value by 29%. The Luxury category edged out brands in the Retail category, which grew by a combined 25% after being the top growing category during the previous 2 years. Luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton (+15%), Dior (+29%), Hermès (+10%) and Gucci (+13%) helped drive Luxury’s increase. The study notes that Dior, the fastest-growing Luxury brand, has established strong brand equity in China, particularly among Millennials.

At the same time, Chinese brands themselves have continued to make waves, with 15 now ranking within the top 100 (up from 14 last year). In 2019 two Chinese brands, Alibaba Group (#7) and Tencent (#8) had a place in the top 10.

However, it was North American brands that once again dominated the list, accounting for the largest number of brands (56). Of the 54 US brands on the list, the ones with the fastest year-over-year growth were Instagram (+95%), Netflix (+65%), Salesforce (+58%) and Adobe (+57%).

B2B’s Top Brands Dominated By Tech

More than half of the top 20 B2B brands are technology brands, led by Microsoft (#1 among B2B; +25%) and IBM (#2; -11%), with SAP (#4; +4%) also in the top 5. Salesforce was the fastest-growing B2B brand of the top 100 (+58%), followed by Adobe (+57%) and Cisco (+32%).

The report notes that “the business-to-business technology brands outperformed the consumer brands in value appreciation.” As such, several B2B tech players also feature in the list of top 10 risers in percentage terms, namely Salesforce, Adobe and LinkedIn.

BrandZ also includes banks in its B2B category – and several feature in the top 20 B2B brands. These include Wells Fargo (#5) and global banks such as HSBC (#14; -2%), J.P. Morgan (#17; +9%) and Citibank (#18; -11%).

Amazon Tops Apple, Takes Over Top Spot

Not only do technology brands dominate B2B brands, but the category also accounts for half of the 10 most valuable brands overall. While in years past Google and Apple have jockeyed for the top position, the global crown has passed to Amazon.

Jeff Bezos’s firm moved up two positions to push past both Google and Apple and sit at the top of the list this year, commanding a brand value of $315.5 billion. Apple ($309.5 billion) and Google ($309.0 billion) were second and third, ahead of Microsoft ($215.2 billion) and Visa ($177.9 billion)

Eight of the top 10 brands grew in value, with Facebook (-2%) and Tencent (-27%) being the only brands in the top 10 to buck that trend. While Facebook did not lose rank, Tencent fell 3 ranks and out of the top 5.

Nine Brands Are New to the List

There were 9 brands new to the list this year, hailing from 6 categories. France’s Chanel came in at #31, the highest-ranked of the new brands.

The US brands Dell (#81) and XBox (#87) also joined the list.

Pampers Leads in “Brand Contribution”

The methodology for calculating brand value (at least in BrandZ’s case) rests on several measures, one of which is the extent to which the brand alone – independently of market and financial factors – drives purchase volume and is able to command a brand premium.

This particular component is called “Brand Contribution” – and it’s led by Pampers. In an interesting note, 5 of the top 15 by brand contribution are beer brands, led by Modelo.

The full BrandZ report can be viewed here [pdf].

About the Data: BrandZ arrives at its brand value by multiplying the brand’s financial value (the amount of corporate earnings attributed to a particular brand) by brand contribution (a percentage of financial value). Brand value is defined as “the dollar amount a brand contributes to the overall value of a corporation.”

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